Finding Our Way: Practical Solutions for Creating a Supportive Home and Community for the Asperger Syndrome Family by Kristi Sakai, 2005.

This slim volume won the 2006 ASA Literary Work of the Year Award from the Autism Society of America. It is an easy-to-read collection that features information and skills that will be helpful to any parent who is absorbing what it means to have a child diagnosed with Asperger’s Disorder.  Sakai is a mother of three children with Asperger’s, and she writes about everything from first reactions to meltdowns to creating an environment that is supportive for parents, siblings, affected children, and the community as a whole.

Her discussions about community outings and descriptions of fun family activities that meet the high-sensory needs of children with Asperger’s are welcome indeed.  And her family anecdotes lend a realism to the book that will be much-appreciated. Written with wit and wisdom, the frequent flashes of humor should bring a rueful chuckle, if not outright laughter.

Probably the most useful section is Sakai’s discussion of meltdowns, their various stages, and suggested interventions. According to the seasoned Sakai, “The first and most important lesson to learn about meltdowns is that the child does not want to have one. . . . Your child is in extreme distress when he is melting down, and not only is he not under your control, he is not under is own control. . . . For him, once the storm hits, there’s no escape from the flood of emotions that are ravaging his mind and body. He is trapped. Therefore, have compassion.”

Available from Autism Asperger Publishing Company at www.asperger.net and at www.amazon.com.

The Bipolar Teen: What You Can Do to Help Your Child and Your Family by David J. Miklowitz and Elizabeth L. George, 2007.

This just might be the book that your family has been waiting for. The authors have used family-focused treatment approaches for years, and they have worked out a thoroughly researched family-focused intervention for adolescents who have bipolar disorder. The authors say they “have learned a great deal about successful illness management tools the family can use—how to keep a teen well when she’s stable, how to recognize the oncoming train of mania and intervene . . . how to help pull teens out of deep depression . . . how parents can recognize their teen’s suicidal impulses and what to do . . . and how important it is for parents to communicate . . . to make sure their teen is not just labeled with a “behavior problem” and grouped with all the other children.”

Miklowitz and George also provide useful information on how to get an accurate diagnosis, detailed descriptions about the wide variety of medications that may be prescribed and how to understand their use, and a variety of valuable family strategies and resources including books about bipolar teens written for and by teens.           

You can also find out more about Miklowitz’s treatment approach in two additional books: Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide and Bipolar Disorder: A Family-Focused Treatment Approach.

All three books are published by Guilford Press and are available at www.guilford.com and www.amazon.com.

Focal Point: Research, Policy and Practice in Children’s Mental Health, published quarterly by the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children’s Mental Health, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon.  Retrieved 2/2/08 http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgFocalPoint.shtml

This quarterly magazine is invaluable for parents and professionals who are seeking to improve the system of mental health services for children and adolescents. Each issue is theme-based and reports on essential research, model programs, and leading individuals in the field of children’s mental health. The Winter 2008 issue, for example, focuses on recruiting, training, and supporting staff who work on the front lines of children’s mental health services. Articles cover preschool child-parent programming, residential treatment, Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST), mental health consultation in preschool programs, wraparound services, and direct support services.

A subscription to Focal Point is free—just visit www.rtc.pdx.edu for more information. The Center also has dozens of other publications available.

Diagnostic Manual-Intellectual Disability (DM-ID): A Textbook of Diagnosis of Mental Disorders in Persons with Intellectual Disability and the companion volume Diagnostic Manual-Intellectual Disability (DM-ID): A Clinical Guide for Diagnosis of Mental Disorders in Persons with Intellectual Disability prepared by the National Association for the Dually Diagnosed (NADD) and the American Psychiatric Association (APA), 2007.

According to NADD, “the goal of both volumes is to facilitate a more accurate psychiatric diagnosis of people with ID.  Chapters in the DM-ID cover both special issues (i.e., assessment and diagnostic procedures and presentations of behavioral phenotypes of genetic disorders) as well as the individual DSM-IV categories.” 

The NADD describes the textbook as offering “a broad examination of the topic, including a description of each disorder, a summary of the DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria, a review of the literature and research and an evaluation of the strength of evidence supporting the literature conclusions, a discussion of the etiology and pathogenesis of the disorders, and adaptations of the diagnostic criteria for the ID population.”

And of the guide, the NADD notes that it “has been abridged for clinical usefulness.  It focuses on issues related to diagnosis in people with ID, the limitations in applying DSM-IV-TR criteria to people with ID, and adaptation of the diagnostic criteria.”

Both books are available through NADD at www.thenadd.org and at www.amazon.com.