Can You See Me?: A powerful story of autism, empathy and kindness

Product Information

Tally's autism means there are things that bother her even though she wishes they didn't. It means that some people misunderstand, her and feel frustrated by her. There is no major twists or turns I'll say, but it is a sad and uplifting story altogether. Tally endures rough times and finds her autism hard . I can only speak from my own experience, and I am not making any commentary about autism itself, but I think there is a risk to reading a book like this and assuming that just because someone presents with a certain emotional, physical, or mental symptom means that it is part of their identity. Tally talks about how offensive it is when people talk about wanting to "cure" autism, and I completely understand why autism itself is part of her identity, but some of her behavioral, psychic, and sensitivity issues could at least hypothetically be eased. Based on my life experience, I have a hard time with the message that someone has to accept everything about their condition as inevitable and unchanging.

This may be the most annoying book I've ever read! The idea of featuring autistic characters in fiction is a good one, and I think it's a great idea to help people understand what it's like to live with autism. But in spite of being based on the real life experience of a girl with autism, it doesn't ring true. The story is too didactic, and Tally's "Top Tips" for dealing with someone with autism sound like something an adult would say, not a middle school girl. Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments I wanted to see how Tally copes with autism and really it doesn't show much of that. But autism shows up when horrible events happen. It's quite a sweet book, my English class agree. We all read it together, went through what might happen and how Tally felt. Really, that was fun. The book was interesting but I think they should have put someone else's point of view in it, like wonder. Cause Tally became a bit annoying.However, on the negative side, it bothered me that her mother was so dismissive of Tally's explosions, seeing them as something that the family had to endure. Again, I'm not autistic, and I know that my experience is different, but the message of "this is just who Tally is," as accepting as it seems, can be a cop out from finding solutions to someone's misery. In my experience, discovering food and chemical sensitivities and changing my exposures changed my life, and I would hate for parents or children who are dealing with behavior issues like mine to read this and think that it's a static, unchanging issue that can't be mitigated or resolved. This book is a combination of present-tense, third-person prose and short diary entries from the perspective of Tally, the autistic main character. The diary entries mainly focus on charting her anxiety levels and explaining terms and concepts related to autism, often breaking them down into pros and cons.

I am not autistic, and I had the very great blessing of being homeschooled, which I appreciated even more after reading this book. However, I deeply identify with Tally's high sensitivity to stimulation and agitation over it, her obsessive-compulsive tendencies, some of her tics, and her constant stress over trying to find some way to appear at least semi-normal, or at least normal enough to fly under the radar. This was also my first time reading a novel that reflected some of my behavioral issues from the past. Although Tally's are more extreme than mine were, or at least seem to make less rational sense, her feelings of grinding anxiety, rage, and explosion are painfully familiar to me.Tally has autism which includes a very difficult condition known as demand avoidance. What that means is if someone tells her to do something straight out, she absolutely can not do it. This condition makes her behavior hard to understand, at times. Nell, her older sister, doesn’t want to understand and just wants Tally to be normal and do what she’s supposed to do. Even Tally’s Dad, at times, forgets how he’s supposed to phrase things and often his words lead to confrontation.

However, we are now a little further down the road and I suppose I am more accepting and more than ready to understand my daughter in any way I can. Tally is eleven years old and she's just like her friends. Well, sometimes she is. If she tries really hard to be. Because there's something that makes Tally not the same as her friends. Something she can't cover up, no matter how hard she tries: Tally is autistic.I didn't care for the narrative writing style, because it was often detached and dry, and when parts of the book went on and on without advancing the plot or characters significantly, I sometimes skimmed ahead to the next engaging action. I love slice-of-life stories, but parts of this were too ordinary and detailed for my tastes, because they didn't tie into the plot or emotional current of the story, or else fulfilled the exact same purpose as a dozen other scenes. Es una novela estupenda, nos ha encantado conocer a Tally y su manera de ver la vida. La historia tiene de todo y se agradecen muchísimo las entradas del blog. Es increíble la cantidad de ideas equivocadas que tenemos sobre la gente autista. Creo que este libro deberían leerlo en todos los colegios. Por mi parte, pienso recomendarlo mucho en la librería. Still, despite its stylistic flaws, this book has an encouraging message and provides what appears to be an extremely realistic representation of autism, even though I cannot speak from personal knowledge of it. This book should be very encouraging and helpful to kids who relate to Tally's situations at home and at school, and it is a great tool to help build understanding and empathy among family members, friends, and classmates of children with autism. I would say that about 90% of the protagonist's behaviours are recognisable in my daughter - Some parts made me laugh, others made me cry. Some parts made me go 'Ohhhhh' - lightbulb moments of realisation.

Tally’s friends don’t really get her either. They seem to expect Tally to be and act like them and that is something that Tally isn’t comfortable with. “ ... they make her feel like she is clinging to the side of a cliff while her friends all peel her fingers off the edge, one at a time." And then there’s Luke, the bully, who makes her life miserable at school with all his nasty comments. It would have been much better if there was more 'show' and much less 'tell'. A better book would try to recreate autism not explain it. Or is it a children's book where everything important has to be spelled out descriptively? It just doesn't ring authentic: it's got adult/ autism expert written all over it.

This glimpse into the world of a young autistic girl is astonishingly insightful and honest. Tally's struggles to 'fit in' are heart-wrenching, and her victories are glorious." -- Ann M. Martin, Newbery Honor and New York Times bestselling author of Rain Reign Something is different about sixth grade, and Tally now feels like she has to act "normal." But as Tally hides her true self, she starts to wonder what "normal" means after all and whether fitting in is really what matters most. this is such a good representation of what it's like to be growing up as an autistic person and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to understand more what it's like to be autistic.