Amy Fidler - There's A Boy In Here

The book I chose for this book review is called “There’s a Boy in Here” by Judy and Sean Barron. It is an autobiography that focuses on a boy who has Autism. This mother and son duo that shared their life experiences wanted to show autism from both perspectives. It is easy for someone to get wrapped up in their own feelings and not think about how someone else is feeling; that is especially the case with autism because the emotions you feel are even stronger. I chose this book because I didn’t know much about Autism and I wanted to educate myself on it, whether I would come across a child who had Autism in my future classrooms or not. I also chose this particular book because it was told by two different people; seeing it by both perspectives will really help others’ who have Autism in their family.

This book focuses on the life of a boy named Sean Barron. It is a brief account of his life and the struggles he faced growing up with autism. It shows how he handled some big moments in his life like the birth of his baby sister Megan. Though Sean was accustomed to running around the house, throwing things, breaking things, and yelling, he never did anything to put Megan in harm’s way. It also showed how he handled going to school for the first time and the many times later. Sean actually enjoyed school because it had a schedule that was always the same and if there was one thing Sean loved it was consistency and being in control. When Sean was first born and started showing signs that he was different, nobody thought too much of it because no two children are the same. However, as time went on his parents, specifically his mother Judy started to worry and ask questions. Once Judy’s fears that she was the reason for her son’s behavior were put to rest, the family tried getting a doctors opinion. They visited many and got diagnosis, medication, recommendations and advice that didn’t seem to help Sean in the long term. Once Sean was diagnosed with autism he was given several different exercises to try that might help him calm down and help his development. Once the Barron’s realized nothing was working they took him to Beechbrook; a residential school with fully trained teachers and psychologists who help children with learning disabilities. Sean lived there during the week and was taken home on weekends, but this was another attempt that didn’t work. Sean moved back home and continued with his disruptive routines until he was in high school. He finally got a slight understanding of people and how to communicate with them. He was able to carry out conversations and make friends. The most life changing moment for Sean was when the family was watching a movie about a 5 year old boy who also had autism. When the movie was over Sean asked his mom if he had that and had many mind blowing realizations. As Sean got older and broke more and more out of his mold he accomplished many things. He developed beautiful relationships with all of his family, graduated high school, graduated from college, got many different jobs, had girlfriends, got his license and lived on his own.

This is definitely an eye opening book and it made me really appreciate families that have autistic members. The patience and self-assurance you need is extreme and autism takes a large toll on your life whether you have it yourself or someone you love has it. Throughout the first couple of pages alone Judy mentions that Sean rarely looks at her and acts like she doesn’t even exist. I am very enthusiastic about one day starting my own family and if my children were unaware of my presence and didn’t allow me to comfort them or hold them I would be crushed. Just reading about Judy’s experiences breaks my heart. I had a hard time reading the parts where Judy admits to hitting Sean because that is the only way she could seem to get him to look at her or get any reaction from him. I agree with her starting belief that you don’t hit your children, so to visualize her breaking her own morals just to get her son to look at her is really heartbreaking. After reading Judy’s perspective on something I was always really excited to see what Sean had to say on the subject. Often he didn’t understand why he was being reprimanded and he thought his parents hated him because they kept punishing him for liking things. Even when Sean knew there were good and bad behaviors and tried to do the good ones he couldn’t, because he was never in control until things changed in high school. Even when they did change in high school he had to work really hard to do things that people take for granted every day. In the book Sean says it’s as if he is on a merry go round and doesn’t know how to get off and I found that to be very powerful. It would be awful to know what was expected of you, but to also know no matter how hard you try you can never achieve it.

This is a great read for an array of people: future teachers, parents with children who have autism, children with autism, friends and family, and anybody else. The only people I wouldn’t recommend this book to are children who can’t read or will not understand what they are reading; other than that I would recommend this book to everyone. Anyone connected to somebody with autism would get the most out of reading this book, but again I think it should be read by all. I think it is a really important book to go around because it shows both perspectives and openly shows the struggles the Barron’s went through. A lot of times people want to sugar coat disabilities and that doesn’t help anybody who is trying to learn about them or live with them.