Title: Embracing Autism: One Father’s Fight for his Wonder Boy
Author: James E. Strode
Publisher: URLink Print & Media, LLC
ISBN: 1647538378
Pages: 124
Genre: Memoir, Psychology
Reviewed by: David Allen
Hollywood Book Reviews
Embracing Autism: One Father’s Fight for his Wonder Boy by author James E. Strode is part biography, part memoir, but most of all an amazing window on the almost limitless capacity of one man and one family to compassionately and lovingly raise a severely autistic child.
Jimmy, now 14 years old, shows severe deficits in his relationships with others, in his ability to process language, and in his ability to handle symbols and manipulate his environment. He will react to behavioral stimuli that are unperceived by others and his reactions can run the gamut from obsessive handling of objects to taking apart computers to insisting upon shutting all the lights off in the house.
Jimmy’s dad, a paragon of resourcefulness and patience, documents in this book his humane and careful explorations of the roots and possibilities of Jimmy’s behavior. In chapters devoted to topics such as anger and hope, James Strode (senior) gives us a first-hand account of the extreme frustrations and joy possible when committing to care for a disabled child – whom he clearly adores. Strode’s watchful, hopeful parenting pays off, and Strode and his readers witness and enjoy Jimmy’s growing mastery of himself and the world around him (sometimes.) To his credit, Strode doesn’t whitewash the situation or the enormous burden of time and fear that raising a severely autistic child entails. The Strode family handles the reversals and disruptions with grace, sometimes consternation, but always with love.
Autism and a related disorder, Asperger Syndrome, have come to public attention as we learn of high functioning people who incidentally suffer from Asperger’s (a much milder variant of autism). This would include Elon Musk and Temple Grandin. But Jimmy will not be building electric cars or flying to Mars anytime soon. Jimmy is the real thing, and so is the intelligent and tender love offered to him by his family.
The book’s author, James Earl Strode, is now a part-time English professor at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento. His working career spans six decades in the areas of education, religious ministry, social work, and entertainment as a mime clown. He has three biological children including Jimmy, his autistic son, who was born to him when he was 55 years old. He has three other step children and lives in a bi-cultural home, his wife Beatriz being from Mexico.
Embracing Autism: One Father’s Fight for his Wonder Boy is a well-written account of the achievements possible in dealing with an autistic child, and will serve as a supportive piece of literature for other families and groups dealing with this disability.