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

A Real Boy is essential reading for anyone who has a child with special needs, but it is also a compelling and vivid memoir that offers outsiders to the world of Autism a rare insight into the demands of parenting a child "on the spectrum." Adams not only chronicles here the daily struggles her family faced, but also illuminates the path she and her family found to take them out of the woods of Autism, the very path that so many parents are searching for. Many parents faced with an Autism diagnosis feel overwhelmed and even paralyzed, and I think A Real Boy would be enormously helpful to them as it describes very vividly the therapies Adams employed for her son and his improvement from them. In the end, readers will find themselves cheering for Adams, her husband, and their beautiful son, Jonah. Read this book; you will be touched and inspired by the story of this mother's determination to change her son's fate.

I am not a book reviewer, but I am an Autism Mommy who gained REAL HOPE from this book. 2 days after my son was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, I found myself sitting in a bookstore looking through every imaginable book on autism. What struck me about Christina's book, was that my son is the age that hers was in the beginning of "her story". I read this in one sitting, and couldn't put it down. I wanted to know what "recovery" looked like, and what steps they took in their journey. I so related to her roller coaster of emotions and found comfort in her struggles dealing with such a difficult and similar situation. She opened my eyes and inspired me to look under every rock and be a REAL advocate for my son. She gave me the greatest gift a new autism mommy could get -- HOPE! Thanks Christina!

With the rising tide of cases of children diagnosed with autism, whose numbers are becoming epidemic, the material covered in A Real Boy is of grand-scale concern for all. As a parent who hopes one day to become a grandparent, I am keenly interested in all the recent information in the press about mercury in vaccinations, possible genetic links to autism (which ranges in severity in the "spectrum"), and prognoses for treatment. Christina Adams, in her poetically written yet riveting prose, takes us from A to Z in her personal story of diagnosis, treatment, and recovery of her son Jonah. In this memoir, where the characters play out their lives as in a novel, Adams recounts her and her husband's involvement in Jonah's all-encompassing therapy, with doctors and therapists, as well as the stress on her marriage, and her struggle to be the best advocate for her son. I love in particular how the book was named by her son Jonah, who, as he began to get well, told his mother, "Mom, I'm not a pretend boy, I'm a real boy." The wisdom of the young, seen so many times in Jonah's dialogue, shines through in this memoir. This book complements the variety of books on the market that provide clinical information about autism, its origins and treatment. A Real Boy is also sure to be a comforting resource for the many moms and dads who lovingly advocate for their children.

A REAL BOY is a real book. Honest. Touching. Inspiring. This is a story about determination in the face of despair, and selflessness in the face of sorrow leading to success. It is a story about a family getting to reclaim their beloved son. But most of all, it is the story of a real boy: A boy who is important and valuable, who comes to have a sense of self because of parental selflessness...and who is able to reclaim the ability to develop skills and accentuate talents, which had been temporarily interrupted or deemphasized by autism. For every mom who has dealt with a swinging door letting in therapists and disrupting privacy - and then felt guilty for wanting to take a shower, agonized at her child having to endure blood tests, held her breath for one professional's report after another - this book would strike a chord. And for every relative and neighbor who has no idea of challenges children and parents in a family affected by autism face...they would gain insight from this, too.

A Real Boy is extremely well-written, and the narrative of this memoir keeps you hooked just like that of a first-rate novel--I had trouble making myself put the book down. However, at the same time, you get loads and loads of easily understandable information about autism. The moving, yet realistic and down-to-earth story of Jonah and his family should be highly appealing to both those who are dealing with a child or relative's autism and those who just want to read a great human story about determination and love.