Autism Acceptance Month: Celebrating Neurodiversity
- Samantha Franklin
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
Books are one of my favorite tools for helping children talk about and understand challenging topics and abstract concepts. As both a therapist and a parent, I have learned the power of an engaging picture book to capture the attention and imagination of a child. Through reading, children can better understand themselves and those around them, fostering empathy and understanding for both themselves and others.
Since April is Autism Acceptance Month, I wanted to highlight some children’s literature that celebrates neurodiversity.
The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin
Julia Finley Mosca
When young Temple was diagnosed with autism, no one expected her to talk, let alone become one of the most powerful voices in modern science. Yet, the determined visual thinker did just that. Her unique mind allowed her to connect with animals in a special way, helping her invent groundbreaking improvements for farms around the globe.
All My Stripes
Shaina Rudolph
This helpful story for kids with ASD follows a young zebra who learns to understand how he is different from the rest of his classmates.
Uniquely Wired: A Story About Autism and Its Gifts
Julia Cook
This story helps others understand autism, as well as some of the unique behaviors or unconventional responses of kids with autism. Zak is obsessed with watches. Before that it was trains. Zak also has autism, so he sometimes responds to the world around him in unconventional ways. As Zak describes his point of view, young readers gain a better understanding of his behaviors and learn valuable lessons about patience, curiosity, acceptance and understanding.
Wonderfully Wired Brains
Louise Gooding
An informative and inclusive children’s guide to neurodiversity for those not in the know and to inspire children who are neurodivergent.
A Kind of Spark
Elle McNicoll
A middle grade novel that tells the story of 11-year-old Addie as she campaigns for a memorial in memory of the witch trials that took place in her Scottish hometown. Addie knows there’s more to the story of these ‘witches’, just like there is more to hers. Can Addie challenge how the people in her town see her, and her autism, and make her voice heard?
A Boy Called Bat
Elana K. Arnold
The first novel in a series about Bixby Alexander Tam ("Bat"), a third-grade boy on the autism spectrum with a love for animals and a specific routine. When his veterinarian mother brings home an orphaned baby skunk, Bat makes it his mission to care for the kit—named Thor—and prove he can keep it as a pet.
Rudine Sims Bishop wrote about the importance of multicultural representation in children’s literature explaining, “Books are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created or recreated by the author. When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books.”
Her metaphor perfectly captures the way books can be a way for children to see themselves reflected and also a way to look into the worlds’ of others. Thankfully, the selection of books listed above is only a small sampling of the many books representing and celebrating neurodiversity.
Are there any you would add to the list? Let us know what we should add to our shelves!
References
Rudine Sims Bishop, The Ohio State University. “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors” originally appeared in Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom. Vol. 6, no. 3. Summer 1990.
Samantha Franklin, LCSWA
Samantha provides therapy for children, teens, and families. Her clinical focus includes ADHD, autism, and intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Samantha employs an integrative, evidence-based approach that fosters emotional regulation, promotes positive parent-child relationships, and facilitates effective behavior management. She incorporates creative techniques such as play, art, and interactive activities to help children engage in the therapeutic process while guiding parents in strategies tailored to their child’s needs.
Comments