Helpful Score: 3
It's a good book - quite captivating, and you're supposed to feel good about how things turn out. But in a way the book is terribly unfair. Because miracles don't happen to everyone. You hear through the whole story about everything the mother was doing wrong and everything that Sean was doing wrong and all the doctors were wrong... and then one day everything is roses and rainbows. It's almost like telling parents to just hang in there and one day your autistic child will "recover" too. It's not an accurate picture (the outcome anyway) and you won't learn anything that will help you and your child but it's a nice read.
This was a very difficult book to read. I tried to remind myself it was written years ago, before spanking and hitting children became scrutinized as it is today.
The frustration and helplessness of the mother is graphically detailed; the physical abuse of the boy is troubling, and it's difficult to read her justification.
That the boy ultimately triumphs with a successful life is heartening and miraculous; that he separates from his family is not surprising. I ached for him, and felt thankful early diagnosis and interventions for those living with autism are available today.
The frustration and helplessness of the mother is graphically detailed; the physical abuse of the boy is troubling, and it's difficult to read her justification.
That the boy ultimately triumphs with a successful life is heartening and miraculous; that he separates from his family is not surprising. I ached for him, and felt thankful early diagnosis and interventions for those living with autism are available today.
To get inside the head of an autisic person was WONDERFUL! It changed the way I think about parenting my own, even though none of them are autistic
