Today, Norm Goldman Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com is pleased to have as our guest Gayle Nobel, one of the co-authors of  It’s All About  Attitude: Loving and Living Well with Autism.

Gayle Nobel has over 20 years hands on experience loving and living well with autism. She has a BA in Special Education/Elementary Education and Special Education resource room teaching experience. Gayle has a lifelong connection to autism through her brother, her teaching, and her son. 

Good day Gayle and thanks for participating in our interview.

Norm:

Could you explain to our readers what is autism?

Gayle:

Autism is a complex neurobiological disorder that typically lasts throughout a person's lifetime. It is part of a group of disorders known as autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Children on the autism spectrum do not fully develop pathways in the brain between the prefrontal cortex (the brain’s “executive”) and the limbic system (the emotional center).Therefore, autism impairs a person’s ability to relate to others. It can be, but is not always, accompanied by co-occurring issues in other areas such as communication, motor skills, cognitive, sensory, seizures, allergies, and digestion. There is a wide range of functioning associated with the autism.

Norm:

How prevalent is autism in North America?

Gayle: 

1 in 150 individuals are diagnosed with autism today. It is 4 times more prevalent in males than females.

Norm:

Has there been progress in finding out the root causes of autism?

Gayle

Research has been moving toward that- particularly in the area of genetic research. Because autism encompasses such a wide spectrum and manifests itself in such a variety of forms, I believe we will discover there are multiple causes and contributing factors including genetic factors and toxins in our environment that affect individuals who have a predisposition.

Norm:

What motivated you to write It’s All About Attitude: Loving and Living Well with Autism?

Gayle:

Our sons and all the life lessons we have learned in being their moms for 20 years. We realized we had a lot to offer and share with others in the form of support and camaraderie. We believed people could benefit from our wisdom and unique perspective.

Norm:

Will you share a little bit about your book with our readers? Is there an underlying message in your book and what do you hope to accomplish with the book?

Gayle:

It’s not just an autism book, it’s an ATTIITUDE book. We share very personal short stories of our experiences with our sons who are both the same age (now 25) and have autism. My son happens to be very severely affected.  Each story has an underlying message sharing our wisdom and offering support and inspiration. We call it “emotional soul food”.

It’s All About Your Attitude is our message. Our attitude determines our experiences and we hope to inspire parents to take some of the fight and struggle out of their lives and see their child in a different way. Our book is a fast and easy way to get a daily dose of inspiration. Parents tend to be comforted when they read that we have the same doubts and fears as they do. Our overall theme is uplifting and powerful because we share the perspective that though you may not have control of the situation, your attitude is something you do have a choice about.

Norm:

What makes your book different from others that deal with the same subject matter?

Gayle

We consider it an “alternative” conversation about living with autism. Our book is an antidote to anger and negativity. We have moved beyond the autism recovery books. We do not have a recovery story and I think most parents are in the same boat and can very much appreciate and relate to our stories.

There are a lot of books with tools available to help children but not so many with a focus on supporting the parents and what they might be needing for themselves in a positive way. We wanted to offer an alternative to the “autism as tragedy mentality”. Without denying the tremendous challenges autism brings for the individual and family (we share plenty of those), we share how shifting our perspective, even just a little bit, and appreciating our children for the gifts they bring to us and the lessons they teach just by being who they are, we can love and live well with whatever comes our way. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a fight. This is a lifelong journey, and the fight mentality will eat you up from the inside out and burn you out at some point. Our hope is that the reader is left feeling happier and supported.

Norm:

What obstacles did you have in trying to write your book and as a follow up, how did you divide up the writing of the book? 

Gayle:

Carving out the time to write was a big challenge since my co-author and I both have young adult sons with autism who live at home. So there was always a tremendous balancing act going on. There was also the challenge of writing with another person when we sometimes saw things differently in what we wanted for the book.

The book is all short essays so we each wrote our own essays and collected them. In the end, we weeded half of them out and then worked them into pairs with the same theme to create our chapters. Though we have slightly different perspectives and sometimes different opinions, they work very well together.

Norm: 

What kind of research did you do to write this book?
 
Gayle:

The research took place on a daily basis just living with our sons who have autism. It is completely based on our own personal experiences.

Norm:

Can you tell us how you found representation for your book?  Did you pitch it to an agent, or query publishers who would most likely publish this type of book? Any rejections? Did you self-publish? 

 Gayle:

We chose to self publish. We decided to take this route from the beginning as we wanted to keep our hand in the rest of the book’s production. Our editor and designer were professional and helped create p a very high quality book. We also realized, given our target market, that we would be doing a lot of the marketing ourselves anyway.

Norm:

How can our readers find out more about you and It’s All About Attitude: Loving and Living Well with Autism? 

Gayle:

Go to our website http://www.autismwithattitude.com. We have a blog, video and audio interviews, and a member community which is just getting started. Sign up for our e-letter Living with Attitude. There are many ways to stay connected. The book can be ordered on the website. We also have great “It’s All About Attitude” shirts that have been very popular.

Norm: 

What is next for Gayle Nobel? Is there anything else you wish to add that we have not covered? 

Gayle:

I am currently completing a second book with a slightly different twist. I am also working to get our book into the universities as a supplementary text for future teachers and therapists.

Also, we discovered our book is for everyone, not just those with a connection to autism. “It’s All About Attitude” really applies to any of life’s challenges and we all have them. People with no autism connection have told us they really benefitted from reading the book and at the same time, enjoyed learning more about living with autism.

Thanks once again and good luck with It’s All About Attitude: Loving and Living Well with Autism.

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