Customer Reviews

Bobby: Breakthrough of a Special Child

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This book is the story of Bobby, a child who came from an abusive home and had autism. He was unruly, unresponsive to humans, and seemingly very lost and alone. He was also amazingly intelligent and adventureous. The story is told by Rachel Pinney, the therapist who uses an approach called Children's Hours to help autistic children become more aware of themselves and able to function in the outside world. It is an emotional, intensely personal journey of to Bobby's soul. Pinney is honest and doesn't cover up set-backs in the therapy. The therapy and the relationships built between the characters truly gets to the heart of the human spirit that isn't changed by illness or inability.

While this book was interesting reading, and well written in terms of characterization, etc. I felt the type of therapies and interventions used by Pinney were not just non-traditional but actually harmful. Letting a child do what he wants and expecting the world around him to 'understand' is unrealistic. Children, autistic or not, have to live in the real world where there are rules; of social conduct, of public behavior, of basic safety, etc..And not revealing your feelings/responses to the child, as Pinney and her associates practiced in their "Childrens Hours", creates a false relationship. The child is deprived of honest feedback of his actions and choices, not a good idea in my opinion. Asking children for their 'permission' for an adult to do things such as leaving a room, constantly apologizing to children for placing limits is, in my opinion, confusing the parental/adult roles and giving children the wrong message. Undermining the parents and making them feel inadequate, and that a 'professional' knows best is just a plain stupid approach when helping a family dealing w/autism. Pinney 'took over' and subsequently disempowered the parents. It would have been more useful to teach, support and give assistance to the parents , rather than remove the child from the home for long periods of time, thereby giving the child AND his parents the distinct message "You can't deal with this, *I* know better so I'll take over". While Bobby was perhaps not given the 'ideals' in his home, I would disagree, from what information was given in the book, that he was abused! He needed treatment, no doubt, and he did improve. Not exactly what I would call a 'breakthrough' though! The title is misleading for sure. There was improvement. But I would hesitate to give full credit to Pinney for his improvement. Overall this book was disappointing. I expected more wisdom and common sense from an older woman,not a mere parroting of psychoanalytic mumbo jumbo such as regression/psychodrama baloney.