Autism and the Edges of the Known World ─ Sensitivities, Language, and Constructed Reality

`Brilliantly, Olga weaves together science and real life experiences of people with autism leading the reader to a greater understanding of how sensory differences can bring people with autism to the edges and beyond of neurotypical perception. This book has my highest recommendation for anyone wanting to learn more about sensory awareness and perception for people with autism - as well as for themselves.'---Stephen Shore, Ed.D., Assistant Professor of Special Education at Adelphi University and internationally-known author, presenter, and consultant on issues related to autism

`This is an entrancing read and an excellent reflection of Dr Bogdashina's wide range of interests. It is to her credit as an academician that she draws upon such varied subjects as philosophy and quantum mechanics to illustrate her thought process and call into question different aspects of our individuality.'---Manuel Casanova, Gottfried and Gisela Kolb Endowed Chair in Psychiatry, University of Louisville

`Olga Bogdashina's book is a magnificent and much-needed account of the nature of sensory differences in autism, full of fresh, fascinating and perceptive insights.'---Adam Feinstein, autism researcher, Autism Cymru, and editor of Looking Up (www.lookingupautism.org)

In this ground-breaking book, Olga Bogdashina examines traditional theories of sensory perception and communication in autism. Drawing on linguistics, philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, anthropology and quantum mechanics, she shows that a wider perspective can reveal much about how the nature of the senses informs an individual's view of the world, and about how language both reflects and constructs that view.

Examining the `whys and hows' of the senses, and the role of language, Olga Bogdashina challenges common perceptions of what it means to be `normal' or `abnormal'. In doing so, she shows that autism can help to illuminate our understanding of what it means to be human, and of how we have developed faculties that have shaped our cognition, language and behaviour. Her findings lead her to explore phenomena commonly associated with the paranormal - including premonitions, telepathy, and deja vu - which, she suggests, can largely be explained in natural terms.

This intelligent and incisive book will appeal to anyone with a personal or professional interest in autism, including clinical practitioners, individuals on the autism spectrum and their families, students and researchers, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and other professionals.

Olga Bogdashina, MA Education (Autism), PhD (Linguistics) has worked extensively in the field of autism, as teacher, lecturer and researcher with a particular interest in sensory-perceptual and communication problems in autism. Since 1994, she has been the Director of the first Day Centre for autistic children in Ukraine and the President of the Autism Society of Ukraine. Olga teaches and lectures around the world. She is currently a visiting lecturer at Birmingham University and Consultant Psychologist for Services for Adults with Autism, UK. She has an adult son with autism.