Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family's Triumph Over Autism

Excellent

great book-arrived quickly

Another fantastic purchase

My son who is autistic is now 8, in mainstream school and doing very well. when I read this book some years ago I found it to be both comforting and very reasuring with lots of practical help. My son was lucky enough to be in a program very similar to the one in the book and the results are aparent if not achieved with a lot of hard work. This book enables parents to start to help their children if the support is not available for whatever reason. Looking back some years on I would say this was the most important book I read on the subject, and only now apreciate who much is changed all of our lives

I first came across this book when reading for my undergrad thesis (on gestural communication in infantile autism).I remember crying my eyes out on reaching the end of Anne-Marie's story, and the gut-wrenching beginnings of Michel's; and the amount of highlighting in my dog-eared old copy goes to show how useful I found it from a factual point of view!I went back to it with fresh eyes this year, and found the religious aspects to be a little too overstated for an otherwise surprisingly objective and scientific text. I would really have liked Maurice to have concentrated on the facts and realities of the ABA approach, and not have made her occasional asides into the Power of Prayer. For me, this detracts from the value of the hard work carried out by the specialists and Maurice herself, especially concerning Anne-Marie's "breakthrough" moment, which she attributes to a sleepless night of fretful prayer.This is the only reason I have knocked a star off my rating of this otherwise extraordinary book.Maurice writes eloquently and with just the right measure of emotion and distance which, in my opinion, must make this a superbly informative read for any parent of an autistic child. Even if you don't come away convinced that ABA is the way to go, the early chapters on researching Autism and meeting with professionals are essential reading.At times anecdotal, often profoundly moving, but most of all wonderfully informative from start to finish. Whole-heartedly recommended.

Though I'm sure Mrs Maurice's intentions are good, the idea that a few months of part-time ABA will transform a severely autistic child into a completely normal one can only be described as a lie.I have two severely autistic children. They each had several years of full time ABA and as far as I can tell it made no difference. Neither ever started to talk and they are both still profoundly disabled. I asked my (very experienced) ABA supervisor about the scenario described in this book and she simply answered "that NEVER happens". There are no properly documented instances of this kind of "recovery" and we only have Mrs Maurice's word that this ever happened. Through internet sites I've been in touch with dozens of parents using this therapy and not one has had anything like this level of success.Most disturbing of all is Mrs Maurice's explanation of why her family should have had such unique success with ABA. According to this book it is because "God answered their prayers" (yes, really!) and this woman claims to take a scientific approach! She does not explain why God chooses not to answer the prayers of so many equally desperate families.Please, please do not go into ABA thinking it will work miracles. You will be disappointed.

From my experience, this book only serves to offer false hope. I am the mother of an autistic child and have spent a huge amount of money implementing a meticulous programme of ABA such as that described in Let Me Hear Your Voice. The ABA therapists I have employed- for now approaching 14 years- have been well qualified, diligent and committed. However, the heartbreaking truth is that my child remains profoundly disabled and that I am unconvinced that ABA has had any effect whatsoever. Indeed, I suspect that I may have better served my child’s interests had I saved the vast sums spent on our programme and put them aside to make provision for when I am no longer able to off the required level of care. Oh, and by the way, I find the final chapters of the book just a little........smug.

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