Chicago Author Offers Powerful Message of
Understanding for World Autism Month in April

Explains how parents, teachers and relatives can relate better to autistic children

Chicago, Illinois— The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1 out of every 68 children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder. More people than ever before are being diagnosed with the disorder and more families are trying to navigate the confusing waters of this diagnosis.

Jeanne Beard, author of the new book Autism and the Rest of Us: How to Sustain a Healthy, Functional and Satisfying Relationship with a Person on the Autism Spectrum, knows their situation well. She says she has earned the equivalent of a “Ph.D.” in the subject by surviving “pretty hard days” caring for her 19-year-old personable, funny, loving, creative, bright, and autistic son.

Beard shares hope and practical tips to help anyone understand what it’s like to live or work with a person who has autism, and manage their own emotions in order to provide the best possible environment for a healthy and satisfying relationship. She says, “It’s about understanding them at a functional level, and honoring them on their own terms, exactly as they are.” The rest of us need to appreciate that people on the spectrum are not neurologically wired to comprehend and comply with social rules, Beard notes.

She explains:

• Social shorthand: the difference in social thinking and non-social thinking
• Why people who have autism appear rude or disruptive.
• A first-hand view into what the experience of living with autism might feel like
• What motivates people with autism
• The important emotional experience of the rest of us
• Communication “do’s and don’ts”

CREDENTIALS: Jeanne Beard served as a writer on the team that produced Dr. Timothy J. Wahlberg’s 2010 book Finding the Gray: Understanding and Thriving in the Black and White World of Autism and Asperger’s. She is a graduate of Northwestern University. Autism and the Rest of Us is her first book written under her own name.

AVAILABILITY: Chicago, nationwide by arrangement and via telephone
CONTACT: Jeanne Beard, (630) 542-1191 or e-mail [email protected]