Though there has been much in the news lately about vaccines, environmental toxins, and other potential causes of the disease, this book goes beyond that debate to take us into the home and life of a child threatened with autism—a child who recoils when someone puts a rattle in his hand; a child who will only sleep when he’s not being held.

Pat first sensed there was something wrong with her son in the moments following his birth when he failed to respond to her or her husband. As he grew older, he spent a great deal of time staring at the windows. She came to realize that this was his way of soothing himself—that like for so many autistic children everyday life overwhelmed his senses, and bright light somehow whited out the sounds and images that were too much.

Eventually, it became clear to Pat that something had to be done if Walker were to have a normal life. She took her son to doctor after doctor, landing with a specialist—child psychiatrist Stanley Greenspan—whose controversial “floor time” technique she started on at once. It was an incredibly rigid program, demanding she give Walker her undivided attention almost every waking moment, seven days a week. Quickly it became too much, and she had to learn to accept the help of neighbors and strangers from the local church who cooked for her and cleaned for her when she couldn’t do it herself.

Pat’s work with Walker was based on the hypothesis that the emotions of children with autism run deep, deeper than those of the average child—something not easily apparent when the child won’t or can’t tolerate touch. It involved eight to ten, twenty- to thirty-minute sessions each day designed to increase his ability to withstand the world around him by establishing a connection or bond. It meant Pat had to do whatever it took to get and keep his attention. As Pat describes it, “I often felt like I was performing a desperate sort of stand-up comedy to save my son’s life.” It was repetitive, exhausting, and unceasingly lonely. But it paid off.

Today, Walker is a normal, happy child—one of the smartest in his class. He’s proof that intense interaction between parent and child—and a ton of love—can work wonders, even with children who seem utterly unreachable. At once a firsthand account of one family’s struggle and a glimpse at a promising new approach for staving off autism, The Boy Who Loved Windows will appeal to anyone who cares about kids, and anyone who appreciates an honest look at what it means to be a mother.

Patricia Stacey, a writer, college teacher, and former editorial staff member of the Atlantic Monthly, lives with her husband, Cliff, and their children, Elizabeth and Walker, in Northampton, Massachusetts.

A M e r l o y d L a w r e n c e B o o k

October 1, 2004 Memoir / Parenting 300 Pages $14.95 ISBN: 0-7382-0966-X

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