The autistic brain : thinking across the spectrum / Temple Grandin and Richard Panek.

This book is an account of the latest science of autism. Since the author started writing and speaking about autism, the number of people diagnosed with it has skyrocketed; but so has the research that is transforming our understanding of the autistic brain. Now she brings her singular perspective to ajourney through the autism revolution. Weaving her own experience with remarkable new discoveries, she introduces the neuroimaging advances and genetic research that link brain science to behavior, even sharing her own brain scans from numerous studies. We meet the scientists and self-advocates who are introducing innovative theories of what causes, how we diagnose, and how best to treat autism. She highlights long-ignored sensory problems and the treatments that might help them, and warns of the dangers of politics defining the diagnosis of autism spectrum. Most exciting, in the science that has begun to reveal the long-overlooked strengths conferred by autism, she finds a route to more effective mainstreaming and a way to unleash the unique advantages of autistic people. From the "aspies" in Silicon Valley to the five-year-old without language, the author understands the true meaning of the word spectrum.