A Real Boy: A True Story of Autism, Early Intervention, and Recovery

Book was in great shape... very interesting read!

I love this book! For a parent of a child on the spectrum it is very informative and so cool to see how other families deal with it.

I could not put the book down! The author's writing is compelling and sincere, and as it presents information about a topic that I don't know a lot about, I was fascinated. What a rich skill she has to weave in her own personal experiences while providing education and hope. The numerous parents who do not have the early diagnosis or even if they did, they likely will not have the personal or financial resources that the author did to provide such a multifaceted level of care to her son must be inspired to seek the best intervention they can. Wow. Big Wow. I am deeply impressed by Christina's story.

I read this book primarily because I love memoirs and devour everything I find in this genre. I was captivated by Christina's story from the start. I do not have firsthand experience with autistic children, but this book brought all of the heartache and joys to life for me. The author has a way of writing that drew me into her world as if I was in the room. I was rooting for Jonah all the way.Aside from offering a good story, the author fills the book with strategies and interventions for those families that are faced with this challenge. The road appears long and arduous, but there is hope at the end of it. This is a must-read for any parent of a child on the spectrum.

Of the books of this type, about "recoveries" from autism by extreme intervention, diet, medication, etc, this book is probably the best I've read. The author seems to have much sympathy for others. I loved it that she made a point to get to know adults on the autistic spectrum and to appreciate their good qualities, and that she seemed to realize how lucky she was to have the resourses she did to help her son. She also didn't have the air of someone with total confidence in herself, which was endearing to me. I felt her story and Jonah's was honestly told, and I am glad he is doing as well as he is.With that said, books like this can be very hurtful to read. I have a son on the spectrum. He was diagnosed at an early age with classic autism. Even if I had known about all the interventions talked about here, having the funds or the wherewithall to make them happen would have been about as likely as me sprouting wings and flying to the moon. We couldn't have paid for even one of the experts that Jonah saw. Our school district would have laughed for days at a plan like the one Jonah's agreed to. We were in no way able to move to a different district. If I had read this book when my son was young, I would have cried for hours, because I couldn't help him as the author did.However, my son today no longer even meets the criteria for Aspergers Syndrome, to say nothing of autism. He still has unusual traits, but he is in a gifted program at school and would not be seen by almost anyone as having autism. I didn't do much to acheive this beyond what our poor school district offered, and what a mother's love does on its own. No special diets, no ABA, a few free social skills groups when I could....Books like this sometimes make you feel you should plan very carefully before having a child with autism!! If only you could! You should make sure you live in a rich school district and have a great deal of money yourself, you must make sure your child is an only child so you can give them all your attention, you must believe wholeheartedly in special diets, you must be an intellectual...if not, perhaps you should think twice before having that autistic child! Oh, that's right---YOU CAN'T! So until all parents can do what this parent did, you might want to think twice about reading this book. There is nothing wrong with what Christina Adams did, there is much right with it. But it's not the only route to recovery.

If you just found a loved one is autistic and don't know where to start I would recomend reading some other books first. A good place to start is Facing Autism by Lyn Hamilton and Overcoming Autism by Lynn Kern. Those books will give you a better overview of what to expect and what you can do rather than this book.The Autism Spectrum is very large and not every child classified as autistic is the same. I think those other books do a better for a wider audience than this one. Her son seemed, from her descriptions, to have a lot more abilities than a lot of autistic kids do and I think that (along with her great efforts)is part of the reason why her son was able to improve.It buged me that the author is constantly ripping on people who don't do as much for their kids as she did for hers. She even goes into detail classifying the different types of "autism mommies" and what each group is willing to do. Of course she is in the group that will do anything for their kid and should be highly thought of and respected. Don't get me wrong, I agree that the only real way to treat autism is to tackle it full time. Autistic kids need intensive programs to get better. What she fails to realize is is that not everyone with an autistic kid has a boatload of money. She could afford to do some things for her son that others can't do because her and her husband had the finacial means to do such, to hire a lawyer to sue the school districts and to get programs started (heaven forbid she suffered too.... they had to sell their cabin) before funding could kick in, and to pay for the drug treatments. Not everyone has the financial means to do that.She also only has one child. She doesn't have anything in here about what to do if you have multiple children and one of them is autistic. It becomes a lot harder to concentrate all your efforts one one child when you have others at home that need your attention as well.It almost sounds throughout the book that she's promoting herself for sainthood before she dies.Anyway, I thought the book was well written and interesting to read and there were a lot of good ideas but if you are just getting started learning about autism and what you can do for a loved one then I would start elsewhere. If you already know a lot about autism and are just looking for something else to read on the subject then it's a decent and interesting read.I do applaud her efforts and what she did for her son.