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Talking is Not My Thing ISBN: 9781912650224
Robbins, Rose
Published by Scallywag Press, 2020
In the second book about the two siblings, brother and sister, sister with Autism, we learn how Sister copes with her brother and her own condition. She can’t talk, and when she tries, it is only odd noises that come out, but the two children have a sort of symbiosis which means they can sometimes understand each other without speech. Loud noises are difficult for Sister, and she wishes she could ‘turn my ears off’, but she also likes to be included in family activities. She uses flash cards when she needs something specific, like the toilet, and Grandma knows to help her. She and Brother play a game she has invented, where she draws a picture, and he has to guess what it is. She loves it when he reads to her, and she can tell the time by pointing to the clock. Bedtime almost brings on a meltdown when she can’t find her bunny, but all is well when she remembers she left him in the garden. The two children high-five at bedtime, because she doesn’t like hugs. These two books, aimed at quite young children, fill a gap in the market, and will promote real understanding of the autistic condition and the pluses and minuses of coping in real life, and the bright, cheerful pictures add greatly to the production.
Age: 4+