Chennai: When Board-Certified Behaviour Analysts (BCBA) Gita Srikanth and Swati Narayan, decided to co-author a new guide for parents of children on the autism spectrum, they wanted to create a book that would be a useful addition to the bookshelves of parents, caregivers, educators and students of behavioural psychology.
The result was A World Of Difference: The Ultimate Autism Handbook For Mindful Parenting, which has just been released by We Can Publishing and is available in paperback and Kindle formats.
Gita Srikanth is the founder-chairperson of We Can Resource Center For Autism, Chennai; co-founder of ProACT, India’s first acceptance and commitment therapy clinic; and holds a Masters in Applied Behaviour Analysis. Swati Narayan is the clinical director of We Can Resource Center For Autism, Chennai; and co-founder of ProACT.
Speaking on the book, Gita says, “Parenting today presents a very complex set of demands, all the more so if the child in question is on the autism spectrum. This can be a daunting scenario to navigate, so we created a ready-to-reference guidebook using simple language that outlines steps to understand and shape the child’s behaviour. We offer evidence-based frameworks and case studies that illustrate how behaviour goes where reinforcement flows. We also stress the importance of emotional presence, a need which physical presence alone cannot fulfil.”