Strange Son
Strange Sonis a stunning book - at once passionate, provocative and profound. The power of this unique and compassionate story will restore hope to families and galvanize our scientific quest. --Peter C. Whybrow, M.D., director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and author ofAmerican Mania: When More Is Not EnoughStrange Sontells the story of Portia Iversen's journey through the halls of science, the new frontiers of the brain, and finally to a meeting with an extraordinary woman from India who was equally determined to show the world that her own autistic son was intelligent and so much more than his symptoms.Strange Sonchallenges many of our beliefs about autism and is lasting proof that there can be so much more on the inside than what is revealed by the outside. --Bradley Whitford, actorFaced with the challenging contradiction of great poetic gifts in a severely nonverbal autistic boy, Portia Iversen embarked on a passionate odyssey through science and scientists to unlock this 'Rosetta stone of autism' and to understand her own son, which led her to reframe autism as a profound mistiming of the senses. This is an important, beautifully written book that makes gripping reading. --Martha Herbert, M.D., Neurologist, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical SchoolI know one little boy with autism pretty well. He can't tell me what he's thinking, but when I look into his sparkly brown eyes, I know that he is in there and that he's counting on us to help him get out. Portia Iversen'sStrange Sonis a wake-up call to the world that there are many more of these children than anyone ever knew, and that we must try a lot harder to find a way to connect with them. --Anthony Edwards, actorLove introduced two mothers, one who lived in India and the other in the United States. Their passion to seek health for their children, both afflicted by autism, brought the two women across continents and over oceans. Each stimulated the other with her fervor to find medical breakthroughs. Their story is exciting and uplifting. There is withinStrange Sona sadness, but this in truth is a hopeful book. The mothers expect that medical research will find a solution for the cruelty of autism, and inStrange Sonthey show us that the lushness of family love continues to be the greatest therapy. --Maya AngelouPortia Iversen has used her eyes and ears to pierce the seemingly impenetrable armor of the autism puzzle, andStrange Sonreflects the genius of her ability to observe and to listen, filing away in remarkable detail the life experiences of two boys who carry with them the essential clues for understanding the underlying disturbances in brain architecture and function that result in autism. --Pat Levitt, Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center For Research on Human DevelopmentPortia Iversen's personal experience led her from life as the parent of an autistic son to a leader in changing our outlook on this disorder and exploring its underlying cause. This is the story of her journey. --John Mazziotta, M.D., Ph.D., chair, department of neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA