Approaches to autism Author: The National Autistic Society ISBN: 978 1 89928 056 8 Code: NAS 687 £7.00 excl. vat £7.00 incl. vat

Revised and updated

This valuable NAS guide to the many and varied approaches to autism has been completely updated. It provides a good starting point for anyone who wishes to gain an insight into the host of strategies. The book's scope is wide: it contains references to a huge range of interventions and therapies, arranged alphabetically in directory style for easy reference. Each entry signposts the way to further information.

Published by the National Autistic Society, 5th edition, 2001 and 2003, revised and reprinted 2007, 80pp, pbk

Review

This short guide is aimed at anyone with an interest in autism interventions, especially those currently being used within the UK.  It contains entries on 60 different interventions, each of which is written by someone who knows and uses it. Each entry provides a basic description of the intervention, including who it is aimed at and what it is supposed to achieve. Some entries also include further reading and details of relevant organisations.

The entries are listed alphabetically and written in plain English, making the guide easy to use and understand.  The preface is especially useful as it provides practical advice on how to judge the efficacy of different approaches.

The biggest weakness of the guide is that it only provides one page of information about approaches based on applied behavioural analysis and only one page of information about approaches based on medications despite the fact that such approaches are extensively used and researched. By contrast, there are nine separate entries on different biomedical approaches despite the fact that there is still very little scientifically valid or reliable evidence to support such approaches.

A second weakness is that because some of the entries are written by the proponents of those interventions, the information is not as helpful as it could be or it is unduly positive.  For example, there is usually no information about the cost of the intervention, the time required to undertake the intervention, any potential hazards or side effects, and details of any research which does not support its use.

This is a reasonably-priced introduction to a wide range of autism interventions which is easy to use and understand and also reasonably helpful. It could be even more helpful if it contained a more balanced spread of interventions and if each entry was more detailed and more objective.

Bernard Fleming, Information Manager, Research Autism