Customer Reviews

The Accidental Teacher: Life Lessons from my Silent Son

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When Jonah Lehmann was born in 1983, the world was starting to move in the direction of tolerance towards people with autism. Jonah displayed severely autistic behavior from infancy and to this day remains largely nonverbal. He has had severe epilepsy since the age of 12.

Jonah was exposed to a myriad of treatments, including Facilitated Communication and Auditory Integration Therapy. Due to his severe cognitive delays, these approaches do not appear to have made any inroads in Jonah's severely autistic behavior.

The one place that seemed to meet Jonah's great needs was the Higashi School in Boston. The Higashi School's primary approach is teaching their students to remain fixed and focused and to provide visible goals. At 10, Jonah left his Michigan home for Boston where he remained at Higashi until he aged out of the program at 21.

Jonah has been an Accidental Teacher. His younger siblings, David, 6 years his junior and Ruth, 9 years his junior have demonstrated great tolerance toward others because of their experiences with Jonah. They have been their brother's staunchest advocates and David is even seriously considering a career in neurology. David, at the time of the book's release worked in a home with adults with special needs.

Jonah's story is proof positive that not only can everybody learn, but that everybody has something to teach and impart. Simon & Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence" could easily be the soundtrack of this book. Jonah may be largely nonverbal, but his story and the compassion of his siblings will resonate for a lifetime.

This book provides realistic insight into the life of a parent with a child with autism. It also allows anyone facing a major life challenge to find comfort in what the author is willing to share. The book flows nicely and makes for an easy and enjoyable read!

A quick read. As A Special Education teacher of Autistic students, it was interesting to see a parents perspective. Will add to our school library, but better left to borrow than buy.

Learning is not something that stops when one graduates high school, or even college. "The Accidental Teacher: Life Lessons from My Silent Son" is one mother's experiences with her son's autism. Not intended to be a book about autism, but instead a book of learning from a mother's perspective on the lessons of life she learned from her son's condition. "The Accidental Teacher" is autism from another perspective that many a mother will appreciate.