Publisher's Synopsis
This is the profound moving story, told by their mother, of how two children were rescued from the tragedy of autism - and the first account in which diagnosis, therapy and authentic recovery are fully documented. From the opening page, when we are present at the first birthday party of Ann-Marie Maurice, readers of this extraordinary book enter deeply into the life of the Maurice family. We witness their rising anxiety as Anne-Marie, not long after that first birthday, begins to lose the words she has learned, to behave in bizarre ways, to become 'a person with a self' - and their response when they learn the terrible truth - Diagnosis: autism; Prognosis: incurable. We follow their frantic search for anyone who might offer hope, we follow their prayers and finally their providential discovery of intensive behavioural therapy - a treatment that has been documented to lead to dramatic improvement, and in some cases full recovery from autism.;We are with the Maurices as they scramble to set up a home programme using the principles of applied behavioural analysis; we share their anguish and doubts as the difficult therapy proceeds, and their anger and frustration with professionals who subscribe to the 'blame-the-mother' theory of autism, and with those who, while condemning behavioural therapy as 'mechanistic ' and 'inhuman', prey on desperate parents by offering false hopes and anecdotal accounts of 'miracles'. With the Maurices we rejoice as Anne-Marie begins to 'come back' with and we feel their renewed pain as Michel, born just a few days before Anne-Marie's diagnosis, shows symptoms of the same illness. Finally, we know the profound joy and thankfulness, when the day arrives that the two children and their older brother, Daniel, can play together like any other siblings, and Anne-Marie's kindergarten teacher reports that she has 'taken off like a rocket'. A powerful, inspiring and beautifully written account a family's struggle and triumph, "Let me Hear Your Voice" is unforgettable.
