My 12 year old AuDHD daughter could really relate to this book. Accessible but not dumbed down, this is perfect for any tween, teen or even adult with a new diagnosis or suspected AuDHD. It would be a great addition to any secondary school library and every Senco should have a copy. The only section I felt disappointed by was ‘Unhealthy stims’. Hair pulling and skin picking are known as BFRBs (Body focused repetitive behaviours) and are much more complicated than just a stim.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

Let me start by saying: I WISH I had a book like this to refer to when I was a teenager.

I was diagnosed with ADHD (wish suspected audhd) in 2021 when I was already 22 years old. I suffered most of my life thinking I’m dumb, not intelligent enough and just overall thought there was something very wrong with me. If books like this one existed back in 2013 when I was 14 and needed help understanding myself, I think my life would go very differently. At the least I would be diagnosed earlier.

Because this book is great for few reasons: not only because it’s a perfect “go-to” for kids that think their brains work differently but it also tackles a heavy and hard to understand topic (topics technically) without judgment. It’s written clearly with editing ideal for brains that can’t process loads of info in one paragraph. It has headings, gives you questions to think about and advises without the neurotypical “just try harder, write it down” approach (I have 10 different places I write stuff down and I still forget stuff all the time so TRUST ME I know what I’m talking about).

The only chapter that I had a bit of an issue with is the one that talks about school. The author writes all the advice here with a lot of hope that schools are understanding and will absolutely accommodate teenagers with adhd/autism/audhd. Don’t get me wrong, asking for fidget toys or help breaking down the tasks are great things to ask for. However, looking back at my education and knowing how overworked teachers are in most classrooms I’m not sure if a lot of advice given here will be useful. For example, the author says to ask the teacher to explain why something they want to be done is useful/necessary or to ask for the classroom lights to be dimmed due to kid’s sensory sensitivity. As much as I’d love to have teachers be that helpful I don’t know how realistic that is in a normal classroom with 20+ unruly kids. To be completely honest, I also don’t know if that many teachers would bother helping one child this much as to give them extra help before/ during and after classes. I’d hope they would but again, looking back at my own experience…

Anyway, I still think this book is absolutely brilliant and very accessible. I highly recommend it not only to kids and teenagers on the spectrum but also to people who want to understand people like us better. 🫶

Thank you so much for this amazing arc!