The Jumbled Jigsaw

I would definitely use this book in a class I was going to teach to either parents or future clinicians. This book is very interesting and packed with case examples, interesting stories, and reader-friendly language that makes it easier for professionals and laypeople alike to understand. I encourage anyone who works with children with disabilities to read it to begin to put together the pieces of the puzzle that diagnoses like autism and autism spectrum disorder create for a child with this disability. No matter what language is used, helping a child create a better world for himself or herself is all that should matter. – PsycCRITIQUESPleasure and repeated cries of “eureka” were my reactions to reading this book in which Donna Williams explains the reality of difficulties I had witnessed in children on the autistic spectrum. I particularly liked the description of autistic spectrum disorders as a fruit salad - containing a range a range of ingredients in varying quantities, giving a distinct taste each time. – Community CareThe Jumbled Jigsaw: An Insider’s Approach to the Treatment of Autistic Spectrum “Fruit Salads,’ by Donna Williams, covers topics that will inform and educate practitioners along with educators of future practitioners who may want to use this book in their classrooms. I can imagine this book being used by counselling, clinical, and school psychologists who need to become better informed about the issues faced by parents of a child with this diagnosis. The book is user friendly and is easy to read. The author’s writing style, coupled with language that is easy to understand, makes this a book that could be easily used by both professionals and families of children with this diagnosis… I feel this book does a wonderful job of explaining things to parents, and from a parent’s point of view. Throughout the book, the author uses phrases that start with “I.” This makes the book real to people, and they can begin to imagine the author actually in the situation being described. I would definitely use this book in a class I was going to teach to either parents or future clinicians. This book is very interesting and packed with case examples, interesting stories, and reader-friendly language that makes it easier for professionals and laypeople alike to understand. – PsycCRITIQUES of the American Psychological AssociationThe real strength of the book is to challenge practitioners to go beyond the label of autism in order to be a real help; I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book as it was challenging on every page, I think it will appeal to practitioners with a wide experience of children with autism and other complex mixtures of difficulties that do not fit neatly into conventional labels. As Donna herself commented her ideas will interest those with an open mind and holistic perspective. – NAPLIC

Donna Williams was born in Australia in 1963 and raised in a working-class inner-city area in Australia. She grew up hearing words such as ‘deaf’, ‘disturbed’, ‘crazy’ and ‘spastic’, and like many able people with autism born in the 1960s and earlier, she wasn’t formally diagnosed with autism until adulthood. As well as writing, composing, painting and sculpting, she lectures and runs workshops on autism all around the world. Donna is also the author of four autobiographies - Nobody Nowhere, Somebody Somewhere, Like Colour to the Blind and Everyday Heaven - along with several other books on autism, Autism and Sensing, Autism: An Inside-Out Approach, Exposure Anxiety, and a collection of her poetry, Not Just Anything: A Collection of Thoughts on Paper. Her first international best-selling autobiography, Nobody Nowhere, is currently under option by a Hollywood film company. After 13 years in the UK, she now lives back in Australia with her husband Chris.