Book Review: SInce We're Friends, An Autism Picture Book

If you're a teacher with typical and autistic children in your class -- or a coach, scout leader or other adult in a similar situation -- you may find this book helpful. It's geared, however, to young children (under age 8), and because it's about a specific child in a variety of specific situations, it may not be relevant to your group.

Since We're Friends: An Autism Picture Book is an offering in a growing genre of books written for typical children about peers with autism. Within that genre, it's one of the better books out there. Told from the point of view of a typical boy, it describes a variety of scenarios in which an autistic friend might have a tough time -- and offers practical solutions for smoothing and improving relationships.

Like any book in this genre, it suffers from a few unavoidable drawbacks. First, by selecting and describing an individual boy with specific issues, it leaves out a huge swathe of the autism spectrum. This boy, for example, is able to engage on his own with typical peers -- with just a little help from a friend. Plenty of children with autism simply can't. It also suggests that children with autism, as a group, actively want to take part in group activities, which may or may not be true.

More significantly, the book presents the typical narrator as being the autistic child's "best friend." As a result, he winds up managing situations for his buddy at every turn. Whether he's "going along to get along" as his friend perseverates on animals, changing the game so that his friends can have fun with other peers, or reassuring his friend when situations change, the narrator is always taking charge and acting on behalf of his friend. This expectation has the potential to be quite overwhelming, particularly for children who are, themselves, at the margins of social groups.

While this book has the potential to be a useful tool, it's important for adults to point out that not every child with autism is like the child in this book and that it's OK to decide not to intervene on behalf of a special needs child in every circumstance.