When their bright, sociable child began to withdraw
and stopped speaking, Christina and her husband dealt with his increasingly
difficult behavior until a preschool director said “He’s
autistic” and
asked them to leave. They were plunged into a new and frightening world
that held little hope for Jonah, their only son. Christina and her husband
determined that they would fight his autism with everything they had.
Within three weeks, he pointed out the window and asked his first question…
Filled with cutting-edge medical information and therapeutic
techniques, A
Real Boy tells how Jonah recovered
to the point that a new doctor thought it impossible that he had
ever been diagnosed with autism.
"Adams, a commentator for NPR's Day to Day, offers an affecting
personal narrative about her son Jonah's diagnosis with autism
at age two. She conveys the impact of this diagnosis on herself
and her family, especially in the months immediately following,
providing excellent accounts of how she
responded to teachers' and family members' suggestions that Jonah
had autism. She also candidly discusses issues that have put pressure
on her marriage, e.g., guilt and blame (she took the controversial
drug Pitocin during delivery)...this book clearly illustrates autism's
impact on a family
and is recommended for academic and public libraries with autism
collections." —Library Journal
“Adams's
son, Jonah, was two years and eight months old when he was
diagnosed as autistic. Eighteen months later, child development
specialists evaluating Jonah couldn't believe he'd had a
history of autism. What made the difference? Adams--with
the help of her lawyer husband--devoted herself completely
to Jonah's treatment, starting immediately with a rigorous
gluten and casein-free diet. They enrolled the young boy
in a 40-hour a week, one-on-one ABA ("applied behavioral
analysis") program for autistic children, supplemented
with individual speech therapy and physical therapy….Adams,
a self-described "Autism Mommy," worked full-time
on the intervention process, advocating for Jonah's needs
with the school system so they'd cover his high bills, cooking
Jonah's special foods and interfacing with each therapist
privately and then collectively to help Jonah integrate the
lessons into real-world situations. It's pleasing to see
Jonah make such a dramatic improvement....With the number
of children on the autism spectrum growing, Adams's upbeat,
inspirational account has a ready-made market…." —Publishers
Weekly
|
Praise for A Real Boy:
“Fast-paced, riveting and often
humorous… clearly reveals how parental determination can
enable a child to grow and prosper.”
|
—Stephen
Shore
author, Beyond the Wall:
Personal Experiences with Autism
and Asperger
Syndrome
|
“Wonderful… shows the importance of
looking at the whole child, not just applying the autism ‘label.’”
|
—Michael
Goldberg, M.D.
Fellow, American Academy of Pediatrics;
Director, NIDS Research Institute
|
“The inspiring story of a devoted mother’s
struggle….emotional and moving, A Real
Boy will strike a chord with all parents who have fought
against the odds….Christina Adams writes straight from the
heart.”
|
|
A
Real Boy is a real book. Honest. Touching. Inspiring.
This is a story about determination in the face of despair, and
selflessness in the face of sorrow leading to success. It is
a story about a family getting to reclaim their beloved son. But
most of all, it is the story of a real boy: A boy who is important
and valuable, who comes to have a sense of self because of parental
selflessness…and who is able to reclaim the ability to develop
skills and accentuate talents, which had been temporarily interrupted
or deemphasized by autism.
For every mom who has dealt with a swinging door letting in therapists
and disrupting privacy – and then felt guilty for wanting to
take a shower, agonized at her child having to endure blood tests,
held her breath for one professional’s report after another – this
book would make a logical Mother’s Day present. And for
every relative and neighbor who has no idea…they could use
a copy, too.
|
|
When Christina Adams wrote and asked me to mention her
book, 'A Real Boy', on the SV site, and I offered to actually read
it, I never suspected that this book would be a page turner!
'A Real Boy' is a personal and poetic account of her son's recovery
from autism, a devestating disorder which affects one in 166 children
in this country, an unimaginable number when you understand autism,
and what it does to children and their families! .
The story follows Jonah's progress from suspicion through diagnosis
to normalcy. Christine and her husband devoted every particle of
their beings, every scrap of their considerable intelligence, all
of their resources, singlemindedly to Jonah's recovery. And miraculously
succeeded. |
|
Among “the
best of the writers and authors that I've discovered on the
Web and whose work I would recommend.” |
|
"Regardless of whether readers have an autistic
child or a child "on the spectrum" with a diagnosis ranging
from attention deficit disorder to Asperger's syndrome, they should
enjoy Adams' fast-paced tale. We learn the language of autism, explore
its manifestations and gain an understanding of the world inhabited
by an increasing number of families."
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