Rating: 
Summary: This book changed me.
Review: When my son was diagnosed with autism a year ago, I began to research the disorder. A lot of what I read was very grim. Since then, my son has received traditional therapies (OT, SLP, etc.) with little or no improvement. This June, my son started a Lovaas style ABA prgram. He has benefitted immensely. I actually read this book after reading the book Maurice edited. The "Behavioral Intervention" book is like my guidebook, but this book, THIS BOOK is like my life's story. It was so good to hear someone else's voice speak the things I have said in my heart so many times. If you have a child with autism, or you love a person with autism. READ this book.
Rating: 
Summary: DOES NOT PROMOTE CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.
Review: ...Had we waited for our daughter to"grow out of it" she would still be spinning in circles and banging her head on the floor, instead of reading, listening to music, playing with her toys giving us hugs, going to school. No she is not cured, but she enjoys life and we now have some hope for the future! There was absolutely no corporal punishment in my daughters therapies or in this book... Unless you call time outs in a chair Corporal Punishment... No, nobody is ever "cured" from Autism, but they can make wonderful improvements... Ms. Maurice's book gives you hope, and explains her experiences with so called "therapist", She spent a lot of money on people who claimed the could help her daughter. She finally found a therapy that she really believed in. I started this therapy with my daughter myself, and then got help from other very caring people who were and were not recommended by the medical association. I truly believe my daughter benefited greatly from these therapies, as did her family. It was and is still a HUGE help to us.
Rating:
Summary: DOES NOT PROMOTE CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.
Review: .... No, nobody is ever "cured" from Autism, but they can make wonderful improvements. Ms. Maurice gave thousands hope for their children.
Rating:
Summary: By all means read it, but don't believe every thing you read
Review: I admire Mrs. Maurice's work and that she was such a strong advocate for her children. I wish my younger son would 'recover' to the extent that her children did. HOWEVER, keep in mind that her children were diagnosed at a very, very young age. Not that I am supporting the 'wait and see' for any family, but there are children who exhibit difficulty with language, relationships, and play that would label them Autistic. At a certain age one of my brothers and my older son would have surely been considered autistic, but now are both highly intellegent, creative, though somewhat shy people. Ms. Maurice's children were adminstered a form of ABA which uses corporal punishment. NOT ACCEPTABLE in any of today's programs. Also the therapy was admistered by unsupervised students--most Universities will not support or encourage such programs. A great story, and if it ever becomes a movie--I'll see it. I am sure that reading this book would benefit a number of people, but it is a personal account--and as Mark Twain once wrote "All Autobiographies are fiction." I am NOT saying that she deliberately wishes to deceive anyone, but I want anyone who reads this book to be aware that she is writing as a mother and as a person who passionately believes that she has cured two children of a biological medical condition that has, honestly, no cure.
Rating:
Summary: A must have
Review: This book is an excellent resource on behavior interventions for autism. In reading it, I do have trouble initially sympathising with the author (who seems like a "poor" rich man's wife), but she quickly gets to the subject at hand. This book is in "story" format and is intended to introduce you to behavioral intervention, not a "how-to" implement it (the same author actually has written a book that does that). The book is critical of biological interventions, but I've found they go hand-in-hand. This book is good for general understandings of autism and for understandings of behavioral intervention. I would not rely on the statements it makes about other methods (I've found OT for instance to be helpful). The author seems to believe in a panacea or one-size-fits all method. Aside from my "personality conflict" with the author as she describes herself and her long passages about her religion (I skipped past these), the book and its subject are a must have. A definate must for the parent with autism (along side Karen Sorrousi's book about biological interventions).
Rating:
Summary: Informative and Interesting
Review: Catherine Maurice does a wonderful job of putting us in her shoes as she describes the series of events that lead up to and follow her daughter's diagnosis of autism. She also manages to tell her story while being very informative of the different therapies that were offered to her while she searched for a way to help her child. I would recommend this book to any parent of healthy or autistic children, as well as to therapists and pediataricians everywhere.
Rating:
Summary: A must for any parent of a child with Autism!
Review: I can't begin to tell you how this book empowered me. I DO NOT have a child with autism. I do have a child with developmental disabilities. Ms. Maurice's story validated so many of the thoughts and feelings that parents experience when coming to grips with their disabled child. As an advocate for children with special needs, I've seen the intensity of the educational programming discribed. I've seen parents struggle to emulate Ms. Maurice's program both successfully and with some failure. She makes no promises, she simply tells her story. It's real, it's powerful. This book is a must for anyone considering discrete trial training of their child.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Story
Review: Sure, not all cases are the same, but I think that every parent who has a child diagnosed with Autism should read this book. It describes a parents struggle through about 3 different therapies with her two chilren, both of whom were diagnosed with Infantile Autism. This book has made me research Autism and Aspergers Syndrome (related) and I am even making a report on it just because I want to. This book is touching. I cried when the mother cried and laughed when the mother laughed. I was so happy with every step forward and sad with every step backward.
Rating: 
Summary: An opinion from a college student majoring in special ed.
Review: I read this book as part of a project for a class relating to my major. The assignment was to read a book that could be used as a resource for parents with a child with a disability. One of the things we had to consider was the reading level of the book. While the book was enjoyable and helpful to me as a future educator, I am not sure I could recommend it to just any parent. It was full of technical jargon that, had I not had any classes in this stuff, I would have had no clue what half of it meant. With that said, though, it was a very detailed account of what parents must go through when their child is labeled with having a disability...something I need to think about as I persue my career. I would recommend it to many of the other students I attend classes with.
Rating:
Summary: It may not work for all ...
Review: While I am very happy for Mrs. Maurice and her family that her two autistic children were cured, I, however, have a good friend that tried the Lovaas therapy on her own two autistic children along with other therapies. Four years have passed and her children are still autistic, though one child is more higher functionally than the other. The boys are now 6 and 7, and both are still being toilet trained. They are in school but are in special ed classes. One talks just a little, and the other one has never uttered a word. There are small improvements, but it's hard to say which therapy deserves the credit. When I asked my friend recently what she thought of the Lovaas therapy, she said, "At least it gave me hope." She now seems to have accepted her children just the way they are, though she does get a little worn out sometimes. She accepts that they will always be autistic, and that one day she may have to place her sons in a "group home" situation when they grow up and become too much for her to handle. For now, she just loves them and enjoys them. I admire her attitude. For anyone considering the book, bear in mind that it doesn't always work for all, but I certainly consider it worth trying.
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