Autism History

What is autism: a lifelong disability or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius? In truth, it is both of these things and more - and the future of our society depends on our understanding it. Wired reporter Steve Silberman unearths the secret history of autism, long suppressed by the same clinicians who became famous for discovering it, and finds surprising answers to the crucial question of why the number of diagnoses has soared in recent years.

Inspired by a true story, The Stallion and His Peculiar Boy will touch your heart as no other horse story has before. World War II is raging. Hitler is hiding away the world's most beautiful purebred horses in a little village in Czechoslovakia. Lipizzaners, Thoroughbreds, and the prize Polish Arabians are being used in his experiments to create the perfect war horse. A peculiar twelve-year-old boy from the village named Teodor becomes the groom for one of those special horses - Witez II, one of the most famous Arabian stallions of all time. Witez helps the boy face his challenges and find ...

Unlock the healing power of cannabis medicine and discover the cutting-edge science behind its remarkable impact on human health. Millions of people around the world are healing illnesses with cannabis. Nonetheless, many physicians remain reluctant to discuss cannabis medicine with their...

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological and developmental disorder that begins early in childhood and lasts throughout a person's life. With the help of time, we now have a better understanding of the disease spectrum. Those observations made by the early pioneers have evolved as breakthroughs in the disease management process. In exploring past human competency levels and myths of autism, an emphasis of significance is placed on increasing awareness and the reaction factors to seeking treatment, as the scope of early intervention.

Autism has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years, thanks to dramatically increasing rates of diagnosis, extensive organizational mobilization, journalistic coverage, biomedical research, and clinical innovation. Understanding Autism, a social history of the expanding diagnostic category of this contested illness, takes a close look at the role of emotion - specifically, of parental love - in the intense and passionate work of biomedical communities investigating autism.

FINALIST FOR THE BOOKS FOR A BETTER LIFE AWARD NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Parents . . . you will be wowed and awed by [Dr. Shefali]." —Oprah Winfrey As seen on Oprah’s SuperSoul Sunday, a radically transformative plan that shows parents how to raise children to be their best, truest...

An approachable guide to being a thoughtful, informed ally to disabled people, with actionable steps for what to say and do (and what not to do) and how you can help make the world a more inclusive place ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR, Booklist “A candid, accessible cheat...

“Bold, daring, graceful, and engrossing.” —Bobbie Ann Mason “This book will knock your socks off….A first novel that sings with talent.” —Clyde Edgerton In his phenomenal debut novel—a mesmerizing literary thriller about the bond between two brothers and the evil they face in a...

A Washington Post, NPR, and Buzzfeed Best Book of the Year Shortlisted for the Booker Prize “More than timely, the novel feels timeless, solid, like a forgotten classic recently resurfaced — a brutal, beguiling fairy tale about humanity. But at its core, The New Wilderness is really...

This is the story of two boys, Dylan Ebdus and Mingus Rude. They are friends and neighbors, but because Dylan is white and Mingus is black, their friendship is not simple. This is the story of their Brooklyn neighborhood, which is almost exclusively black despite the first whispers of something...

From a neurologist and the award-winning author of The Sleeping Beauties, a meticulous and compassionate exploration of how our culture of medical diagnosis can harm, rather than help, patients. We live in an age of diagnosis. Conditions like ADHD and autism are on the rapid rise, while new...

Andrew Wakefield reveals the inside story of desperate parents trying to help their autistic children, only to be labeled as abusers by social workers, medical professionals, and the courts. As the number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders grows each year, new discoveries and controversies arise. Andrew Wakefield explores many of these in his thorough investigation of the recent trial case of the “Arizona 5,” which destroyed an Arizona family.

“Profoundly honest, shapely, ambitious, engrossing.”—New York Times Book Review From bestselling author Sue Miller comes a masterful novel about the life of a large family that is deeply bonded by the stranger in their midst—an autistic child. The whole world could not have broken the...

In 1930s and 1940s Vienna, child psychiatrist Hans Asperger sought to define autism as a diagnostic category, aiming to treat those children, usually boys, he deemed capable of participating fully in society. Depicted as a compassionate and devoted researcher, Asperger was in fact deeply influenced by Nazi psychiatry. Although he did offer individualized care to children he deemed promising, he also prescribed harsh institutionalization and even transfer to Spiegelgrund for children with greater disabilities, who, he held, could not integrate into the community.

“What if? These words tantalize and haunt us. . . .Cynthia Swanson takes us on a startling journey where a woman is thrust into the alternative world that might have been, had she made different choices.” — Randy Susan Meyers, author of Accidents of Marriage A provocative and hauntingly...

Alcatraz Island in the 1930s isn't the most normal place to grow up, but it's home for Moose Flanagan, his autistic sister, Natalie, and all the families of the guards. When Moose's dad gets promoted to Associate Warden, despite being an unlikely candidate, it's a big deal. But the cons have a...

“Elana K. Arnold paints prose like a master. A fascinating journey through time, love, and forgiveness.” – A.S. King, Printz Award-winning author of Dig Award-winning author Elana K. Arnold returns with a boldly visionary, deeply felt story that crosses space and time to examine loss and...

For centuries, medicine has made reckless use of one of earth's most toxic substances: mercury - and the consequences, often invisible or ignored, continue to be tragic. Today, global emissions of mercury as well as other toxicants, make us all more vulnerable to its effects. From the worst cases of syphilis to Sigmund Freud's first cases of hysteria, from baffling new disorders in 19th century Britain to the modern scourge of autism, The Age of Autism traces the long overlooked history of mercury poisoning.

Hanna Madelene 3 A Novella – Nr 3 in the Trilogy about Hanna Madelene Chicago, 1940s. Hanna Madelene lives between worlds — mother, wife, and gifted violinist, yet marked since childhood by silence, difference, and a mind that often drifts beyond reach. When trauma shatters the fragile order she has built, her dissociation leads her back across the ocean, to Sweden and the riverbanks of her birth. There, within the walls of Restad Gård asylum, reality bends and blurs. Folklore creatures she once saw as a child — vättar, trolls, even Näcken himself — begin to shimmer through the ...

From the author of the widely praised Raising America--a compelling exploration of child genius told through the gripping stories of fifteen exceptionally gifted boys and girls, from a math wonder a century ago to young jazz and classical piano virtuosos today. A thought-provoking book for a...