Autism & Anxiety; The Ultimate Teen Survival Guide by Charlotte Chaney & Danielle Punter
This is a new book published by Autability who describe themselves as, “existing to educate, train and support people who parent or work with neurodivergent individuals. So much of the advice and training available today comes from neurotypical sources. We believe that the best qualification a person can have in order to advise and train others is lived experience.”
Charlotte is diagnosed autistic, ADHD, dyspraxic and dyslexic whilst Danielle is diagnosed with ADHD and Generalised Anxiety Disorder. Both are parent carers and both have completed a wide range of training around neurodivergence. I was particularly keen to get my hands on a copy of this book as, being a Teen Life course facilitator, I often find parents asking us how they can help their autistic teenager who is anxious. As a parent of an adult autistic daughter who experiences anxiety, I was eager to see what other strategies Danielle and Charlotte would suggest that would be more suited to neurodivergent individuals.
One of the best bits about this book is it written for teenagers, rather than for parents, so it enables and empowers the young person to develop their own strategies for reducing anxiety. Danielle and Charlotte take a sensitive and informal approach to the topic of anxiety whilst also ensuring they cover all the important facts. In the introduction there is an age appropriate explanation of what anxiety is with references to real life situations that teens regularly experience.
I particularly love Charlotte’s analogy of life being like playing a game of Jenga for Neurodivergent individuals, with each Jenga block representing all the different daily tasks and activities that have to be navigated. Too many demands or energy zapping activities make the tower, and the teen, wobbly. Keep going with that and the tower crashes, or in human terms you, experience emotional distress and eventually autistic burnout.
The remainder of the book is broken down into manageable chapters covering important areas of a teenager’s life such as routines, school, friendships, social events, food, sleep and much more. Charlotte and Danielle provide loads of easy step by step strategies that teens can implement in their own lives, with or without parental support. There is no fancy or expensive equipment needed, just a determination to listen to the experience of neurodivergent adults who have been there themselves and have learnt what works. Text and layout are dyslexic friendly, the book is also available as an e-book. Although the title suggest this is for autistic teens, due to both the authors both having a diagnosis of ADHD, I would also say the strategies could be useful for any neurodivergence.
This is a book that you can easily dip in and out of and its only 162 pages in total, I managed to read the whole book in a couple of hours. Although designed for teens I think it also has a lot to offer parents in terms of understanding how you can support your neurodivergent young person. Many parents we support can find it difficult to understand why their young person is experiencing anxiety. I think this book gives a voice to what your teen is experiencing but cannot describe themselves. I have also recommended it to my husband who is a teacher, as there are definitely tips that educators could implement in their settings. Autability have produced a range of different books and have a mass of free resources on their website. Visit https://www.autability.co.uk/
