Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family's Triumph over Autism
Selected Book Details
- Paperback
- Author: Catherine Maurice
- Publisher: Ballantine Books
- Release Date: July 1994
- ISBN-10: 0449906647
- ISBN-13: 9780449906644
- List Price: $15.00
Price Comparisons
E-mail these Cheap Book Prices to a friend!
| Store | Price | Condition | Free Shipping? | Online Coupons and Deals | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half.com | $0.94 as of 11/21 4pm EST | Used | NO, $3.49 to $3.99 |
| |||
| Amazon | $0.99 as of 11/21 4pm EST | Used | NO, $3.99 |
| |||
| Alibris | $1.99 as of 11/21 4pm EST | Used | NO, $3.99 |
| |||
| Amazon | $6.95 as of 11/21 4pm EST | New | NO, $3.99 |
| |||
| Half.com | $8.40 as of 11/21 4pm EST | New | NO, $3.49 to $3.99 |
| |||
| Alibris | $9.00 as of 11/21 4pm EST | New | NO, $3.99 |
| |||
| Amazon | $10.20 as of 11/21 4pm EST | New | YES, spend $25+ |
| |||
| TextbookX | $11.17 as of 11/21 4pm EST | New | YES, spend $49+ |
| |||
| button not working? Click Here | |||||||
Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryShe was a beautiful doelike child, with an intense, graceful fragility. In her first year, she picked up words, smiled and laughed, and learned to walk. But then Anne-Marie began to turn inward. And when her little girl lost some of the words she had acquired, cried inconsolably, and showed no interest in anyone around her, Catherine Maurice took her to doctors who gave her a devastating diagnosis: autism. |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Let me hear your voice
Rating:
As a mom with child that was just diagnosed I had no idea what I was looking at. This mother wrote everything I was feeling and thinking. Now I know not only am I not alone but I am not crazy.
No Cruel Tricks
Rating:
Autism is one of the cruelest tricks nature can play on a parent. The child typically looks perfectly healthy, and may even develop normally at first, or appear to. Then comes the banana peel on the sidewalk. To make matters worse, the parents who are thrown on their backs often find that some of those who offer to help them up are cruel tricksters themselves. Friends and neighbors (and at least one talk show host) tell parents the child is merely spoiled. Some "experts" tell the parent, "There is no cure for autism; there is nothing you can do," a pure non-sequitur if there ever was one. (There is no cure for the common cold, but it doesn't follow that you can't treat it effectively.) Others recommend one or another form of snake oil: holding therapy, dolphin therapy, floor time, play therapy, facilitated communication. All of them promise great things but provide only anecdotes as evidence; under the anecdotes is another banana peel. Sadly, many children spend years in ineffective therapy before their parents finally realize they've been tricked. And since early intervention is critical, some find that treatment delayed is treatment denied, perhaps the cruelest trick of all.
I'm a writer specializing in psychology. An interview I did with Ivar Lovaas on his approach to autism, published in Psychology Today in January, 1974, was probably the first article on his work to appear in the national press. There have been advances since then in our understanding of autism, but intensive, learning-based therapy (now generally called applied behavior analysis) is still the only treatment for autism and other developmental disorders that offers scientific evidence of effectiveness. (A word of warning: Lots of people claim to offer Lovaas treament; look for someone who is a BCBA -- board certified behavior analyst.) The treatment is tedious, time consuming, and costly (even if parents do most of it themselves), and it's not magic. But it does work.
Maurice's book offers an intimate look at the struggles parents of autistic children face, and she shows how rigorous instruction (for that is what effective treatment is) can help. If you have a child who has been diagnosed with autism, autism-spectrum disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, or mental retardation, you owe it to your child to read this book. You also owe it to yourself to read this book. It won't tell you everything you need to know; no book will. But it will tell you what you need to know to get started. And it plays no cruel tricks.
A thoughtful and accurate pilgrimage
Rating:
We are the parents of a severely autistic adult and the founder of a school for autistic children.Katherine Maurice's book accurately and sensitively portrays a search that mirrors our own.One of the virtues of the book is that,like many parents, she has tried alternative therapies for her autistic children and analyzes them dispassionately and objectively. Her children benefitted from Applied Behavior Analysis, as has ours and the children in the school we founded.However,the positive results are not universal or complete, and the final cures for autism await the progress of advanced neuroscience.
Infomercial for ABA
Rating: 
I chose to give a reaction to the book because I found myself having many while I read. Overall, I felt the book was like an infomercial for the Lovaas method.
What I did enjoy about the book was watching Catherine outline her own journey. Her stages of grief were so clearly apparent and moving. I also enjoyed finding myself with a renewed energy around behavioral therapy. She also showed that parents have to work with and partner with professionals for their child's success. Often, parents want their child "fixed" by professionals. Lastly, the interventions broken down by developmental area at the back of the book was excellent. I have recommended many of those myself.
What I did not enjoy about the book was that it seemed outdated. While this is not a criticism of the book itself as it was appropriate at the time she wrote it, it is a concern because parents may read this book to find inspiration or guidance in this day and age when many things have changed. Therapists (at least in California) no longer believe in psychodynamic therapy to treat children with autism. As a matter of fact, Freudian therapy, which she mentioned several times, is considered antiquated even for typical people. Her book was packed with obvious bitterness toward the classically trained therapist and toward what seemed like the Psychology "establishment" in general. Then she spoke of the Lovaas techniques repeatedly under the framework that her children were recovered. Many parents looking for answers may interpret this as a cure. I don't believe autism can be "cured" so much as the symptoms can be managed through constant work and attention.
Toward the end of the book, she advises fighting for what a parent wants and how to do it. I think the "how to" is important, such as gathering documentation and presenting facts, but the legalistic attitude I have issue with. Some parents may have to escalate their case into a battle, but I don't believe it has to start out that way. I have found in my practice parents, with whom I have never worked before, walk through the door with aggressive attitudes. While I appreciate their spirit, it sends up red flags. I work for a private agency and we are not "required" to choose to work with every family that calls on us. As a result, if we find parents "difficult" in the beginning, we try to be empathetic to their situation, but we may choose not work with them at all. What's even more frustrating is that these parents may not be difficult at all, but the guidance parents get to fight for everything all the time may send a different message.
I felt the book may send false hopes of cures using the behavioral methods and a fight fight fight orientation that may cause professionals to get the wrong idea about families. I think there are more current books that can give stories of inspiration such as Temple Grandin's Thinking in Pictures.
Great book!
Rating:
A wonderful and very quick read! I recommend this book for anyone with a child, friend or family member with autism.
BROWSE BY SUBJECT
- Audiobooks
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Health, Mind & Body
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel