New Book: Autism Fundraiser and Book Signing Event

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Join us!  Free Appetizers!

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

5:00- 7:00 pm CozyMel’s in La Jolla (UTC), San Diego  CA

Proceeds of book sales that evening will benefit NFAR

Ten years ago my first book was published by Penguin and won a few awards. I’m thrilled to announce that I spent the past year revising that popular book, and the Revised Edition is now available. It has a slightly different name – Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Compete Guide to Understanding Autism. To celebrate the publication of this updated book, a fundraiser book-signing event is taking place in San Diego. I’ll be on-hand to sign books. Proceeds of book sales that evening will benefit NFAR. Shannon Vajda and Robin Champlin, Esq. are sponsoring the event. So come get a book signed, enjoy some free appetizers, and support a local autism organization!

About Your Hosts – Shannon Vajda (Pacific Coast Partnership) specializes in mediation-based services, including open adoption and co-facilitated martial and divorce mediation, providing confidential, fair, flexible and mutually beneficial resolutions. Robin Champlin’s full-service law firm represents students and their families in all matters related to education from pre-school through transition into adulthood, providing an individually tailored and child-entered strategy for each case.

About NFAR – NFAR’s mission is to help in the development, expansion and support of autism programs and services that improve the quality of life for children and young adults with autism in the San Diego Region.  

About the Book – Newly revised and updated, this award-winning guide covers every aspect of understanding and living with autism today.  Awards for the book include Outstanding Book of the Year – Autism Society of America, and Best in Health – San Diego Book Awards. Comprehensive and authoritative, Autism Spectrum Disorder explains all aspect of the condition, and is written for parents, educators, caregivers and others looking for accurate information and expert insight. Newly updated to reflect the latest research, treatment methods, and DSM V criteria, the invaluable book covers autism from diagnosis to adulthood.

Praise for the Book

“This updated version of Autism Spectrum Disorder is as indispensable as the award-winning original. This well-documented guide offers clear answers to difficult questions and recommends the important resources that parents will find the most useful. Since the first edition was published, Chantal has written four more essential books while raising her son who is now a young man. She’s done the research so the reader doesn’t have to! Her abundance of practical knowledge has been compiled into this user-friendly updated edition that both parents and professionals will want to keep on hand to refer to time and time again. Truly a must-have!” – Ricki G. Robinson, MD,MPH, member Scientific Review Panel of Autism Speaks; Medical Director, Profectum; and author of Autism Solutions: How to Create a Healthy and Meaningful Life for Your Child

“If I could recommend just one book to families and professionals, this is it! In “Autism Spectrum Disorders”, Chantal Sicile-Kira shares her immense knowledge, personal experience and insightful advice for families affected by Autism. She guides readers along the journey from diagnosis through adulthood, including an extensive compilation of resources and “food for thought” throughout. This isn’t a book that you’ll read once and place on a shelf, it’s an invaluable resource that you will continue to refer to for years to come.” – Wendy Fournier, President of the National Autism Association

“Autism Spectrum Disorders is a tremendous resource for families caring for children and adults with autism. While sharing her personal experiences of a parent of a child with autism, Chantal Sicile-Kira provides insights and resources that are often missing from many of the books on this topic. Quite simply Autism Spectrum Disorders simplifies many of the complications that families face in navigating systems of care and in doing so, she gives families hope and great inspiration.” – Areva D. Martin, Esq., Co-founder and President, Special Needs Network, Inc.

“For over 30 years I have treated visual developmental delays for those with ASD; I think I have made a difference. But my contributions pale in comparison to what Jeremy has taught me through his work in Vision Therapy, and what Chantal has taught me as a mother and author. This book will become a life-long companion for those who want to  make a difference in a life – a life with autism or not.” – Carl G. Hillier, OD FCOVD, Clinical Director: San Diego Center For Vision Care

“A Clearly written, well-organized, carefully documented compilation of important information and useful advice. It will provide invaluable help and guidance to parents and professionals alike, especially those who are new to the worlds of autism. This book is not merely highly recommended-it is indispensible.”- Bernard Rimland, Ph.D., Past director of the Autism Research Institute, founder of the Autism Society of America and past editor of Autism Research Review

“This is the book we’ve all been waiting for. It is an essential source of information and advice in plain everyday language that can help anyone who is affected by autism today, from the parent of a newly diagnosed child, to someone who has been in the trenches for years. Kudos to Chantal for providing us with this long overdue, user-friendly, how-to guide for dealing with autism.” – Portia Iversen, Cofounder, Cure Autism Now Foundation (CAN),  member Innovative Technology for Autism Advisory Board of Autism Speaks, author of Strange Son

“The essential book that parents, health professionals, and a wide readership will reach for in order to fathom this confounding condition.” —Douglas Kennedy, author of Leaving the World, The Moment, Five Days and The Pursuit of Happiness

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Dr. Bernard Rimland 1928 – 2006

Dr. Bernard Rimland passed away just a few days before this past  Thanksgiving and will be mourned by many.  At times controversial, always searching for answers, he changed the way autism was viewed  worldwide. Those of us who knew him as Bernie will always feel a twinge of sorrow around this holiday, a reminder of how  much we have  to thank this pioneer who  played  David to the medical establishment’s Goliath.  As  research would prove, fighting Goliath  was not a lost cause  but a righteous endeavor.

The first time I heard  Dr. Bernard Rimland’s name  was the  day after a visit with my son to a psychoanalyst  for the only treatment on offer for autism  in Paris at the time. The bookshelf in the  waiting room   included  a few copies of ‘The Empty Fortress’ by Bruno  Bettleheim,   who believed that autism was a reaction to bad parenting and expounded  the ‘refrigerator mother’ theory of autism.

Dr. Rimland’s  book,  ‘Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implications for a Neural Theory of Behavior’(1964),  would have been a  better choice in this psychoanalyst’s  waiting room. In his book,  Dr. Rimland  lambasted  the then generally held view that autism was a psychological disorder, brought on by cold and unloving parents. His conclusion was  that autism was the result of   biochemical defects underlain, perhaps, by a genetic predisposition, but ultimately triggered by environmental assaults. This book grew out of the research he did searching for answers when his son, Mark,  born in 1956, displayed behaviors which are now easily recognizable as symptoms of autism but were rarely seen in those days.

The psychoanalyst I visited informed  me that  my son had autistic behaviors due to separation issues from breast feeding. This she  gleaned form watching my son play with two round objects, and  crawl across the floor  in an attempt to retrieve  one that he accidentally dropped.  Following this Allen Woodyesque moment, and looking for some  useful advice, I called an old friend and former colleague from a state hospital  for the developmentally disabled in California.   She gave me the telephone number  for  the Autism Research Institute, the non-profit  founded by Dr.Bernard Rimland in 1967. Continue reading »