Abstract

How do teenagers with Asperger Syndrome view themselves and their own lives?

This book is based on extensive interviews with adolescents diagnosed with AS. It includes six life stories, written in collaboration with the teenagers themselves. These present an authentic and fascinating look at the lives of the teenagers and how AS has shaped their growing identities. The stories provide the basis for a discussion of common themes and issues facing teenagers with AS. Asperger Syndrome, Adolescence, and Identity also questions the medicalized deficit approach to Asperger Syndrome and discusses the social repercussions of labeling teenagers as having AS.

This is a welcome addition to the growing library about Asperger Syndrome. Compared with most books, this takes a slightly different approach to the subject by using a narrative approach and more specifically a combination of life stories as told by five teenagers and one almost teenager plus some additional life history material contributed by their parents. The authors used a guided (but not structured) interview technique that combined freedom with the coverage of certain specific areas that they wanted to highlight. Books like this are so useful to parents, teachers, and, of course, those who have AS. Knowing how other people cope, how positive they can be and what heights of achievement they scale is a tremendously valuable contribution, this is a very worthwhile addition to the literature on the subject.
Metapsychology
Harvey Molloy is a researcher and writer residing in New Zealand. Prior to this he was an Assistant Professor in the Scholars' Programme at the National University of Singapore. Latika Vasil has a doctorate in educational psychology and is a researcher and writer, also based in New Zealand, with an interest in Asperger Syndrome. Both are involved with various autism and AS organisations.
I found the stories compelling. So many of them reminded me of my own son and others I know. The reader is led to understand his parents frustration within the constraints of mainstream schooling. The most important thread I found from all the stories is that the label Asperger syndrome is useful for others in identifying a social difference between them and their peers, but they are still al individuals.
Children Now