I’m so glad you’re thinking about buying a copy of my book ‘Autism, Asperger’s, Anarchy: The Ringmaster’s Tale’.
I’m sure you’ll find it incredibly helpful whether you already have experience of autism or you’re totally new to the whole thing. In a nutshell it’s the book I wish someone had given me when my eldest son was born, and it’s already very popular with autistic people, their families and the professionals who support them.
100% OF ALL PROFITS FROM THIS BOOK GO DIRECTLY TO AUTISM ALL STARS.
How do I buy a copy?
If you’d like to buy a book directly from me and you’re in the UK, I’d be very happy to send you one.
If you live abroad, the postage costs are much cheaper if you buy a copy through Amazon so that’s definitely your best bet. If you can’t get hold of one that way, feel free to contact me using the ‘Contact’ form on this website and I can give you a quote for how much it would cost to buy directly from me.
Each copy will be signed with a personal dedication and costs £14 (with free p&p). Please send me an email via [email protected] if you’d like the book dedicated to someone else, otherwise it will be addressed to whoever placed the order.
Books will be sent by first class post and should arrive within a few days of your order being placed.
Alternatively you can buy a paperback copy from Amazon for just £10.99 here: PAPERBACK VERSION
Or a Kindle version for only £3.99: KINDLE VERSION
Plus, if you’re an Amazon Prime member you can read it FOR FREE on Kindle Unlimited!
As you can see, it’s reached Number One on the Amazon Best Seller list, which is a huge achievement for an independently published book. It’s obviously very popular, but what exactly is it about?
Well, it’s a pretty thorough account of what autism is, what it isn’t, and how to cope with the difficulties it brings while remembering to celebrate the opportunities. There’s loads of advice mixed with the honest and often hilarious story of how I brought up my four incredible autistic children to be happy, healthy and independent despite all the doom and gloom that was predicted for them.
I’ve been genuinely delighted by the response the book has received, and have heard from many people how it’s helped them understand and appreciate autism in a far more positive way. It also contains lots of coping strategies as well as free access to some of the most powerful and effective therapeutic tools I’ve ever used – very handy if you’re feeling stressed out, and let’s be honest, who isn’t these days?
Here are just a few quotes from the five star reviews it’s received on Amazon:
“If you are only going to read one book on autism, make sure it’s this one.”
“This book is the best book I have read in 9 years of parenting a child on the autistic spectrum.”
“My only regret is that I did not have this book to help me when I was thrown into the scary world of autism.”
“Rather than feeling like I was reading a text book, it was like reading a personal letter from my best friend.”
“All the worries I had for my grandson I have no more, this lady has put hope back into our future.”
“This is the best book I have read that is linked to autism, from clinical to personal reflection and fiction, this book is the best by far.”
“This is a wonderful book on so many levels. It made me laugh and cry in equal measure. I think it would definitely benefit autism parents, particularly those with a recent diagnosis, as there is so much good advice within. As well as being so inspirational.”
“Helen Wallace Iles is an incredible person, having four children on the Spectrum she knows her stuff. The book is all about the daily challenges families face, it’s like being invited into her world.”
“Helen’s book has become my bible, my security blanket, and if I could carry it around with me all the time for comfort I would. Having a child on the Spectrum, The Ringmasters Tale has become a lifeline.”
“A book full of compassion and great information. It is easy to read and I learnt a lot. This is a great book for anyone with a child with Autism and or Asperger’s, as it is full of useful advice. The book is full of hope too.”
“This is a brilliant book written in a sympathetic, understanding but light-hearted way.”
“Get it. Read it. Enrich your life!”
Below are a couple of extracts from my book which will give you an idea of how it’s written. I’ve included one serious section and one funny one, and together they’re a really good representation of what you can expect.
Tackling the Tough Stuff
When it comes to autism parenting there’s such a variety of day to day struggles that no-one could ever list them all. Everyone’s lives are different, everyone’s expectations are different and everyone’s children are different, so the number of potential problems you could come up against at any given moment is so vast it would be impossible to discuss them all in one book, let alone one chapter.
I’ve chosen instead to focus on four of the most challenging issues you’re likely to face if your son or daughter is on the spectrum, offer some insight into what might be causing them, and more importantly explain how you can handle them without losing your mind.
Behavioural meltdowns, refusal to cooperate, food aversion and sleep disturbances can all be part and parcel of living with autism, and how you deal with them can make all the difference to both your peace of mind and your child’s progress.
Well that makes sense
Understanding how your child makes sense of their world is absolutely vital if you’re going to successfully ride the rollercoaster of emotions that come with life on the spectrum. Being autistic means your brain is wired to process information differently to non-autistic people, so inevitably an autistic person’s experience of life will be very different too.
Whatever we do in our lives, whether we’re awake or asleep, our brains are constantly processing information and deciding how best to respond to it. We take this information in through our senses: by seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. These are the best known senses, but we also collect data in other ways including understanding what our muscles, joints, tendons and ligaments are doing (known as proprioceptive input) and through our sense of balance, movement and our relationship to gravity (known as vestibular input).
We collect information in all these different ways at the same time, wherever we are and whatever we’re doing, whether we want to or not. For non-autistic (neurotypical) people this doesn’t present much of a problem because they can easily prioritise each bit of information as it comes in and automatically ignore those sights, sounds, smells etc. which aren’t relevant to what they’re doing at the time, but autistic people can really struggle with this process.
They have something called sensory processing disorder (SPD) which means their brains are trying to process an absolute torrent of information from every direction at once without being able to block any out, and this can quickly lead to them becoming upset and overwhelmed in a situation most people would simply take in their stride.
Imagine you’re climbing a hill. Although you might usually do it without thinking, your brain will be constantly processing all kinds of sensory information: anything from the surrounding temperature to moving the muscles in your arms and legs; from keeping your balance to feeling the touch of your clothing on your skin. For an autistic person, not only is every little scrap of information just as important as all the rest, so they’re all competing for attention at once, but that information can be distorted to the point where a bird singing sounds like a train whistle going off inside their ear and the label in their trousers feels like it’s made from rose thorns. Make no mistake: being autistic is hard work, and making sense of the world can be incredibly difficult, painful and often downright scary.
The good news is there’s plenty you can do to help reduce the difficulties, pain and fear your child might be experiencing; you just have to learn to spot what’s going on as quickly as possible and do whatever you can to put it right.
A Day at the Circus
October 1998
- Child 1 (age 6) decides to dress himself for school. Full instructions have been given the previous evening, so am feeling confident of his success.
- 7:30am: Hear dreadful choking sounds coming from bedroom. Discover Child 1 strangling himself with school tie. On further investigation, realise my direction to ‘slide your tie up until you reach your top button’ have proved useless as his top button is in fact missing.
- Hastily explain that reaching one’s neck is also an excellent time to stop tightening. #AlwaysCheckTheButtons
- 8am: Child 2 (age 3) has recently started returning from nursery each evening with dirt under his fingernails. Ask nursery staff why, and am told he plays in the same muddy spot outside every day, saving his place each night with a specific stone.
- 6pm: Collect Child 2 from nursery. Frazzled nursery teacher informs me Child 2 has in fact been digging escape tunnel under fence for some time, using stone as entrance marker once loose soil has been replaced.
- Having finally completed tunnel, Child 2 has today led daring band of small children out onto pavement, getting three toddlers through fence before staff noticed anything was amiss.
- Teacher assures me playground is now scheduled to be tarmacked.
- Explain Child 2’s latest obsession is Chicken Run (film about group of militant hens constantly plotting escape from farmyard prison).
- Conclusion: Child 2 may not have any speech yet, but has plenty of imagination, leadership and strategic planning skills. #ProudMummyMoment
*****
Oh, and there are also illustrations based on my own experiences…and yes, I’ve actually done this – many times!
Remember…
If you’d like to buy a book directly from me and you’re in the UK, I’d be very happy to send you one, and 100% OF ALL PROFITS GO DIRECTLY TO AUTISM ALL STARS.
Each copy will be signed with a personal dedication and costs £14 (with free p&p). Please send me an email via [email protected] if you’d like the book dedicated to someone else, otherwise it will be addressed to whoever placed the order.
Books will be sent by first class post and should arrive within a few days of your order being placed.
Alternatively you can buy a paperback copy from Amazon for just £10.99 here: PAPERBACK VERSION
Or a Kindle version for only £3.99: KINDLE VERSION
Plus, if you’re an Amazon Prime member you can read it FOR FREE on Kindle Unlimited!
Please feel free to share this post with anyone you feel might benefit from reading my book, and remember you can always buy it for yourself as a present.
Meanwhile, I’d like to wish you lots of love, laughter and hope on your autistic adventures.