Following a child's diagnosis with autism, families often face a bewildering array of questions, concerns, and anxieties. This essential book provides new and established professionals and practitioners with invaluable insights they?ll use to avoid misunderstandings and communicate accurately and sensitively, understand parents? complex emotions and perceptions, nurture strong, respectful partnerships with parents, conduct effective assessment and intervention, demystify assessment results for parents, assist families in choosing and evaluating intervention services, help families manage the short- and long-term issues that arise when parenting a child with ASD, and increase their own awareness of the vocabulary of autism and the facts and mysteries of the disorder. Building on their research and interviews with more than 60 families, the authors reveal parents? needs, concerns, beliefs, and dreams.