All Cats Are on the Autism Spectrum

Product Information

All Cats Are On The Autism Spectrum is a more sophisticated version of a social story; the pictures accompany the text. The book explains the nuances of being on the spectrum – but in simple, straightforward language – such as being stereotyped as not having any emotions. (Spoiler: we can feel!) Of the 64 respondents, 52 parents volunteered comments regarding interaction of the cat and the child: 40 comments were positive, three neutral, and nine negative. Comments volunteered from 19 parents characterized behavior of the cat in being a calming, loving, soothing protector, bonded friend, or guardian for the child. The child’s feelings for the cat often were described as: loving, enamored, or bonded. Mood regulation of the child was mentioned as an effect of the cat. Less-positive descriptions pertaining to behavior of the child or cat included: “My son does not interact at all with cats or dogs; he just ignores them”; “In the past, when the child was young, the cat did not like the hyper behavior of the child and would avoid most interaction, but as the child has gotten older, the cat will seek out the child.” The study did not include an opportunity to conduct direct observations of the interactions of the child and cat; rather, parents provided their perspectives on the behavior of the cat and the relationship of the child and the cat based on their ongoing lives with child and cat. Further, the role of the cat’s breed could not be assessed because of the small numbers of cats. Discussion Kathy Hoopmann’s newest edition of All Cats Are on the Autism Spectrum will bring lots of smiles and autism awareness information to readers of every age.’ Liane Holliday-Willey, EdD, author of Pretending to Be Normal: Living with Asperger’s Syndrome and Safety Skills for Asperger Women: How to Save a Perfectly Good Female Life

All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome takes a playful look at Asperger Syndrome (AS), drawing inspiration from the feline world in a way that will strike a chord with all those who are familiar with AS. Touching, humorous and insightful, this book evokes the difficulties and joys of raising a child who is different and leaves the reader with a sense of the dignity, individuality, and potential of people with AS. This engaging book is an ideal, gentle introduction to the world of AS. Delightful colour photographs of cats bring to life familiar characteristics such as, for example, sensitive hearing. All Cats Are on the Autism Spectrum by Kathy Hoopmann – eBook Details

Reviews

Haley Moss is an autistic attorney, author, artist and advocate. In these words, taken from her foreword to Kathy Hoopmann’s new All Cats are on the Autism Spectrum , she explains how the book has personal meaning for her. Me-wow! I was 13 years old when my mom brought All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome home from an autism conference. You’d expect teenagers to think they’re too old for picture books when they so desperately want to be seen as adults, but nope – the adorable cats and simple yet positive words to connect everything together made me, a lifelong dog owner and lover, feel a deep connection with cats and autism. I couldn’t describe the magic of how cats perfectly explained everything I felt and knew about myself. Kathy’s stunning depictions of autism resonated deeply with me. I was already confident and proud to be autistic, and that pride was solidified in a picture book. Autism’ is beautifully articulated and illustrated by our feline associates. This book captures our spirit, highlights our individuality, easily explains in an image, so many of our playful and meaningful behaviours, as well as showcases our strengths. It’s a humorous account of a serious love affair!’ Wenn B. Lawson (PhD CPsychol)

Every time I read in it, it still gives me a sense of being heard, met and understood as an autistic individual, and I’m certain that others will feel the same way. And I will never get tired of looking at all the beautiful and cute cats. Cats likely to be affectionate may provide rewarding relationships for children with ASD. Most children with diagnosed ASD liked to hold the specified cat (or even always wanted to hold, pet, snuggle, and sleep with cat)—at similar levels as in typically developing children. Concerning the cats, most were at least moderately affectionate toward the ASD child, with almost 20% very affectionate. While the cats generally were affectionate with the ASD children, it was noticeably less than with typically developing children. Importantly, the results revealed that cats showed little aggression with ASD children, and certainly no more than with typical children. It seems that cats in families with an ASD child often provided valuable bonding, attention, and calming affection to the child.Touching, humorous and insightful, this book evokes the difficulties and joys of raising a child who is different and leaves the reader with a sense of the dignity, individuality, and potential of people with AS. One reviewer didn't like he being used. Most people with Aspergers are male. Frankly, I didn't catch it. As described in the Statistical Methods, a PCA was run on all responses that pertained to the quality or depth of the relationship between the autistic child and the specified cat. The child’s gender and the cat’s gender, intact status, and breed first were found to be insignificant factors. The first principal component summarized this information, with positive factor loadings for all positive cat/child interactions, except for “aggression toward child,” which had a negative factor loading. Thus, high values of the first principal component indicated a positive/deep relationship, and low values indicated a poor/shallow relationship.

Expecting that a cat would be affectionate with a child may pose particular challenges, since cats were found by Mertens ( 12) to prefer adults to young children, in terms of approaches and duration of proximity. Cats in families preferred adult women, with whom they reportedly had their most reciprocal relationships. These findings raise a possibility that predicting the interactions of cats with children may be more challenging.

Author Contributions

Fearfulness, toward visitors, was categorized as: very fearful (runs away and stays hidden); fearful (runs away, eventually comes out); moderately fearful (may or may not hide depending on who is present); relatively non-fearful (greets most, but not all, visitors); and non-fearful.