Summary of Jennifer Cook O'Toole's Autism in Heels

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 I had thought I was the link between my children’s Asperger’s and their diagnoses, but it was actually my husband who had the condition. It didn’t matter anyway, because I wasn’t a total failure at being human.

#2 The last year had been difficult for me. My best friend had been diagnosed with aggressive, stage IV breast cancer. My daughter had been a Make-A-Wish kid after seven years in and out of hospitals. And my two eldest children had been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome.

#3 I began to realize that my father, who had died a few years before, had been my children’s genetic twin. He was a brilliant, beloved man, but he was also awkward and anxious in social settings. I never doubted that he loved me and my mother, but I wondered why I wasn’t enough to keep his interest.

#4 I was looking for a mirror image of myself, but I couldn’t find anyone who matched my way of moving through the world. I was constantly on hypervigilant meltdown prevention duty with my kids.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822533301

IRB Media

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Insights on Jennifer Cook O'Toole's Autism in Heels

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

I had thought I was the link between my children’s Asperger’s and their diagnoses, but it was actually my husband who had the condition. It didn’t matter anyway, because I wasn’t a total failure at being human.

#2

The last year had been difficult for me. My best friend had been diagnosed with aggressive, stage IV breast cancer. My daughter had been a Make-A-Wish kid after seven years in and out of hospitals. And my two eldest children had been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome.

#3

I began to realize that my father, who had died a few years before, had been my children’s genetic twin. He was a brilliant, beloved man, but he was also awkward and anxious in social settings. I never doubted that he loved me and my mother, but I wondered why I wasn’t enough to keep his interest.

#4

I was looking for a mirror image of myself, but I couldn’t find anyone who matched my way of moving through the world. I was constantly on hypervigilant meltdown prevention duty with my kids.

#5

I was always on the brink of something better, but I was always pushed back. I was never able to keep up with the sensory diets my children needed, and I was always exhausted.

#6

I was going to have to figure out why the boys did what they did in order to explain why the Aspie profile glowed for me. I began with what I knew: all human beings share the same fundamental needs. I then imagined what those needs might be for Viennese boys, and extrapolated.

#7

The checklists that are given to parents of children with autism are often one-dimensional prescriptions for how they should behave. While professionals stand behind the authority of these checklists, they are lacking in texture and depth.

#8

I had to examine the second takeaway: autism assessment screening tools are rife with gender bias. Male-focused examples of autistic behavior conceal tests compiled by professionals with little understanding of how similar experiences of autism actually present themselves in girls and women.

#9

The author’s husband had cornered the intergenerational genetic link, and she was left with just shame and blame. She was jealous of her children, who didn’t fit in with