The SWAN Resource Library is located at the SWAN Office, and contains more than 350 items. Books and DVDs are available for loan free of charge to all SWAN Members, and we have numerous FREE information pamphlets available to keep. Please contact us to enquire as to the availability of items and to borrow from our library. Resources will need to be collected from, and returned to our Busselton office, located at 12 Pettit Crescent, Busselton WA 6280.
If you have a resource you would like to share with others, please contact us to make arrangements. Alternatively, make a Donation to SWAN. All donations over $2.00 are tax deductible.
The South West Autism Network relies on the generosity of our members and community to support the families of the south west region living with ASD.
A guide for friends, family and professionals.
Meet Ben – a young boy with ADHD. Ben invites readers to learn about ADHD from his perspective. He helps children understand what it means to have ADHD and describes what it is and how it feels. Ben explains how he was diagnosed and what he had learnt about ways to relieve his ADHD symptoms, and how friends and adults can help at home and school.
A guide for friends and family
Meet Adam – a young boy with Asperger Syndrome. Adam invites young readers to learn about AS from his perspective. He helps children understand the difficulties faced by a child with AS – he tells them what AS is, what it feels like to have AS and how they can help children with AS by understanding their differences and appreciating their many talents. This illustrated book is ideally suited for children aged between 7 and 15 years of age and also serves as an excellent starting point for family and classroom discussions.
A note from SWAN: ‘Asperger’s Syndrome’ is no longer used as a diagnosis and the term “high-functioning” is harmful, as it minimises the varied support needs of autistic people. SWAN does not endorse these terms, but recognises that this resource contains other useful information.
Can I Tell You About Series. Meet Julie - a woman who suffers from periods of depression.
Julie and her family help readers to understand what depression is, what it is like to feel depressed and how it can affect their family life. She explains how coping with depression can sometimes be difficult but support and help are available, and there are things she can do that can help relieve the feelings of depression.
This illustrated book is an ideal introduction to depression – a condition that can be particularly difficult for children to understand. It is suitable for readers aged 7 upwards and shows family, friends and anyone who knows someone affected by depression how they can offer support.
Meet Zoe - a young girl with dyslexia. Zoe invites readers to learn about dyslexia from her perspective.
She helps readers to understand the challenges faced by a child with dyslexia, explaining what dyslexia is and how it affects her at home and at school. Zoe describes exactly why she finds reading, writing and words so difficult, and how other people can help her in these areas. This illustrated book is ideally suited for readers aged 7 and upwards, and will be an excellent way to start a discussion about dyslexia, in the classroom or at home. The “Can I tell you about . . . ” series offers simple introductions to a range of limiting conditions. Friendly characters invite readers to learn about their experiences of living with a particular condition and how they would like to be helped and supported. These books serve as excellent starting points for family and classroom discussions.
Part of the Can I Tell You About Series. Meet Marco - a boy with dyspraxia, which is sometimes called Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD).
Marco invites readers to learn about dyspraxia from his perspective, helping them to understand what it is and what it feels like when he sometimes struggles to control his movement and co-ordination. He talks about the challenges of having dyspraxia and lets readers know how he can be helped and supported. This illustrated book will be an ideal introduction for young people, aged 7 upwards, as well as parents, friends, teachers and professionals working with children with dyspraxia. It is also an excellent starting point for family and classroom discussions.
Meet Ellie - a young girl with epilepsy. Ellie invites readers to learn about epilepsy from her perspective.
She introduces us to some friends who help present the varying forms of epilepsy. Ellie and her friends help children to understand the obstacles that they face by telling them what it feels like to have epilepsy, how it affects them physically and emotionally, how epilepsy can be treated and how the condition is often misunderstood by people who do not know the facts. This illustrated book is full of useful information and will be an ideal introduction for children from the age of 7. It will also help parents, friends, and professionals to make sense of the condition in its varying forms and will be an excellent starting point for family and classroom discussions.
Katie invites readers to learn about OCD from her perspective, helping them to understand what it is and how her obsessions and compulsions affect her daily life.
This is an ideal, illustrated introduction to OCD for both young people and older readers. It shows family, friends and teachers how they can support someone with the condition.
A guide for friends, family and professionals.
Meet Issy – an 11-year-old girl with Pathological Demand Avoidance syndrome (PDA), a condition on the autism spectrum. Issy invites readers to learn about PDA from her perspective, helping them to understand how simple, everyday demands can cause her great anxiety and stress.
This illustrated book is for readers aged 7 and upwards, and is an excellent way to increase understanding about PDA in the classroom or at home. It also includes practical tips and recommended resources for parents and professionals.
Tally is autistic, but she hides it as much as she can. She knows how uncomfortable people feel around her - they don't understand autism. They don't understand her.
By masking her autism, Tally is hiding her real self. But when your real self is fierce and wonderful, it can’t stay hidden for ever.
With moving diary entries written by 11 year old Libby Scott, based on her own experience of autism, can you see me? is an authentic, powerful and truly memorable collaboration with esteemed author Rebecca Westcott that will change the way you think about autism.
At the age of two, Carly Fleischmann was diagnosed with severe autism and an oral motor condition that prevented her from speaking.
Doctors predicted that she would never intellectually develop beyond the abilities of a small child. Carly remained largely unreachable through the years. Then, at the age of ten, she had a breakthrough. While working with her devoted therapists, Carly reached over to their laptop and typed “HELP TEETH HURT”, much to everyone’s astonishment. Although Carly still struggles with all the symptoms of autism, she now has regular, witty, and profound conversations on the computer with her family and her many thousands of supporters online. In “Carly’s Voice, “her father, Arthur Fleischmann, blends Carly’s own words with his story of getting to know his remarkable daughter. One of the first books to explore firsthand the challenges of living with autism, it brings readers inside a once-secret world and in the company of an inspiring young woman who has found her voice and her mission.
Children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are often not instinctive and intuitive in expressing...
their liking or love for someone, or in understanding that family members, friends and others need affection. Expressing affection to teachers, other close professionals, or family friends, can be even more challenging. This book, by the leading experts in the field, provides a carefully constructed CBT programme for professionals to help boys and girls with an ASD to feel confident recognising, expressing and enjoying affection. The activities will help the young person identify their own and others’ comfort and enjoyment range for gestures, actions and words of affection. They will also learn the variety of appropriate ways they can express liking or loving someone, helping them to strengthen friendships and relationships. This book will be an invaluable resource for professionals supporting a child with an ASD.
A note from SWAN: ‘Asperger’s Syndrome’ is no longer used as a diagnosis and the term “high-functioning” is harmful, as it minimises the varied support needs of autistic people. SWAN does not endorse these terms, but recognises that this resource contains other useful information.
All children are challenging to some extent, but some are more challenging than others. Students with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) can be tough to support and teach.
The ‘Challenging Behaviours Pocketbook’ focuses on three particular behaviour disorders: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and Conduct Disorder (CD). The author explains why some children are prone to developing a can’t learn, won’t learn or don’t care attitude.
