Families of Adults With Autism: Stories and Advice for the Next Generation

What happens to people with autism when they become adults? Families of Adults with Autism is a collection of real-life stories of people on the autism spectrum growing up, as told by their family members. The individual accounts explore the challenges that families of people with autism face and looks at the techniques they have used to improve the quality of their children's lives, from mega-doses of vitamins and dietary changes, through to intensive interaction. The contributors also relate how they have worked with their children or siblings to help them to function at their highest possible level, be it showing an awareness of their environment, holding down a full-time job in a local store, competing in the Special Olympics, or achieving international recognition as an artist.

Jane Johnson is Co-Managing Director of the Board of Directors of Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin, Texas, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Autism Research Institute. She is the co-author, with Bryan Jepson, M.D., of Changing the Course of Autism: A Scientific Approach for Parents and Physicians. She lives in New York City with her husband and three children. Anne Van Rensselaer has worked as a freelance editor and as a book packager with Jane Lahr Enterprises in New York, and has also worked for 25 years with alcoholics in recovery. Her true calling in life was to be a grandmother of three.