Genre: Self-Help
Page Count: 150+
Published: 2020 (Rockridge Press)
Potential Triggers: None
Mental Health Topics: Autism Spectrum Disorder,
This book is yet another book trying to help autistics understand society, and I'd say out of the ones I've read so far, this one isn't that bad. It's got exercises interspersed throughout the book, trying to help you understand and apply things with more clarity than you otherwise would've had. That said, though, books like this still require your personal application in everyday life. It explains things really well, but it can't replace real-life experience trying to discern things.
I'll admit, I didn't learn much from this book since I've read so many of these and I've learned so much in my own social interactions where people have (so kindly) explained things to me. But if I hadn't had that, I would definitely recommend this book (among several others) to try to help people through it.
At times, this book seemed a little dumbed down, but considering this book is meant to approach teens with a range of social understanding and processing skills, that can be forgiven. At other times, even I had to read slowly to understand it, though, so I feel like the wording could've been a bit more fluid in terms of the level of difficulty, if that makes any sense.
One thing that got a little confusing was the author's usage of the word "we." Oftentimes, I got a little perplexed by who she was referring to, whether it was a group of neurodivergents or society at large. That might have been just me—who knows how good my processing was at the time I was reading—but I did want to note that.
Overall, this is definitely a decent how-to book and I'd definitely add it to my list of recommendations in case a person needs a handbook like this. That said, though, I haven't met many people who actually might benefit from a book like this, seeing as though it contains such simple information that people often learn by the time they're in their teens. Perhaps that's just the people that I have in my inner circle, but I'm seeing a lot more of these books than I believe are needed. That's just my take on it, though.
Hope this review was somewhat interesting to y'all! It wasn't very interesting to write, so... hah. Oh well, I'm sure it'll benefit somebody somehow.