Review of Let Me Hear Your Voice - Book Report/Review Example

Book Review of Let Me Hear Your Voice Catherine Maurice, PhD is the of Let Me Hear Your Voice. She is not only an expert in the field of autistic children due to her experiences and research, but also the parent of 2 autistic children. With a doctorate in the humanities, she writes under a pseudo name to protect the identity of her children. She has devoted her life to the study and “curing” of autism through different types of therapies. She is not only qualified to write books on the subject of autism but is also one of the world’s leading authors on the subject. She is qualified both educationally and through personal experience. Maurice has also written Behavioral Intervention for Young Children with Autism. I was drawn to this book as the subject of autism has always fascinated me. I have wondered how it is that these children with autism can be so introverted but also in most cases geniuses. I was especially curious about the mechanics of autism. As in, whether it was a specific type of syndrome that directly affected brain function or if it worked more on an emotional level. I expected to gain perspective on both the medical side of autism as well as the experiences of a family dealing first hand with children that had autism. This book begins with the first birthday of Maurice’s daughter Anne-Marie. Maurice, her husband Marc and older daughter Patsy begin to suspect that Anne-Marie’s behavior is not normal. She has become somewhat withdrawn, uses repetitive motions when playing and cries incessantly. “The crying was getting worse. It seemed to me that it was change, the act of being intruded upon and made to do something that caused her to cry” (9). Her family has also noticed that she has lost some of her words that she once knew. Naturally, Maurice as a mother grew increasingly concerned as the symptoms worsened. In the meantime, Maurice and her husband Marc had another child, a son named Michel who would later display the same symptoms and ultimately share the same condition as his sister Anne-Marie. Maurice spent a great deal of time conducting independent research to establish what her daughter Anne-Marie could be afflicted with. Though in graduate school at the genesis of Anne-Marie’s symptoms, she put off work on her thesis and poured over medical journals for hours, seeking an answer for Anne-Marie’s condition. On one of Anne-Marie’s first doctor visits, Maurice is told that Anne-Marie has a problem of some sort but play therapy is suggested. “Across the jagged hole that autism rips in a child’s future, these very serious and very, very busy people wanted to paste a couple of cute little band-Aids. Two hours a week of play therapy-let’s see if some more bubble-blowing and balloon-throwing will make her start talking!” (21). Maurice continued to seek a diagnosis and during this time her son Michel was born. It was shortly after the birth of their son Michel that Maurice and her husband Marc learned that Anne-Marie in fact had autism. Anne-Marie was not mentally retarded as some children that are autistic also suffer from various degrees of mental retardation. The Maurices begin a journey of finding ways to cure Anne-Marie of autism. During this process, Anne-Marie’s symptoms of withdrawal and lack of nonverbal communication skills only worsened. The picture painted by Maurice of her love for her children as well as her tenacity to overcome their illness is exemplary of almost perfect mothering. She and her husband Marc are ever fervent in finding methods that will help Anne-Marie in the most loving and non-invasive ways possible. Maurice completely immerses herself into the world of autism and treatments that prove affective. By the time Maurice’s new son Michel is eighteen months old, he begins displaying symptoms indicative of yet another child with an illness. He was taken to Dr. Cohen, the same doctor that had been treating Anne-Marie. His response to the Maurices after a quick analysis of Michel was “Michel is currently functioning at about six months behind his age level in communication and socialization.” It was ultimately through weekly ( three times per week) speech therapy and “holding therapy” ( therapy involving holding the child in one’s arms tightly for an hour a day) that the Maurice children were able to essentially recovery from the progression of autism. The Maurices were devoted to avoiding mechanical and sometimes traditional therapy, and committed to utilizing therapy that interrupted many of the symptoms of autism. Through her research, experience and books on the subject, Catherine Maurice has been able to help countless other families with children diagnosed with autism. The symptoms of autism can vary widely from patient to patient and can include but are not limited to lack of eye contact, minimal speech or loss of words already learned, excessive crying or tantrums, appearing to be “in another world”, preoccupation with repetitive motions, seeming non-recognition of family members or friends, moodiness, symptoms of mental retardation, extreme symptoms of genius and a wide range of symptoms specific to each individual with autism. Some individuals with autism can experience seizures and even gastrointestinal disorders. In fact, seizures and gastrointestinal disorders as well as mental illness are more common in individuals suffering from autism than in others. Autism is often referred to as a “spectrum” disorder. This means that one can have very mild autism all the way up to having very severe autism. It varies from patient to patient. Developmental symptoms can include many of the symptoms listed above. More specifically, one may notice that their child is not using many words or is regressing in the use of words they already know. An autistic child will appear mildly to severely delayed in comparison to her/his peers. An autistic child may progressively become withdrawn and reclusive, playing by themselves or staring off blankly. Again, the symptoms of autism vary so widely from person to person. Cognitively speaking, autism is a defect that interferes with coherence in cognitive functions and abilities. This is why people that suffer from autism are sometimes said to lack the theory of “mind”. It is as if certain parts of the brain or mind are underdeveloped and others are over-developed. Autism seems to almost always surface in the autistic individual’s ability or inability to communicate. In the book Let Me Hear Your Voice, Maurice gives numerous accounts of her children’s autistic symptoms surfacing in their communication or lack thereof. The recurring theme of autism is that there is little recurring theme. In the case of the Maurice children and their social skills, Anne-Marie was very much introverted and Michel was more friendly. It can, however, be said that in many reported cases of autism, there seems to be a very different type of social behavior on the part of the autistic individual as compared to the social behavior of peers. The Maurice children both expresses unique but abnormal social behaviors. There is no one physical characteristic that defines one as autistic as in other medically diagnosed disorders. As has been discussed, autism is a spectrum disorder and one individual with autism may experience height or weight retardation while others have no physical symptoms of autism. Finally, the adaptive skills of autistic children may be one of the predominant characteristics if that is possible in a spectrum disorder. Autistic individuals often become very set in a routine. When that routine is disrupted, however, the autistic individual may become very upset or enraged. In many cases, repetition is comfortable for the autistic person. AN example of this was given earlier in the paper when Maurice noted Anne-Marie’s crying spells came about mostly from the disruption of her activity. Effective methods and services are likely to be specific to the individual being treated for autism. We have seen, however, that Maurice has proven successful in placing her autistic children in regular speech therapy as well as using the technique “holding therapy”. Ultimately, the attention and diligence on the part of the Maurices toward their autistic children is paramount. If an autistic child has parents like the Maurices that are willing to empower themselves with knowledge as well as devote themselves to their children, the parents will decide with the child’s pediatrician which method is right for their unique child and her/his symptoms. There cannot be one specific treatment that works for a disorder with such a varying set of symptoms and levels of severity based on the patient. The author’s view point could not be closer to the issue. She literally exposes years of hers and her family’s life in this book. My reaction to this is one of sympathy and admiration toward the author. Her portrayal of autism spectrum disorder is her own account as well as her own initial horror at the discovery that her children were somehow suffering, followed by her willingness to do all that she could do to make them better. I did not feel that there were any weaknesses in this book. The strengths of the book are evident in Maurice’s ability to help her children overcome a disorder that is labeled as “incurable”. She has taken a difficult situation and used it to help others. My reaction to the author’s views were subjective as I was at her mercy as she shared her story. I sympathized with her, I felt angry when she did, and I felt empowered when she did. I feel that the most important thing that I learned that I may not have fully grasped before reading this book is to really be in tuned to small symptoms that children display, such as symptoms that don’t appear necessarily as symptoms at first, and a child’s mild lack of eye contact or slight inability to communicate that may be interpreted initially as shyness. By mediating with the parents, I can act as a better liaison when these small signs begin to surface. This book expanded my knowledge of autism spectrum disorder in essence by making me acutely aware of not only how widely symptoms can vary from person to person but also how gradually and almost discretely symptoms can present. Certainly, individuals with autism may be affected by it more vastly than we can possibly know at this point in time and certainly from Maurice’s book; we can see that families suffer with the feeling of almost losing their family member that is autistic. The author’s viewpoint is one of a mother virtually defining all that a mother should do. She seeks only to make a future for her children as well as to do everything she can to help them. I absolutely agree with Maurice’s views as well as her actions. I feel she has acted as every mother should and has turned her experiences into a vehicle of help for others. I thoroughly enjoyed this book as it was beautifully written and was a story that needed to be told. Works Cited: Maurice, Catherine. Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family’s Triumph Over Autism. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1993. Read More