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By Lisa Blakemore-Brown.
Jessica Kingsley Publishing
£13.95
ISBN 1 85302 748 0

Rewaving the Autistic Tapestry concerns children who struggle to relate to other people. Some have learning difficulties, some are autistic, and others are hyperactive or socially withdrawn.

In the course of the past 50 years, labels such as autism, attention hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, specific language disorders, Tourette's syndrome and Asperger's syndrome have been introduced to describe these behaviourally disordered children. Although it is acknowledged that these behaviours arise because of genetic environmental factors, the precise causes of most such disorders have still to be unravelled and we have little evidence about how they might relate to each other.

The author uses the metaphor of a multicoloured tapestry to explore the interweaving of such conditions. She argues that this group of children have much in common and that we could learn how to intervene more effectively if we attended to the interweaving of the "autistic tapestry". Case studies drawn from her practice as an applied psychologist enrich the picture she presents.

There is a useful resource list and a review of current interventions. The case studies are well written, but the text has been poorly edited and contains too much repetition.

Oliver Russell is a consultant psychiatrist.