Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family's Triumph Over Autism

Front Cover
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

"From the Trade Paperback edition.

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Contents

Michel
217
Catherines Recovery?
293
Some Further Thoughts on Recovery Some
305
Copyright

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About the author (1993)

The name Catherine Maurice is a pseudonym. The author is, in real life, the mother of three children, two of whom were diagnosed as autistic. Her best-known book, "Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family's Triumph over Autism," was published in 1994. It is an uplifting and hopeful account of how her family used a behavior modification method to treat their autistic children. The process, devised by O. Ivar Lovaas, a psychologist in California, seeks to disrupt the repetitive patterns of behavior that so many autistic children exhibit. Maurice's book, although positive and uplifting, cautions readers that this type of therapy works with only about 50% of the children who are treated using it. Nevertheless, both of Maurice's children have fully recovered and are now considered "normal." Catherine Maurice is also the editor of a book entitled "Behavioral Intervention for Young Children with Autism: A Manual for Parents and Professionals."

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