Customer Reviews

A Child Called Noah; A Family Journey: A Family Journey

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Noah Jiro Greenfeld, born 7/1/66 appeared to develop normally for the first few months of his life. His story, told from the pages of his own father's diary, is a chronicle of heartbreak and sorrow over watching this child deteriorate in his development. Noah does not walk until he is 27 months old; his speech, seemingly normal the first year of his life virtually comes to a grinding halt before he stops walking; he engages in bizarre, self-stimulating activities such as lint-chasing, curtain chewing and finger flexing. Josh laments that for every accomplishment Noah makes, another skill is lost. Noah is nonverbal for the most part during the years 1966-1971, the period this book covers.

He is not fully toilet trained, does not engage in activities with others and remains an enigma to his parents, the professionals and his brother Karl who was born 11/64.

The author of this book is also a screenwriter. One of the things that make his "Noah trilogy" so unique is that he was a father who was actively invovled in taking care of the boys as a stay at home parent during a time when that was extremely rare.

This book is a wonderful story about a family dealing with a severely handicapped child. The anger, love and desperation all show through Josh's journal entries. Noah never does get better, and you can see the pain this causes his family. There is still no treatment that cures all autistic children, so there are still many families like the Greenfelds.

Josh Greenfeld is a parent and a writer who tells us of his expierience in rasing an autistic child through the first five years of his life. In a time when autism was fairly new to medicine He includes personal feelings, difficulties family frustrations, and the resentment of doctors who seem to care nothing of the child, but more for labeling and blaming. This book is a must for people who are dealing with an autistic child or know someone who is.

This book is very interesting and done from a father's perspective-really makes you wonder how this family survived this type of hardship but they tell a good story!

The story of Noah, a child with autism in a time when it was a rare and misunderstood disorder, is a very touching, real, and educational story. It is written from the point of view of Noah's father and it talks about all the symptoms he sees, all the tests he goes through, all the mis-diagnoses he receives, all the treatments they try and what works and what doesn't. Also Greenfeld it very honest about his feelings, his frustrations, and ultimately his love for his son. It is a wonderful story for anyone who works with children with autism or just wants to know more about it.

It's funny how we seem to have a need to say someone "triumphs" over a disease. Noah remained severely autistic and now lives in a group home. His social skills are extremely limited and he will never be able to take care of himself. I get so tired of the "triumph" thing, because living with a condition like this is so much more difficult and complex. We don't "conquer" everything, and in fact most chronic diseases have an ebb and flow to them, a little bit better, a lot worse. But that doesn't play well in our culture. It seems to embarrass people, or scare them too much. But isn't it much braver to live with this kind of challenge day by day for the rest of your life?