It's a guide book for people who fall on the autistic spectrum written and illustrated by a high functioning autistic young man, who found the way we talk and the world we live in very confusing whilst growing up.
For someone who is autistic meanings are very literal. There is no Reading Between The Lines...
You will find a high functioning autistic person or someone who may have aspergers syndrome can be obsessively logical with their comprehension of language.
They often have very good memories and very good vocabularies. So people will over estimate the ability for them to understand some of the more archaic concepts.
This can cause a breakdown in communication between someone whose brain functions autistically to what we call neuro-typical, someone whose brain processes information and can easily think in context.
The idea for Micheal's book came about as he started to illustrate the phrases he found hard to understand and writing what they really mean underneath the picture so he would remember.
Over the years Micheal had collected folders and folders of these illustrations though he didn't know at the time, these were the start of this book.
The simplicity of this idea and being brought together into a nice companion for the everyday world we live in and the way we talk is perfect for young people growing up who are autistic and for those who are communicating around them.
Since buying this book my child and I have read it each evening, the humour it brings along with understanding makes it very near perfect for us.
Covering: Classic Idioms, Shortened Expressions, Everyday Expressions and Sayings, Double Meanings, Metaphors, Instructions and Statements...
Being written by someone who has achieved so much as Micheal Barton who is currently studying a degree in physics, talks at conferences, and plays jazz piano and french horn and I believe very good in judo, he serves as an inspiration and encouragement to parents, carers, teachers and friends of anyone who has autism and also helps to show a little more understanding and sense to this weird and wonderful world that can seem so overwhelming for children who are high functioning autistic.
So now you know what your Christmas present is going to be!!! ;-)
