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. Selected Reading Questionnaire.

I work with people with autism, among others. I don't have a child, let alone a child with autism, and while I care deeply for my students/clients and their families, I have no idea what they are going through. I just don't have that kind of life experience. This book gives me a tiny, tiny window into that. For all the tumblrs that want to tell you what the autism experience is like, they can never capture this - the experience of those on the opposite end of the spectrum, the ones that are unable to communicate, unable to care for themselves, possibly even harming themselves. These individuals can't blog about themselves.

This book captures the intense, beautiful devotion of a parent for their child, and details all her efforts to help her child as much as possible. It shows the joys, the achievements, the pain, the stress, the confusion. It also shows the hope. I am already passionate about ABA, but this book intensified that. It also illustrates the danger of fad treatments and pseudosciences that prey on vulnerable people.

Marvelous book. ( )

A mother's story of her two autistic children following them from diagnosis to various types of therapy.

Let Me Hear Your Voice is an early book reporting one families' success using behavior therapy as an early intervention for autism. It echoes the continuing truth that the earlier you catch and treat autism, the better your likely outcome. I would have loved an updated edition that discussed how her children faired as they grew.

As other reviews stated, the specific techniques referenced in this book are a bit outdated, though Lovaas' place as a pioneer in behavioral analysis deserves reiterating.

I would not recommend this as a first book to read on the subject, but it is still nice to hear of the successes. ( )

An interesting story revealing the sadness of charlatans who take advantage of others for their own promotion. The difficulty in reading this was keeping in mind it was written in 1993 and what they were discussing as the new theories of behavioral modification has become pretty much standard. I dislike the implication which was promoted throughout the book (except at the very end) that autism is curable. Currently there exists no cure for autism and arguments abound on whether it should be. "Recovery" is a term used at the end of the book but again that term is misleading as non neural typicals tend to adapt or can learn to live with their disability as opposed to "recovering" from it. (We recover from alcoholism but we do not recover from being male or female.) However, when this story was written is again paramount to the understanding and acceptance of autism. There was a short appendix on how schools need to be involved in the educational process of autism and more of this needs to be addressed still. While many avenues were addressed I do like the fact that the Maurice's mentioned that a mixture of therapies are beneficial noting that what works for one may not work for another. Perhaps the worst part was realizing that at one time (and perhaps still) people (professionals also) felt a need to blame someone for ASD. You would think that by the end of the 20th century we would have gotten beyond that.