Asperger Syndrome and Spectrum Disorder Autism Book:

All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome

Swimming about in the ocean of college majors back in 1982, I drifted perchance into the lagoon of special education. We were required for several of our courses to volunteer in a local special needs school or facility. A few hours in the EI (Emotionally Impaired) and AI (Autism Impaired), convinced me that I wanted to teach autistic children.

I read all the books I could find about special education, emotional impairment and autism. At the time little was known about autism. When I told people that wanted to teach autistic children, few had ever heard of autism. At that time autism was a new term; Autism was referred to as 'infantile schizophrenia'.

The program for autistic children that I visited was was housed on the third floor of an old elementary school. This centralized program comprised three classrooms and 15 autistic students. The program serviced autistic students from about 20 school districts.

Times have changed. We now refer to autism as 'Spectrum Disorder Autism' (SDA). Some students are diagnosed with a variation of autism called Asperger Syndrome (AS) or Asperger Disorder. Services for Asperger and autistic children have developed. Diagnosis can be made earlier. Funding is more readily available. Autistic and Asperger children are usually serviced in their own school district. Happily, much more literature on autism and Asperger Syndrome is available for parents, care-givers and educators.

April is Autism Awareness Month. When I visited Barnes and Noble, in April, I noticed a table with autism awareness materials. I picked up a little book called All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome by Kathy Hoopmann, published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London, UK. I visited the website I was pleased to note that Hoopman has also written a series of adventure and mystery books for children with Asperger Syndrome.