Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism

Sorry Jen McArthy but I hated the whole concept of this book especially and including the title! We would ALL move mountains to “heal” our children. Every family that faces this starts on a journey which was chosen for them. A journey with so many twists and turns and ups and downs it's almost impossible to explain. Books like this one call into question the “right” way to care for your child with autism. It is divisive and I believe knowing the outcome socially of such books quite cruel. Raising children with autism is isolating enough without claims of a non-existent “cure”.

I saw Jenny McCarthy talking about this book on Oprah so I bought it. I have not read any of Jenny's other books, but I was very interested in learning how autism effected her life.

I have to say, Jenny McCarthy is a very dedicated mother who was going to stop at nothing to find out what was wrong with her son and how to “fix” it. I thought her journey, from the initial incorrect diagnosis to the numerous breakthroughs Evan completed was both heartbreaking and hopeful.

At age 2.5, Evan is discovered in his room seizing and Jenny immediately is thrust into a world of terror and incorrect medical diagnoses until she begins to push for the answers. The road leading to Evan's diagnosis of autism is a difficult one, with Jenny fighting with her pediatrician and a neurologist, who both think his problems are epilepsy and do not feel it is necessary to do any other tests. Jenny's marriage becomes more strained as the months go by and she discovers that her and her husband have very different ways of dealing with the stress of Evan's illness.

Jenny, finally, arrives in the office of a very brilliant doctor who takes one look at Evan and tells Jenny he's autistic, not epileptic, and he begins a new treatment for Evan as well as encourages her to continue to fight for her son. She does. She uses Google for research and meets other mothers with autistic children, and finds hope in their stories.

Jenny is very upfront and in your face with this story, and she is very honest. I remember Jenny from her MTV days and never realized there was more to her than that MTV persona. This book gave me a completely new idea/opinion of her as well as gave her all of my respect. I think anyone, whether they have children or not, would learn a lot about life, faith, love, and autism from this book. I do not have children of my own, but one day I might and with the statistics being so high, 1 in 150 diagnosed with autism, I think it would be absolutely ridiculous for me to put my head in the sand and think “It won't be my child”. It pays to be diligent in the world of parenting, and Jenny was very diligent. She brought her son through some very dark days and he is getting better. Her love and her faith helped her pull through those hard days and nights. Her strength is something I envy and it is that strength that I think all autistic children and parents of autistic children need from those around them: their friends and family. That's definitely the message I got.