My Basket 0 item - £0.00

Can the World Afford Autistic Spectrum Disorder? Nonverbal Communication, Asperger Syndrome and the Interbrain

Author(s) : Digby Tantam

Reviews and Endorsements

'Dr. Tantam's book takes us through a fascinating tour of a world where social experience is essentially the co-creation of people engaged in fast, broad, and essentially nonverbal "inter-action". Words are slow, linear, and often obfuscate rather than illuminate others' intentions. This vastly neglected area of research is also likely the single greatest challenge for individuals with autism. Thus in one stroke Dr. Tantam both compels us to uphold social intuition for investigation, and helps us to appreciate what social contact is in the absence of this invisible glue.'
- Ami Klin, Ph.D., Director of Autism Program, Harris Professor of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Yale Child Study Center

'This thoughtful new book by Professor Digby Tantam is the result of a long career spanning more than two decades focused on understanding the puzzle of autism. As far back as the early 1980s Professor Tantam was studying the related condition of Asperger Syndrome, long before the rest of the English speaking medical community had realized that this subgroup even existed, let alone what its relationship was to classic autism. In this new book, Digby Tantam dissects one of the core 'symptoms' of autism and Asperger Syndrome, namely decoding non-verbal communication. He takes us from the level of behaviour to deep within the brain, to understand how emotional expressions and social signals can be the product of neural systems, and how these can function differently in autism spectrum conditions. And he asks the provocative question of whether such conditions really are disabilities, or whether they bring with them a combination of innocence and originality that are not just attractive but invaluable qualities. Written with the rare combination of scientific curiosity and compassion, this book will enrich both our understanding of and society's stance towards those on the autistic spectrum.'
- Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Director, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University