Review of Nurturing Your Autistic Young Person by Cathy Wassell
Years before I realised I was autistic myself, I was mum to an autistic son and an autistic daughter. I immersed myself in as many books as I possibly could trying to understand them and ‘how to parent them’. This was back when ‘Aspergers’ was a diagnosis, TikTok wasn’t even a dream and when the world of autism was mostly male territory.
As my young people became teenagers, autism research, insight and identification evolved enormously. Cathy’s book captures the most recent theories and how these can present in autistic (young) people with ideas on ‘How can I help?’.
Cathy Wassell is the founder of Autistic Girls Network and The Haven online school for autistic girls and non-binary people. Cathy’s style of writing is easy to read and Eliza Fricker’s illustrations effortlessly portray the reality of many of our young people (and of our lives as carers for them) – whilst not skimping on detail. Their individual lived experiences shine through every page.
These are some of the chapters that I found particularly useful:
Useful Subjects to Know About for a Happy Autistic Life – there is so much here, including executive function, masking, identity, situational mutism and hyperosmia (nope, I hadn’t heard of it either!) amongst a whole wealth of other knowledge.
Co-Occurring Conditions – including other neurodivergences, POTS, rejection sensitive dysphoria and ARFID, and the impact these may have.
Sensory Stuff – all 8 sensory systems presented in a straightforward way with relatable examples.
Autism Presentation in Different Groups – intersectionality and what this can look like.
And, one of my favourites:
Autism Myths – such as ‘Autistic People Have No Sense of Humour’ and that old chestnut ‘We’re All A Bit Autistic’ (“No we’re not”).
I recommend this book for anyone who has an autistic person of any age in their life – I have learned a lot about myself and it’s been a while since I was young!
Read it and share it with family, friends, teachers, health, social care professionals – everyone!
If you are interested in reading Nurturing Your Autistic Young Person by Cathy Wassell, you can follow our Amazon affiliate link here. An affiliate link means we take a small amount of the proceeds from a sale which we use to further our training on neurodiversity, to keep our blog running and to create free resources for those need them.
Beki Stoiber
Beki is an autistic expert and mentor. She was diagnosed at the age of 55 with ADHD and autism. She is mum to two AuDHDers and wife to an autistic husband. After a decade of playing around with many jobs, Beki was a primary school teacher and SENCo for a couple of decades.
