Book reviews

Working Effectively With Your Teaching Assistant: A Handbook For Primary Teachers

S. Alston

Sara Alston is a consultant, trainer and teacher, with extensive experience in education as a school leader and SENCO. She is the author of The Inclusive Classroom and has written courses for teachers as well as regular articles for a number of national publications.

In the preface, Alston explains that she prefers the term Learning Support Assistant instead of Teaching Assistant, and also draws attention to the number of different job titles that exist to describe support roles. The chapters in this book share a common structure, including case studies, personal stories, quotes from staff, key points and reflection exercises.

Chapters include:

• Focus on support for children with SEND

• Interventions

Chloe Hayden is an award-winning actor and disability advocate, motivational speaker and social media influencer. As a child, she moved between ten schools in eight years and was eventually diagnosed with autism and ADHD.

Hayden's parents nicknamed her 'our quirky little genius' and 'our princess and the pea child', as she was 'spellbound' by books, but struggled with sensory issues, such as clothing, food textures and social interaction.

This is an intensely personal book that details the many ways in which the author struggled to make sense of the world around her and how retreating to the toilets or the back of the library was often the only way she was able to cope with school.

• Sharing planning and feedback

• Supporting with behaviour: consistency imbued with flexibility

• Pulling it all together by placing communication at the heart of all we do

The book is thoughtfully structured, with the use of boxes to draw attention to points. I also particularly liked 'If this isn't working, try this' scenarios, using examples from the classroom.

This is a useful book that synthesises a large amount of expertise and information into succinct and easy to understand advice and support for newly qualified staff and as a professional boost for more experienced practitioners.

Bloomsbury Education

ISBN: 978-1-4729-9256-7

£16.99

Guide To Finding Your True Self

Chloe Hayden provides insights into ways that focusing on her strengths, passions and her 'eye sparkles' have enabled her to build a successful international career, while acknowledging that she has developed a range of strategies that help her to manage potential difficulties.

The book also includes a guide to support resources and detailed chapter references.

It's an interesting, engaging and practical read that would be of value to parents, teenagers and as a school resource.

Murdoch Books

ISBN: 978-19226-1618-0

£14.99

by Mary Mountstephen

Autism and Masking: How and Why People Do It and The Impact It Can Have

Dr. F. Sedgewick, Dr. L.Hull and H.Ellis

The authors of this book have extensive experience in research associated with the social lives and mental health of autistic people of all genders, as well as masking and camouflaging in autism and personal experience as an autistic adult. Helen Ellis is an autistic adult who was first identified at the age of fifteen and received a clinical diagnosis just before her 22nd birthday. The book thus combines academic and personal perspectives into the topic of masking and it is an attempt to bring in the voice of many autistic people to share their experiences of this practice.

The authors explain the ways in which people mask a number of personal characteristics and how they also use masking as 'putting on a character' by copying how other people talk or move.

The authors identify that masking takes a lot of effort, feels like denying or hiding the authentic self and that the effort has a negative effect on mental health. They identify that people need to feel that they can be their authentic selves, rather than denying this.

This is a well-crafted book that provides insights into the ways in which masking affects the daily lives of people with autism and it draws on the experiences of over twenty contributors with autism.

Jessica Kingsley Publishers

ISBN: 978-1-78775-579-6

Eat to Beat Depression and Anxiety: Nourish Your Way to Better Mental Health in Six Weeks

D. Ramsey, MD

Dr Drew Ramsey is a psychiatrist and specialist in the use of nutritional interventions for mental wellness. In this book, he provides a guide to the growing interest in the use of nutrition to optimise brain health and, in doing so, help prevent and treat mental health concerns and support mental wellbeing.

Drawing on his own professional experience and on research from sources such as the British Medical Journal, he explains the ways in which depression and anxiety can be linked to anxiety and depression, although he also advocates incorporating evidence-based nutrition alongside more traditional interventions to help people develop the skills to understand the links between food and mental health.

This book is organised into two parts, supplemented with a section on resources. The first part covers information about eating for optimal health, and the second part puts this into practice, concluding with a six-week eating plan and recipes.

Whereas this book is aimed at adults, much of the content would be of relevance to anyone concerned with the nutritional aspects of wellbeing of children and young people. He explains how making small, incremental changes to the diet, and taking actionable steps towards a healthier lifestyle can have a significant impact on how we feel physically, cognitively and emotionally.

£16.99 Harper Wave

ISBN: 978-0-06-303171-5

£22.00