Can You See Me?: A powerful story of autism, empathy and kindness

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It would have been much better if there was more 'show' and much less 'tell'. A better book would try to recreate autism not explain it. Or is it a children's book where everything important has to be spelled out descriptively? It just doesn't ring authentic: it's got adult/ autism expert written all over it. There is no major twists or turns I'll say, but it is a sad and uplifting story altogether. Tally endures rough times and finds her autism hard .

So tonight... I've written a list of dos and don'ts for parenting an autistic child. Do try to adjust to their needs at times." Tally's autism means there are things that bother her even though she wishes they didn't. It means that some people misunderstand, her and feel frustrated by her. this is such a good representation of what it's like to be growing up as an autistic person and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to understand more what it's like to be autistic.LoveReading4Kids exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading4Kids means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. Something is different about sixth grade, and Tally now feels like she has to act "normal." But as Tally hides her true self, she starts to wonder what "normal" means after all and whether fitting in is really what matters most. No tengo la suerte de que mi sobrino con TEA sepa contarme como es vivir con autismo y como se siente, ya que es incapaz de comunicarse (o más bien nosotros somos los incapaces de entenderle) pero siento que este libro me ha acercado de alguna forma más a él y me ha hecho entender muchas de sus actitudes. Tally has autism but seldom tells anyone and usually hides away. When she starts her new school, everything is very big and overwhelming and she has to find ways to hide her autism, but what if she doesn't have to? This book is a combination of present-tense, third-person prose and short diary entries from the perspective of Tally, the autistic main character. The diary entries mainly focus on charting her anxiety levels and explaining terms and concepts related to autism, often breaking them down into pros and cons.

I can only speak from my own experience, and I am not making any commentary about autism itself, but I think there is a risk to reading a book like this and assuming that just because someone presents with a certain emotional, physical, or mental symptom means that it is part of their identity. Tally talks about how offensive it is when people talk about wanting to "cure" autism, and I completely understand why autism itself is part of her identity, but some of her behavioral, psychic, and sensitivity issues could at least hypothetically be eased. Based on my life experience, I have a hard time with the message that someone has to accept everything about their condition as inevitable and unchanging. Enter Rupert, the neighbor's three-legged dog, who is staying with the family (against her mother’s wishes) while his owner is in the hospital. The dog growls and snaps at people and Tally’s mother deems Rupert dangerous and requires for him to wear a muzzle. And though her mother won’t let her anywhere close to Rupert, Tally immediately bonds with the dog. Tally knows that Rupert is just scared of his new surroundings and new people. “The only thing that Rupert has done wrong is be different. And she knows exactly how it feels to have nobody understand you. She knows how much it hurts to be left outside in the dark, all on your own." Tally is eleven years old and she's just like her friends. Well, sometimes she is. If she tries really hard to be. Because there's something that makes Tally not the same as her friends. Something she can't cover up, no matter how hard she tries: Tally is autistic. For me, the narrator's voice is way too self aware, reflective, experienced, emotionally articulate, for an 11 year old, never mind an 11 year old with autism. Tally Olivia Adams is 12 years old and in 7th grade with her friends Lucy Aisha and Layla. Her big sister Nell is boring and annoying. Her parents struggle to help her with her autism. Tally life turns around as unexpected events come around ....It is early days but I really think this book is going to change a lot about how I think about things and how I support my daughter. The reader is supposed to believe that the main character, Tally, is a mainstreamed student at a public middle school, but the way her behavior is portrayed, there is no way she would be mainstreamed, and particularly without an IEP and all her teachers knowing what her needs were, which is not the case in this story. At home, Tally daily has melt-downs in which she screams at her parents and her sister, tells them she hates them, and that her behavior is all their fault, and that she can't help it. At school, however, she repeatedly comments that she feels like having a melt-down, but she just can't, because she doesn't want her friends to see. So apparently, she does have some control over her behavior, which makes her look like a spoiled brat. I am not autistic, and I had the very great blessing of being homeschooled, which I appreciated even more after reading this book. However, I deeply identify with Tally's high sensitivity to stimulation and agitation over it, her obsessive-compulsive tendencies, some of her tics, and her constant stress over trying to find some way to appear at least semi-normal, or at least normal enough to fly under the radar. This was also my first time reading a novel that reflected some of my behavioral issues from the past. Although Tally's are more extreme than mine were, or at least seem to make less rational sense, her feelings of grinding anxiety, rage, and explosion are painfully familiar to me. I had never, ever read descriptions like this before that I didn't write myself. It meant so much to me to read about this from another person's perspective, and to see Tally's stress about trying to behave and keep self-control, but getting to points where she literally cannot restrain the explosive behavior that takes over. It was so accurate, and even though Tally's triggers were different than mine, I cannot even imagine what an overwhelming comfort it would have been if I could have read something like this when I was twelve.