Thread by @SueReviews

Today's the day! Our new book (me and @HappeLab ) is OUT!

[THREAD]

It is called "Autism: A new introduction to psychological theory and current debate"

It aims to provide a succinct overview of theories of autism, reviewing the evidence + incorporating autistic voices.

You can buy the book here: routledge.com/Autism-A-New-I…

user the offer code BSE19 for a 20% discount!

You can also read all about the book at this page I just made: dart.ed.ac.uk/autism-book/

and see how we commissioned autistic writers here: dart.ed.ac.uk/community-cont…

Each chapter was illustrated by the super-talented @mantemarisa

You can download all the sketches FOR FREE here: figshare.com/articles/Autis…

Chapter 1 describes the purpose of the book & introduces the "levels of explanation", showing how cognition relates to biology & behaviour

The community contributer here is Daniel Wechsler, a PhD student researchering how family and social environments affect mental health outcomes in people with neurodevelopmental conditions. He writes about how theory has limited relevance to the individual experience of autism

Chapter 2 provides a brief history of autism, reviewing the contributions of key academics, clinicians, parents and autistic people.

The community contributor was @autimodo - a pioneering autistic advocate and founder of the autistic online community, INLV. Martijn wrote about the history of the neurodiversity movement and ends with a call for greater acceptance of difference within and beyond that community

Chapter 3 describes how autism is described at the behavioural level, exploring changing diagnostic criteria, differences across the lifespan and discussing heterogeneity within the spectrum (or, as we refer to it, the constellation)

The community contribution to this chapter is by @Kabieuk - an Autistic activist, speaker and advocate. She writes about variability within the autistic population - between individuals and over time - and the challenges of communcating with non-autistic professionals

Chapter 4 describes what is known about autism at the biological level incorporating genetics, neurobiology and neurological function.

The community contribute is by Anya Utaszewski - Autistic, composer and database admin. She writes about her experience taking part in a brain scanning study. You can find her website here: anyasmusic.co.uk

Chapter 5 introduces the cognitive level, providing the vocabulary and concepts which have been used by psychologists in attempts to describe autism

The community contributor is @DrEvansWilliams - an autistic person, advocate and consultant clinical psychologist. She writes about the limitations of theory in attempting to describe the human condition

Chapter 6 delves into so-called "primary deficit theories" of autism that attempted to account for autism by identify a specific cognitive faculty that was "impaired" among people with the diagnosis.

The community contributor is @axbey - an autistic trainee teacher (now qualified and doing a Masters then PhD!). She writes about the negative impact of primary deficit models in schools

Chapter 7 is about developmental trajectory models which attempt to describe autism in terms of complex interacting differences and processes that operate over time.

The commuity contributor is @AnnMemmott - an autistic autism advisor, parent and business-owner. She writes about how autistic people change and develop over time.

Chapter 8 reports on information processing theories of autism including weak central coherence theory, Bayesian (predictive coding) models and monotropism.

The community contirbution is by @soundcube - an artist and autistic advocate. He writes about his own subjective experience of information processing and how it has influenced his life and his art.

Chapter 9 reflects on the impact of the theoretical models covered in the book, evaluating them less in terms of empirical evidence and more for what they have done to improve understanding and practice in schools, clinics and beyond

The community contributor here is @MxOolong - a teacher and co-founder of @AMASEdin who writes on the internet here: medium.com/@Oolong

They talk about which theories resonate for them, highlighting monotropism as a particularly meaningful theoretical model

Chapter 10 is the final chapter in which we talk about what happens next for autism research, and call for more participatory reserch (as also discussed in this paper: journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.117…

And the last word goes to @jamcusack - director of science for @AutisticaUK He writes about his own experience of diagnosis in relation to his hopes for the future of autism research and practice.

Ok, that's the whole book! @HappeLab and I really hope you enjoy it. I'll finsih with another link to where you can buy a copy!
amazon.co.uk/Autism-Introdu…

and a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who contributed, reviewed and supported us while we wrote!

final tweet, this is how I now feel...

Postscript:

I know lots of folk have copies on order and are looking forward to reading this book. Please use #NewAutismDebate to share your thoughts on here. We’re excited to hear what you think!

@DuallaOne @soundcube