Books About Autism – 28 Autism Related Book Suggestions

Whilst we did our research to find the most well-reviewed books on Autism, we can’t be responsible for third-party content. All book descriptions are from Amazon.

For Parents

1001 Great Ideas for Teaching and Raising Children with Autism or Asperger’s

Winner of a Silver medal in the Independent Publishers Book Awards and Learning Magazine’s Teachers Choice Award, 1001 Great Ideas has been a treasured resource in the autism community since 2004. In this expanded second edition, Ellen Notbohm (best-selling author of the revolutionary book Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew) and Veronica Zysk (award-winning author and former editor of Autism Asperger’s Digest magazine) present parents and educators with over 1800 ideas try-it-now tips, eye-opening advice, and grassroots strategies. More than 600 fresh ideas join tried and true tactics from the original edition, offering modifications for older kids, honing in on Asperger’s challenges, and enhancing already-effective ways to help your child or student achieve success at home, in school, and in the community. This one-stop-shop of solutions, explanations, and strategies guides the reader to quickly find ideas that speak to the variety of developmental levels, learning styles, and abilities inherent in children with autism and Asperger’s.

An Early Start for Your Child with Autism: Using Everyday Activities to Help Kids Connect, Communicate, and Learn

Cutting-edge research reveals that parents can play a huge role in helping toddlers and preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) connect with others and live up to their potential. This encouraging guide from the developers of a groundbreaking early intervention program provides doable, practical strategies you can use every day. Nearly all young kids—including those with ASD—have an amazing capacity to learn. Drs. Sally Rogers, Geraldine Dawson, and Laurie Vismara make it surprisingly simple to turn daily routines like breakfast or bath time into fun and rewarding learning experiences that target crucial developmental skills. Vivid examples illustrate proven techniques for promoting play, language, and engagement. Get an early start—and give your child the tools to explore and enjoy the world.

Autism and Asperger Syndrome in Children

Dr Luke Beardon is a well-known expert in the field, and this book is an accessible, easy-to-read introduction for those encountering autism for the first time. Gently and honestly, it guides you through the issues you might encounter, busting the myths around autism and Asperger Syndrome, and explaining what the diagnosis means for your child, for you, and for your wider family. It looks at sensory profiles, helps you handle your child’s anxiety, tackles education, and answers a variety of frequently asked questions.

Carly’s Voice: Breaking Through Autism

In this international bestseller, father and advocate for Autism awareness Arthur Fleischmann blends his daughter Carly’s own words with his story of getting to know his remarkable daughter—after years of believing that she was unable to understand or communicate with him.

What Works for Autistic Children

From early communication, through pre-school, primary school, secondary school – on holidays, school trips and with friends – your child should not have to struggle to exist within the parameters of a world they don’t understand. What Works for Autistic Children will give you the dialogue, tools and starting points to involve every professional and family member as advocates for a world where your child flourishes.

Avoiding Anxiety in Autistic Children: A Guide for Autistic Wellbeing (Overcoming Common Problems)

As the parent of an autistic child, you may find your path to adulthood different to the one you had expected to take, but as this book makes clear, autism should be celebrated and affirmed. Avoiding Anxiety in Autistic Children helps you to do just that, with practical strategies that will help happiness, not anxiety, remain the overriding emotion that colours your child’s memories of their early years.

Parenting Rewired: How to Raise a Happy Autistic Child in a Very Neurotypical World

Packed with lived-experience insight and easy-to-follow advice this transformative guide will change how you view the behaviour of your autistic child and challenge you to rewire your thinking to see the world through the autistic lens. This guide challenges the common misunderstandings surrounding autistic behaviour, such as emotional dysregulation in public settings or meltdowns at mealtimes. Parents and carers will be given a deeper understanding of why their child behaves the way they do and how a change in your parenting approach is key to relaxing and resolving difficult situations. This book gives you all the tools you need to not only parent your autistic child but also to understand them.

Nurturing Your Autistic Young Person: A Parent’s Handbook to Supporting Newly Diagnosed Teens and Pre-Teens

As the parent of a child recognised as autistic as a pre-teen or teen, it can often feel difficult to find the answers you need. Children who make it to late primary/early secondary age before being picked up by the system tend to present with traits that are harder to spot, meaning it can be harder to engage professionals in the diagnostic process and gather the necessary support.

Cathy Wassell, CEO of Autistic Girls Network, has tailored this handbook to support parents with older children or teenagers who are at the identification stage, walking them through the basics in an engaging and accessible manner. She addresses key challenges for this age group, including co-occurring conditions, puberty, and safeguarding, as well as looking to the future, advising on schooling options, and beyond.

The Strengths-Based Guide to Supporting Autistic Children: A Positive Psychology Approach to Parenting

This flexible, dip-in-dip-out guide will introduce you to the strengths-based approach that is helping autistic children and their families to thrive. By focusing on how to identify, develop and use your child’s strengths to support them throughout childhood and into adolescence, this transformative approach is here to show you and your child that their unique character strengths can empower them and shape their future.

Claire O’Neill combines her personal experience as an autistic person and mother to autistic children with her expert knowledge as a professional working with autistic young people to demonstrate the value of a strengths-based approach.

With step-by-step instructions on how parents and teachers can incorporate this approach easily into family and school life, Claire also offers a variety of specific tips, tricks and engaging activities to provide ongoing support for parents and teachers alike.

For Young Children with Autism

The Secret Life of Rose

The Secret Life of Rose covers a range of topics that are central to the autistic experience. While Rose writes peer-to-peer, her mum Jodie adds the perspective of an adult who is also a professional in the field. The end result is a book that opens up the autistic experience in a way that is both fresh and accessible.

A Kind of Spark

A Kind of Spark tells the story of 11-year-old Addie as she campaigns for a memorial in memory of the witch trials that took place in her Scottish hometown. Addie knows there’s more to the story of these ‘witches’, just like there is more to hers. Can Addie challenge how the people in her town see her, and her autism, and make her voice heard? 

Speak Up!

Twelve-year-old Mia is just trying to navigate a world that doesn’t understand her true autistic self. While she wishes she could stand up to her bullies, she’s always been able to express her feelings through singing and songwriting, even more so with her best friend, Charlie, who is nonbinary, putting together the best beats for her.

Together, they’ve taken the internet by storm; little do Mia’s classmates know that she’s the viral singer Elle-Q! But while the chance to perform live for a local talent show has Charlie excited, Mia isn’t so sure.

She’ll have to decide whether she’ll let her worries about what other people think get in the way of not only her friendship with Charlie but also showing everyone, including the bullies, who she is and what she has to say.

For Young People & Teenagers with Autism

The Spectrum Girl’s Survival Guide: How to Grow Up Awesome and Autistic

With practical tips on friendships, dating, body image, consent and appearance, as well as how to survive school and bullying, The Spectrum Girl’s Survival Guide gives you the power to embrace who you are, reminding you that even during the toughest of teen moments, you are never alone.

The Asperkid’s (Secret) Book of Social Rules: The Handbook of Not-So-Obvious Social Guidelines for Tweens and Teens with Asperger Syndrome

Top secret guide to the hidden social rules of making friends and conversation, for teens and tweens

Autism, Bullying and Me: The Really Useful Stuff You Need to Know About Coping Brilliantly with Bullying

It’s not always easy to stand out from the crowd, especially if you’re a teenager. There’s a lot of information out there on how to deal with bullying, but a lot of it is contradictory or seems like it won’t work…

But this guidebook is different! Helping you sort fact from fiction, the book looks at the different forms bullying can take and debunks commonly held myths, such as “bullying makes you stronger” and “ignore it and it will stop”. You’ll learn techniques to clear your mind so that you can respond to bullying situations calmly and confidently, and be positive about who you are. Finally, it’s packed with self-empowering strategies for coping with being autistic in a neurotypical world, and practical tips, so you can handle any bullying scenario.

A Kind of Spark

A Kind of Spark tells the story of 11-year-old Addie as she campaigns for a memorial in memory of the witch trials that took place in her Scottish hometown. Addie knows there’s more to the story of these ‘witches’, just like there is more to hers. Can Addie challenge how the people in her town see her and her autism and make her voice heard? 

For Adults

AUTISM – Behind The Locked Door: Understanding My Life as an Autistic

Behind The Locked Door is a guide to understanding autism. And it will help readers more effectively communicate with people on the spectrum. Written for parents, educators, employers and for people eager to learn more about autism and disabilities, this book gives readers:

Autism in Adults (Overcoming Common Problems)

If you’ve recently been diagnosed as autistic, and think you may be or are close to someone who is, one of the things you will like most about this book is the way in which it challenges the idea of autism as a ‘disorder’ or ‘impairment’.

Instead, Dr Luke Beardon will help you to reframe what you feel, and challenge what you know, about being on the spectrum. He explains how autism impacts the individual, and what purpose a diagnosis might – or might not – serve. There is a lot of myth-busting, and dismantling of the stereotypes and clichés around ASD and areas like communication, social interaction and relationships. Practical tips for undiagnosed adults will help you navigate things like school, work, study, parenthood and even to understand what happens when autistic people break the law.

Avoiding Anxiety in Autistic Adults: A Guide for Autistic Wellbeing

Dr Luke Beardon has put together an optimistic, upbeat and readable guide that will be essential reading not just for any autistic adult, but for anyone who loves, lives with or works with an autistic person. Emphasising that autism is not behaviour, but at the same time acknowledging that there are risks of increased anxiety specific to autism, this practical book gives clear strategies that the autistic person can adopt to minimise their anxiety and live comfortably in a world full of what may seem to be noise and chaos.

At the same time, Avoiding Anxiety in Autistic Adults this book gives clear guidelines and mission statements to those who live or work with autistic people that they, too, can implement to accommodate needs that are different to their own, taking a radical new step towards a genuinely inclusive world in which autistic people don’t just survive, but in which they thrive.

Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently

What is autism: a devastating developmental condition, a lifelong disability, or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius?

In truth, it is all of these things and more – and the future of our society depends on our understanding of it. Following on from his groundbreaking article ‘The Geek Syndrome’, Wired reporter Steve Silberman unearths the secret history of autism, long suppressed by the same clinicians who became famous for discovering it, and finds surprising answers to the crucial question of why the number of diagnoses has soared in recent years.

Going back to the earliest autism research and chronicling the brave and lonely journey of autistic people and their families through the decades, Silberman provides long-sought solutions to the autism puzzle while casting light on the growing movement of ‘neurodiversity’ and mapping out a path towards a more humane world for people with learning differences.

Unmasking Autism: The Power of Embracing Our Hidden Neurodiversity

For every visibly autistic person you meet, there are countless ‘masked’ people who pass as neurotypical. They don’t fit the stereotypical mould of autism and are often forced by necessity to mask who they are, spending their entire lives trying to hide their autistic traits. In particular, there is evidence that autism remains significantly undiagnosed in women, people of colour, trans and gender non-conforming people, many of whom are only now starting to recognise those traits later in life.

Blending cutting-edge research, personal insights and practical exercises for self-expression, Dr Devon Price examines the phenomenon of ‘masking’, making a passionate argument for radical authenticity and non-conformity. A powerful call for change, Unmasking Autism gifts its listeners with the tools to uncover their true selves and build a new society—one where everyone can thrive on their own terms.

What I Want to Talk About

In What I Want to Talk About, popular autism advocate Pete Wharmby takes listeners on a journey through his special interests, illuminating the challenges of autistic experience along the way. Funny, revealing, celebratory and powerful in equal measure, this is an audiobook that will resonate with many, and which should be required listening for anyone who wants to understand autism with more accuracy and empathy.

Untypical: How the World Isn’t Built for Autistic People and What We Should All Do About It

The modern world is built for neurotypicals: needless noise, bright flashing lights, small talk, phone calls, unspoken assumptions and unwritten rules – it can be a nightmarish dystopia for the autistic population. In Untypical, Pete Wharmby lays bare the experience of being ‘different’, explaining with wit and warmth just how exhausting it is to fit into a world not designed for you.

But this book is more than an explanation. After a late diagnosis and a lifetime of ‘masking’, Pete is the perfect interlocutor to explain how our two worlds can meet, and what we can do for the many autistic people in our schools, workplaces and lives. The result: a practical handbook for all of us to make the world a simpler, better place for autistic people to navigate, and a call to arms for anyone who believes in an inclusive society and wants to be part of the solution.

Love, Partnership, or Singleton on the Autism Spectrum (Insider Intelligence)

In an immensely varied and thoughtful collection of true life reflections on love, marriage and the single life, 26 authors with autism share their experiences and knowledge about successful (and unsuccessful) relationships. Digging deep into the many and varying ways in which autism affects feelings and relationships with others, these honest and intelligent testimonies give the insider’s perspective on love on the spectrum. Whether you’re a serial dater, hopelessly romantic or happily single, these perceptive and often funny explorations show how to make good choices, surmount bad ones, and live a good life.

Looking After Your Autistic Self: A Personalised Self-Care Approach to Managing Your Sensory and Emotional Well-Being

Niamh Garvey offers tips and tricks designed to reduce sensory and emotional stress and look after your autistic self. From understanding what’s happening when the stress response kicks into using the ‘detective habit’ to spot your individual strengths and triggers. What’s more, every element of this book can be personalised to you.

Featuring strategies including ‘quick calm plans’ for managing triggers and lived-experience advice on understanding emotional regulation, coping with sensory overload and how to look after your senses during intimacy, this guide is here to ensure that you don’t just survive adulthood, you thrive in it.

Sensory: Life on the Spectrum: An Autistic Comics Anthology

From artist and curator, Bex Ollerton comes an anthology featuring comics from thirty autistic creators about their experiences of living in a world that doesn’t always understand or accept them. Sensory: Life on the Spectrum contains illustrated explorations of everything from life pre-diagnosis to tips on how to explain autism to someone who doesn’t have it, to suggestions for how to soothe yourself when you’re feeling overstimulated. With unique, vibrant comic-style illustrations and the emotional depth and vulnerability of memoir, this book depicts these varied experiences with the kind of insight that only those who have lived them can have.

So you think you’re autistic: A workbook for the confused person who’s just trying to figure things out

If you’ve had thoughts that you (or perhaps a loved one) might be autistic, there is often no clear advice on what to do next.

It can be really hard to understand the diagnostic criteria and, more importantly, figure out how they might relate to you and your life.

This workbook is a way to work through all those swirling thoughts in your head in a guided and organised way, so you can figure out:

• What are my autistic traits and how do they fit in with the diagnostic criteria for autism?
• Have I been “masking” all this time?
• Do I want (or need) a diagnosis?
• How do I work through imposter syndrome or talk to others about this?

So, I’m Autistic: An Introduction to Autism for Young Adults and Late Teens

Written by autistic advocate Sarah O’Brien, this book gives a much-needed introduction into what autism is and removes the myths, stereotypes and stigma that surround it. Sarah provides insights into what to do after diagnosis and how to approach and navigate the process of informing those in your life, from your family and friends to your teachers or manager at work. Utilising her own experience of feeling lost after diagnosis and navigating all of the ‘firsts’ of adolescence and young adulthood Sarah provides an honest and friendly voice to guide you through it all.