Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family's Triumph over Autism
by Catherine Maurice
List Price:
Our Price: $8.42
You Save: $6.58 (44%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.45 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Catherine MauriceEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1994-07-19
ISBN: 0449906647
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family's Triumph over Autism
Book Review: Thank you, Catherine Maurice
Summary: 5 Stars
Our therapists at the Brent Woodall Foundation for Exceptional Children ([...]) recommended this book when they evaluated our daughter this summer. Our daughter lost most of her words right before age 2 and regressed into autism this year. She received a formal diagnosis from several specialist physicians, beginning with a developmental pediatrician.
I wish I had had the chance to read the book before September. What a wonderful book! It gave me confidence as a parent that I was not alone and was a good picture of a thinking mother's journey to help her child.
We have seen some great progress with our own daughter in the past few months because of ABA therapy. We are at 21 plus hours per week, depending on how much I can do with Rethink Autism at home. Her eye contact is now so much better and her joint attention is greatly improved. She is now fighting very hard to try to talk, whereas before ABA she was starting to just give up. She is nearly 3.
As with Catherine Maurice, our goal is not to change our daughter's personality. We just don't want her to bang her head and scream with frustration over not being able to tell us what she wants, what is wrong, what is hurting, etc. None of the ABA therapists we have worked with, from the Brent Woodall Foundation to Childrens Hospital, to Rethink Autism have had any sort of negative effect on our child. None. And there are now dozens of therapist that have worked with her. But I could give you many examples of how ECI upset her.
The most negative people we have come across were all NON-ABA providers. Our ECI therapists were FULL of misinformation (which harmed our daughter's precious progress in the small window of time that we have to help her), and all were negative about ABA. Not all ECI providers are like ours, but particular district was pathetic. Our ECI offered no ABA at all, only someone that went to a 3 day RDI conference and presented herself as an expert. We have seen so much progress since firing them and adding additional ABA hours and speech. In our experience, the educational community is in some sort of a adversarial relationship with the medical community over autism. At least in our state. No one is perfect, but the medical community has been more professional, better informed, and so much less arrogant than the educational community. I didn't see much reference to this in Ms. Maurice's book, although I did relate very much to Ms. Maurice's having to push away those in her life that did not have her daughter's best interest at heart.
Reading Catherine Maurice's book gave us the courage to do that. I was afraid to fire our ECI therapists. They were often so arrogant and wrong about our daughter and negative and nit-picking about us as parents. Criticizing me to allow my daughter to use my hand to point, for instance. A non-verbal child that had never pointed or made a choice before was making an effort to communicate! That was huge! I didn't even realize it at the time, I just knew that my daughter was NOT being manipulative like ECI said. Go jump off a cliff, ECI people. Sure enough, because we continued to allow that, she was able to transition that into pointing for herself! So there! Taking her head and pressing on it, hard? WTH? One of the ECI therapists told me that this would "relax" my daughter, who screamed and ran away.
This book helped encourage me to trust my instincts. There seems to be someone on every program, on every corner that wants to take our money and "cure" our daughter. We no longer take any advice from people who have not had specific training in autism. And we weed through them, even. Every BCBA (the certication that therapists supervising an ABA program must have) that we have worked with has been great with our daughter.
ABA therapy has been helpful in that it helps our daughter understand her world; what is expected of her and what to expect. We have truly seen a MEASURABLE- and remarkably so- difference in her cognition, her communication skills, and her behaviors. Her brain is working so hard to form those necessary neural pathways for learning. She is able to generalize some things now (different pictures of dogs are all a dog, for example) and has FINALLY learned what hot means (thank you, LORD).
Do we still have sleep issues? Yes. She can only sleep 3 to 4 hours in a 24 hour period without medication. She also still struggles with sensory issues and high anxiety. We are working through some food issues that may be gastro-intestinal related. Don't know yet. This is going to be a long road.
But ABA has helped her learn to "play". The Brent Woodall Foundation used ABA therapy to teacher her how to play with a doll and how to say "please" and "thank you". And many other skills. There is even a social skills class for little girls where they use ABA methods to teach dress up play and have a tea party. Instead of being scared in a corner or running around the room, now she sometimes will at least try to play with someone else and enjoys it.
I don't think any parent of a child with autism wants their child to suffer. No one wants to make their child into some robot. I disagree with the above review that Catherine Maurice feels like autism was a fate worse than death. The fate we are trying to save these children from is not being able to be understood, to communicate need or pain or preferences. Quirky is great, but I honestly think ABA therapy helps a child to cope with the real world. The real world unfortunately has evil and bullies. In the real world, sometimes parents die and the child must be put into a program where "quirks" are annoying to people paid to care and things cannot be centered around the autistic person. The more my child can communicate and build relationships, the less likely she is to be a victim that can't defend herself and the more likely she can craft her life herself to what she needs it to be. Doing nothing dooms the child to a lonely, frustrating life that doesn't have to be that way.
Neurodiversity is great. But it is irresponsible to deprive a child of ABA therapy, which has been shown to be greatly helpful in early intervention. There is no question that ABA therapy is a valuable therapy. Does it work 100%? No. But neither does chemo. Biomedical approaches have had some success too, but not in our child's case. ABA therapy has made a huge difference. It should be available to every child with an autism diagnosis.
But doing nothing at all? Sometimes I feel like that's what people are advocating under some ideal of "neurodiversity". I have a problem with that in that a couple of highly-functioning autistics that are able to post on the internet do not speak for all autistics everywhere. My daughter wants to communicate very much and deserves to be able to express herself and feel less anxiety and fear.
Anyway, the book was excellent and clearly showed the value of intensive ABA therapy at a young age, the value of parents passionate to help their child, and the arrogance of some who purport to help but only harm. I hope that I have not hurt anyone with this review and that I expressed my views without anyone feeling judged. Watching my child struggle like this is the hardest thing I have ever done. I wouldn't wish this pain on my worst enemy.
Summary of Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family's Triumph over Autism
She 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.In their desperate struggle to save their daughter, the Maurices plunged into a medical nightmare of false hopes, "miracle cures," and infuriating suggestions that Anne-Marie's autism was somehow their fault. Finally, Anne-Marie was saved by an intensive behavioral therapy.
Let Me Hear Your Voice is a mother's illuminating account of how one family triumphed over autism. It is an absolutely unforgettable book, as beautifully written as it is informative.
"A vivid and uplifting story . . . Offers new strength to parents who refuse to give up on their autistic children." -- Kirkus Reviews
"Outstanding . . . Heartfelt . . . A lifeline to families in similar circumstances." -- Library Journal
Memoirs Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Memoirs Books
Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Centuryby Hunter S. Thompson
Penguin Books, Limited (UK); Published: 2008-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.11
Price in other shops:
Never Have Your Dog Stuffedby Alan Alda
Arrow Books; Published: 2007-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.59
Price in other shops:
The Hunger: A Story of Food, Desire, and Ambitionby John DeLucie, Graydon Carter
Ecco; Published: 2009-05-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.63
Price in other shops:
Brotherhood of Warriors: Behind Enemy Lines with a Commando in One of the World's Most Elite Counterterrorism Unitsby Aaron Cohen, Douglas Century
Ecco; Published: 2008-04-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.94
Price in other shops:
Not Lost Forever: My Story of Survivalby Carmina Salcido, Steve Jackson
William Morrow; Published: 2009-10-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Unlocked: The Life and Crimes of a Mafia Insiderby Louis Ferrante
Harper Perennial; Published: 2009-02-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Writing Places: The Life Journey of a Writer and Teacherby William Zinsser
Harper; Published: 2009-05-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.09
Price in other shops:
Got the Life: My Journey of Addiction, Faith, Recovery, and Kornby Fieldy
William Morrow; Published: 2009-03-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.)by Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp
Harper Perennial; Published: 2008-04-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.14
Price in other shops:
The Ride of My Lifeby Mat Hoffman
It Books; Published: 2003-09-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.95
Similar Books and other products
Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knewby Ellen Notbohm
Future Horizons; Published: 2005-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.92
Price in other shops:
Principles of Everyday Behavior Analysis (with Printed Access Card)by L. Keith Miller
Wadsworth Publishing; Published: 2005-07-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $63.00
Price in other shops:
Documentation Manual for Occupational Therapy: Writing SOAP Notesby Crystal Gateley MA OTR/L, Sherry Borcherding MA OTR/L
Slack Incorporated; Published: 2011-08-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $38.00
Price in other shops:
Engaging Autism: Using the Floortime Approach to Help Children Relate, Communicate, and Think (A Merloyd Lawrence Book)by Stanley I. Greenspan, Serena Wieder
Da Capo Lifelong Books; Published: 2009-02-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.93
Price in other shops:
The Human Brain: An Introduction to its Functional Anatomy With STUDENT CONSULT Online Access, 6e (Human Brain: An Introduction to Its Functional Anatomy (Nolt)by John Nolte PhD
Mosby; Published: 2008-07-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $49.97
Price in other shops:
Where is the Mango Princess? A Journey Back from Brain Injuryby Cathy Crimmins
Vintage; Published: 2001-10-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.91
Price in other shops:
Applied Behavior Analysis (2nd Edition)by John O. Cooper, Timothy E. Heron, William L. Heward
Prentice Hall; Published: 2007-01-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $96.99
Price in other shops:
Behavioral Intervention for Young Children With Autism: A Manual for Parents and ProfessionalsPro ed; Published: 1996-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $52.86
Price in other shops:
A Work in Progress: Behavior Management Strategies and a Curriculum for Intensive Behavioral Treatment of Autismby Ron Leaf, John McEachin
Drl Books; Drl Books; Published: 1999-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $27.20
Price in other shops:
The Verbal Behavior Approach: How to Teach Children With Autism and Related Disordersby Mary Barbera, Tracy Rasmussen
Jessica Kingsley Publishers; Jessica Kingsley Pub; Published: 2007-05-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.64
Price in other shops: