This important volume provides a theoretical framework for the usefulness of the stress construct in understanding and treating autism. Contributions by researchers, clinicians, teachers and persons living with autism illustrate how stress influences the lives of persons with autism; how those touched by autism cope with stress; and how clinicians, teachers and caregivers can reduce the impact of stress in autism.
The authors explore how stress contributes to the physiological, psychological, and overt behavioral manifestations of autism. Narratives by individuals with autism, family members, clinicians, and a musician help the reader to understand in a rich and unique way the role and impact stress can have in the life of people living with autism and also highlight creative coping strategies over a lifetime. Clinicians and educators offer a range of intervention and instructional strategies to reduce stress and to prevent or alleviate anxiety and other disruptive responses inherent in autism. This volume's biological, psychological and social perspectives on stress and autism reflect many modes of inquiry and types of information.Stress, Coping and Autismwill be of great help to mental health professionals, researchers and caregivers alike.
I. FOUNDATIONS IN STRESS, COPING AND AUTISM Assessment and Coping Strategies,June Groden, PhD, M. Grace Baron, PhD, Gerald Groden, PhD Scientific Foundations for Research and Practice II. THE EXPERIENCE OF STRESS IN AUTISM Stopping the Constant Stress: A Personal Account,Temple Grandin, PhD Living with Autism: A Collaboration III. EMERGING PATHWAYS FOR THE STUDY OF STRESS, COPING, AND AUTISM Is Autism a Stress Disorder? What Studies of Nonautistic Populations Can Tell Us,Kathleen Morgan, PhD Autism and the Physiology of Stress and Anxiety IV. STRATEGIES FOR COPING WITH STRESS Stress and Coping Among Family Members of Individuals with Autism,Bl³¸