Rating: - What if one thing called 'autism' didn't actually exist?
The Jumbled Jigsaw is a very daring book. Where other books have written about co-morbid disorders in those on the autistic spectrum, this book discusses how a combination of such co-morbid conditions could actually contribute to what appears as autism and the developmental and health impacts of infants left with untreated mood, anxiety and compulsive disorders who, without treatment, may never acquire the communication skills to confirm a diagnosis of such co-morbid conditions. Hence, the whole thing becomes something of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Williams goes into the taboo areas of environmental impact on people's developmental disabilities. To what degree might an incompatible environmental approach increase the presentation of what is seen as their autism? Can those with autism develop co-morbid personality disorders and, if so, how might these impact on them perceiving otherwise 'normal' environmental responses as 'abusive', thereby compounding their social and communication challenges? How do identity disorders and co-dependency issues interact with an autism spectrum condition and what changes does it take to turn around such complications? This book spreads the net wide in gathering a near encyclopedia of affects that can combine and compound in a presentation that is legitamately labelled autistic.
In a world looking for single magic bullets or attributing all to chemistry, gut, toxicity or environmental issues, this book shows clearly that real solutions to an autism fruit salad lay in identifying what's actualy in that mixture and bringing in not one, but a range of approaches that tackle each of the very different underlying issues.
Written in a very easy to read manner, this book should be an invaluable resource for those looking to go beyond the labels not only to the mechanisms at work underneath those labels but to the very personhood which drives how we do or don't seize learning and develop.