In A Different Key: The Story of Autism by John Dovan and Caren Zucker

In a Different Key: The Story of Autism by John Donvan and Caren Zucker


                The first night I decided to pick this book up I had only planned on reading a few pages, more than likely the first chapter, and then calling it a night. I wanted to get an idea of what the tone of the book would be before diving headfirst the next day. I ended up fully engaged and forcing myself to put the book down after reading over a hundred pages. From the first pages of In a Different Key: The Story of Autism I knew I had begun a book that would educate me, touch me emotionally, and make me reevaluate autism as I know it. I was right.
                This book provides so much information that I am honestly having a hard time trying to quantify it for this review. In a Different Key begins where autism begins, with Donald Triplett, the first person every diagnosed with autism. Here was a boy who emotionally indifferent to everything, known for throwing tantrums, set in his routines and yet able to have total recall. Doctors pushed his parents Mary and Oliver to send him to an institution. They looked elsewhere and met Leo Kanner, the psychiatrist who would eventually diagnose Donald with “infantile autism.” From there readers look at how the criteria of autism was created and how it would evolve. Donvan and Zucker even looked to the past at famous persons who may have been autistic based on the characteristics being used to diagnose children. Society’s view of autistic children was thoroughly explored from the institutionalization that took place, to the blaming of mothers, a theory propagated for years by certain scientist. Science would progress and parents would be a key reason behind that progress. They began to advocate and force people to view autism differently. They formed organizations like National Society for Autistic Children, which would request more research into the cause of autism, treating autism and educating autistic children. As the diagnoses increased and autism awareness spread so did fear and the narrative about autism. Parents of autistic children and autistic adults would eventually have new struggles and new hardships to face as autism continues to be redefined, even in today’s society because there are still so many questions to answer.
               I honestly hope the above paragraph sheds some light on the scope of this book. It’s over five hundred pages long, with a timeline and notes section that takes up another one hundred pages but it is well done. Donvan and Zucker created a historical book about an evolving diagnoses and they did it in such a way that I remained intrigued the entire time. My fascination and urge to gain more understanding about the diagnoses and its history never waned. With each new chapter I was introduced to new concepts, different struggles, different key players though many would become recognizable as the chapters progressed. So many different theories, conspiracies, alternating view points and so much struggle throughout the pages but presented in a comprehensive way that was never confusing. If you are looking to read a book that will provide you with a wide range of information about what we now know as Autism Spectrum Disorder then I would highly recommend this book. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Thank you Blogging for Books for the copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. 

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