THERE’S A BOY IN HERE

1. THERE’S A BOY IN HERE By: Judy Barron & Sean Barron Anonymous

2. Summary/Parents • The book is narrative by a mother and son who give an account of their lives dealing with the son having Autism. • Judy and Ron were a young couple that gave birth to a son who had very different emotional needs. • Sean did not display a common bond with his parents as most babies/children should. • They knew something was wrong, but for several years could not find a name for it. • They went to several doctors to plead for help for Sean.

3. Summary/Young Boy • Sean’s behavior was uncontrollable! • He liked to play with odd items around the house. • He didn’t play with childhood toys as they were designed for. • Sean would take the toys and play a game of throwing up. • Sean did not develop friendships with other children. He played well with Megan (his sister) at times, but most times Sean would tease her. • He played alone most of the time.

4. Summary/Diagnosis • At age 5, someone give Sean’s behavior a name: “Autism.” • Dr. Rossi put Sean on a retraining program to focus on developing movement coordination and communication. • Sean was resistant at first, but with consistent pushing, fighting, and tough love, the strategies begin to work on Sean.

5. Summary/School • Sean began school. He was isolated and felt alone, but he seemed to do better in school than at home. • He would come home and be disruptive. • Sean did well academically, but his social skills were not good. • He did things to gain attention and acceptance from his peers. This caused even more frustration for Sean. • He developed unhealthy relationships with adults/teachers.

6. Summary/Help • Judy was at the end of her rope with dealing with Sean’s behavior and trying to find a cure. • Sean was sent to a group home for emotionally-behaviorally dysfunctional students for almost two years. • Sean didn’t seem to make any progress away from home. He didn’t like to be there.

7. Summary/Young Adult • Sean made it through grade school and graduated from high school despite the fact that e had a difficult time socializing with his peers throughout those years. • He entered college and transitioned into adult life. Sean moved back to Ohio to start a life of independence. • Sean found his own ways to cope with Autism and live a functional life.

8. Fact • Autism is characterized by impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, and usual, repetitive or severely limited activities and interest. Autism Fact Sheet. Retrieved November 7, 2007, from http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm#99683082

9. Reaction • There are no known strategies that have been proven to work on a vast majority of students with disabilities. • The strength and determination of Judy Barron is phenomenal. She was determined to cure her son of this awful disease. “We continue to ask about for Sean-wasn’t there a psychologist we could take him to?” (J. Barron & S. Barron, 1992)

10. Fact • Autism is a very difficult disability to explain and categorize. • Three distinctive behaviors of Autism: • Social interaction • Problems with verbal and nonverbal communication • Repetitive behaviors/obsessive interest Autism Fact Sheet. Retrieved November 7, 2007, from http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm#99683082

11. Facts from the book • “Most of the experts referred to autism as childhood schizophrenia; no one knew what caused it and there was no known treatment” (J. Barron & S. Barron, 1992) • “When he came home from school he hit the front door, shot through it, and tore around the house in a frenzy of activity. It was like an explosion”. (J. Barron & S. Barron, 1992)

12. Reaction • Autism is a very difficult disability to explain or understand because every child is different. They can be on any part of the spectrum. • Once you feel like you understand the effects it has on one child, then you could come across different effects for another child. • It becomes difficult for an educator to find ways to assist every child with Autism. One of my biggest challenges is motivation.

13. Educator’s Reaction • Most educators are not skilled to work with students with Autism. Students with Autism have different characteristics and require different levels of support. Most of the students have high academic ability but low level social skills. • I have a student who is very smart and capable of completing his assignments, he LACKS motivation. He makes excuses and refuses to complete any assignments.

14. Educator’s Reaction • Regular education teachers grow frustrated when students with Autism require so much of their time and need constant encouragement. They feel the students are inappropriately placed socially, but have the academic ability to master the objectives. • Students without disabilities do not understand why students with Autism have different ways of interacting socially. They tend to call the students weird and tease them.

15. Reflection • This book was very interesting, as it gave me an understanding of the day-to-day experience of living with Autism. • I liked the narratives of the mother and son on an particular incident. Sean’s account of the incident was very interesting, as it allowed the reader to understand that most of his actions were uncontrollable and due to his fear of rejection.

16. References Barron, J, & Barron, S (1993). There Is A Boy In Here.New York, New York: Simon & Schuster. Autism Fact Sheet. Retrieved November 7, 2007, from http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm#99683082