Al Capone Does My Shirts - Response

I really enjoyed reading the novel Al Capone Does my Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko. This has been my favorite book we have read in the class this far. I felt that I was able to connect to this book because of my own experiences. I have worked with many children with autism. The children in which I have worked with have been autistic on varying degrees of the spectrum. In reading about the actions and behaviors of Natalie in this novel, it reminded me of several of the actions and behaviors that I personally have seen in the autistic children that I have worked with. I thought the ways in which they represented autism were accurate for the most part. However I do think it is important to keep in mind that children can be diagnosed with autism and still be very high functioning. It seemed to me that Natalie had a more severe level of autism. One thing that concerns me about what this book may portray to people who do not know much about autism is that all children with this particular disability have as high behavioral needs as Natalie does.