Reactions to a book about an autistic boy and his mom

Last month, I recommended a book called “Strange Son”, written by a mother who struggled to communicate with, understand, and help her own autistic child. When I was looking up the URL for the book, I scanned through the reviews posted on Amazon, and was stunned by two negative reactions. One was from a reader who panned the book, stating (I’m paraphrasing) that a mother had to be pretty far out to lunch to have a son who had knowledge about lots of things that she, his mom, was absolutely unaware of. To the reviewer, this reflected unbelievable insensitivity on the part of the boy’s mother. Who, then, would be interested in reading the ridiculous, self-centered statement about this subject from such a mother? I know the mom and dad, and know the boy. The mother has dedicated much of her life to understanding and helping her son, and others like him. She and her husband have also paid for the very best help from the therapeutic community that money can buy. Insensitive? Uncaring? Not observant enough to see that there is a little boy who understands and feels things in there?! Give me a break. I have a psychiatrist acquaintance who has dedicated her life, with considerable international recognition, to the understanding and treatment of pervasive developmental disorders like autism. Three or four years ago, she was absolutely convinced that there was NOTHING going on of particular note in the brain of boys like Portia Iversen’s son, Dov. To her a...
Source: On the Brain by Dr. Michael Merzenich, Ph.D. - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Autism Origins, Treatments Childhood Learning Cognitive Impairment in Children Cognitive impairments Language Development Source Type: blogs