The Loving Push: How Parents and Professionals Can Help Spectrum Kids Become Successful Adults - Softcover

"As a parent of children who have autism, I found this book information and thought-provoking. Sound research, practical techniques, and real-life stories give helpful advice, and interesting and tangible real-life examples of struggle, persistence, and hope make it personally engaging. Challenges are not sugarcoated, and i appreciated the authors' ability to have straightforward, honest discussions while continuing to offer hope and a positive message.  While this book teaches parents how to give a loving push to a family member with autism spectrum disorder, it also provides a loving push for parents, teachers, and community members who care about and want to see people with autism live rewarding and fulfilling lives."
 - Jane Coburn, mother of two kids on the spectrum, Rehabilitation Specialist, and Advisor to Full Spectrum Farms, a unique community for those on the spectrum."There are some certainties in life - children on the autism spectrum will grow up and their parents won't always be with them.  Time for planning for these events simply cannot be wasted. The Loving Push provides an excellent framework for thinking about what it takes for someone on the autism spectrum to reach for their potential.  It reminds us all how much easier it is for us to do something for someone, rather than making sure they can and will do it for themselves. It thoughtfully pushes us to examine how we might inadvertently sabotage a successful, independent future for someone out of our love and fear.  Adults and teenagers on the spectrum, parents of all-aged ASD children, and those who work with them would all benefit from reading and thinking about these lessons.  It is an important piece of work that cannot be overlooked."-Barbara Russo-Sprouls, mother of an ASD daughter, Special Education teacher, and former member of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders."Providing insight to the uniqueness of those on the autism spectrum, The Loving Push offers well-rounded and practical suggestions for parents to encourage their children to utilize their gifts and talents to gain confidence and independence in purposeful and meaningful daily life skills and in academic and vocational pursuits."- Beth Aune, OTR/L, Owner-Therapist, Desert Occupational Therapy for Kids, Inc.

Temple Grandin is an international lecturer on autism, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, a best-selling and award-winning author, an autism activist, a consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior, and an engineer. She also created the "hug box," a device designed to calm those on the autism spectrum. The subject of an award-winning, 2010 biographical film, Temple Grandin was also listed in the TIME 100 list of the one hundred most influential people in the world, in the "Heroes" category. Temple’s achievements are remarkable because she was a child with autism. At age two, she had speech delays as well as other signs of severe autism. Fortunately, her mother defied the advice of her doctor and husband, who recommended she be institutionalized. Many hours of speech therapy and intensive training enabled Temple to speak. Mentoring by her high school science teacher and her aunt on her ranch in Arizona motivated Temple to study and pursue a career as a scientist and livestock equipment designer. She is author of Emergence: Labeled Autistic; Thinking in Pictures; Animals in Translation; Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships; The Way I See It; DIFFERENT...Not Less, and more books.

Temple Grandin is an international lecturer on autism, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, a best-selling and award-winning author, an autism activist, a consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior, and an engineer. She also created the "hug box," a device designed to calm those on the autism spectrum. The subject of an award-winning, 2010 biographical film, Temple Grandin was also listed in the TIME 100 list of the one hundred most influential people in the world, in the "Heroes" category. Temple’s achievements are remarkable because she was a child with autism. At age two, she had speech delays as well as other signs of severe autism. Fortunately, her mother defied the advice of her doctor and husband, who recommended she be institutionalized. Many hours of speech therapy and intensive training enabled Temple to speak. Mentoring by her high school science teacher and her aunt on her ranch in Arizona motivated Temple to study and pursue a career as a scientist and livestock equipment designer. She is author of Emergence: Labeled Autistic; Thinking in Pictures; Animals in Translation; Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships; The Way I See It; DIFFERENT...Not Less, and more books.