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Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism [Paperback]

Jenny McCarthy (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (332 customer reviews) |
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Book Description

Publication Date: August 26, 2008
The New York Times bestseller that is an inspiring ?story of hope? (People) for parents of autistic children

One morning Jenny McCarthy was having a cup of coffee when she sensed something was wrong. She ran into her two-year-old son Evan?s room and found him having a seizure. Doctor after doctor misdiagnosed Evan until?after many harrowing, life-threatening episodes?one good doctor discovered that Evan is autistic.

With a foreword from Dr. David Feinberg, medical director of the Resnick Neuro-psychiatric Hospital at UCLA, and an introduction by Jerry J. Kartzinel, a top pediatric autism specialist, Louder Than Words follows Jenny as she discovered an intense combination of behavioral therapy, diet, and supplements that became the key to saving Evan from autism. Her story sheds much-needed light on autism through her own heartbreak, struggle, and ultimately hopeful example of how a parent can shape a child?s life and happiness.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Jenny McCarthy takes us on journey of a mom dealing with her son’s Autism diagnosis and treatment. We learn what it is like to be a parent and have your dreams shattered. We learn about a disease and about how others dealing with similar circumstances can aid one another. We learn about alternative approaches that seem promising. We learn about healing, hope, and faith."
—David Feinberg, from the foreword, MD, MBA
Medical Director, Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA

“Jenny has done an incredible job retelling the story of Evan, who also was forced to make the perilous journey through Autism. Autism is not a dead end diagnosis. It is the beginning of a journey into faith, hope, love, and recovery.”
—Jerry J. Kartzinel, from the introduction, MD FAAP --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Jenny McCarthy takes us on journey of a mom dealing with her son’s Autism diagnosis and treatment. We learn what it is like to be a parent and have your dreams shattered. We learn about a disease and about how others dealing with similar circumstances can aid one another. We learn about alternative approaches that seem promising. We learn about healing, hope, and faith."
—David Feinberg, from the foreword, MD, MBA
Medical Director, Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA

“Jenny has done an incredible job retelling the story of Evan, who also was forced to make the perilous journey through Autism. Autism is not a dead end diagnosis. It is the beginning of a journey into faith, hope, love, and recovery.”
—Jerry J. Kartzinel, from the introduction, MD FAAP --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Plume; Reprint edition (August 26, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0452289807
  • ISBN-13: 978-0452289802
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (332 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #413,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Jenny McCarthy Page
Jenny McCarthy
Jenny McCarthy is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Belly Laughs, Baby Laughs, and Louder Than Words, among others. The former host of MTV's hugely popular dating show Singled Out, McCarthy began her career as a Playboy model, before launching a high-profile comedic television and film career. She has been featured everywhere, from Time magazine to the cover of Rolling Stone; has appeared on virtually every television talk show, from Larry King Live to Howard Stern; and is a frequent guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show. She has also served as a spokesperson for Weight Watchers.

In addition to her work in the world of healing and preventing autism, she is the co-creator, with practicing speech/language pathologist Sarah Clifford Scheflen, of Teach2Talk, a series of DVDs for children.

Born in Chicago, McCarthy currently resides in Los Angeles, California, with her son, Evan. You can follow her on Twitter @JennyMcCarthy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
72 of 84 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I too have a child who has autism and I was disappointed in Jenny's book. If you can get past the swearing (I'm not sure why she has to cheapen her experience with expletives), she definitely writes from her heart. However, as a non-celeb mom trying to find ways to deal with autism and not go bankrupt in the process, I had a hard time identifying with Jenny's journey since she seems to have a lot of money to put towards her son's treatment, and other help like nannies and cleaning ladies and such. Further, Jenny did seem to find a treatment that worked for her son, but I feel that all kids on the spectrum are so different and respond differently to the various treatments out there. She seems to advocate that this is "the only way". I think there are better books out there from a parent dealing with autism. Look at Susan Senator's Making Peace with Autism for starters. I appreciate the awareness Jenny has brought to autism with her TV appearances, but sadly, I thought her book was a little disappointing.
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113 of 136 people found the following review helpful
I suppose it's OK... October 27, 2007
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
You can summarize most of the book by "Mommy Instinct" and "Google University".

As a person with a Masters in Biochemistry, it pains me that surfing around on Google now qualifies as "research" worthy of printing in a book. I'm sure the true autism scientists who get up every day painstakingly working toward some answers, must cringe that Jenny McCarthy is now their spokeswoman. I suppose any press is good press, and with media coverage comes grant money... so perhaps Jenny may be helping them out somehow.

As a person who is a now a physician, I think Jenny should understand that the doctors she bashes for the first 50 pages of the book did not go to medical school, and work 90 hours a week during their residency, and incur huge debt, just to come to work and give her bad advice. Doctors are human, and actually do care (especially the new ones), yet they must handle situations as they are taught. True, the outcome (or lack thereof) might be frustrating for a parent... but I wish she would accept that the people at the time were likely trying to do their best... and doctors are not God... they sometimes do not know all the answers for a situation that falls outside of the norm.

As a parent of a four year old with autism, I do feel that Jenny accurately conveyed the joys, frustration, fear, tears, more frustration, confusion, and even more frustration that is associated with a parent's discovery and subsequent acceptance that their child has autism. Herein I think is the value of this book. It may give some insight to friends and families of those with autistic children... what goes on in our homes when we are alone. Her best line was to the effect of... "please offer to babysit for these parents so they can go out to dinner."

I wonder if Jenny could appreciate the challenge facing other parents with autistic children, who cannot afford a nanny to help out, who cannot afford intensive therapy, who may have been kicked off their medical insurance plans. Now that would be an interesting follow-up book.

Gluten-free diets. There is no scientific proof yet that these diets help for certain. I think that if your child has obvious GI problems then it is worth a try... however there are also legitimate businesses capitalizing off Jenny's PR campaign who charge $1500 to evaluate a child and then prescribe the same diet to every child. If that child makes gains over the 1-2 year monitoring period... was it the intensive therapy... or classroom instruction... or the diet... or just the passage of time... that caused the improvement?

OVERALL: Its a decent read. Took me four hours. Rather than buy it, go borrow it from a friend and donate $20 to an autism society instead.
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32 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Devastatingly Disappointing September 24, 2008
By J.C.
Format:Paperback
I am so deeply disappointed by this book that I feel ill. I had purchased the book as a gift for my Mother's birthday hoping she would find comfort in it's pages. My youngest brother was diagnosed with Autism nearly 2 decades ago when very little was known about the disorder. My other brother was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in the last few years. I was excited at the thought of her finding solace in a good book, unfortunately it will not be found in this one.

I read Jenny's Belly Laughs book even before I was expecting and recommended it to many others. I enjoyed her humor and perspective, how candid she was about her pregnancy. I had hoped that Ms. McCarthy would have brought that same humor and enlightenment to her new circumstances. I have been her cheerleader and called friends when I knew she would be on a talk show. I wanted everyone to hear what she said. I was grateful she was so open and willing to talk about Autism. I couldn't wait to read and share her book. What I found was fact covered in a pile of vulgarity, profanity, tantrums, and narcissism. I was continually amazed at how poorly she treated others from her husband to hospital staff. Even her own father couldn't stay with her because he was blind in one eye (he still had another eye how much could he hinder her!) and she couldn't handle 2 special needs people in her house at that time.

I am thrilled that Ms. McCarthy was able provide the desperately needed services for her son. For those of us in reality we will never have the ability to purchase or muscle our way into the places that can help 'cure' our Autistic loved ones. For those of us not able to (I hate to say it) exploit our loved ones struggles into book deals (she repeatedly wrote about how she had to do what she needed to get another book deal to support the family, um would that be this book?) There are so many other good books out there that offer help and support without the profanity (I can not count how many F words she used!!!), and vulgarity. We need to educate ourselves and others. We need to change the thinking of our mainstream medical practitioners. We need to make copies of the reports and literature that has formed our opinions and beliefs and give them to our friends and doctors so they too can make educated, informed decisions. Please, please do not by this book. Go to a DAN conference or join a support group with other humans who will love and support you. I am grateful everyday for my brothers. I would not change them. It breaks my heart that we could not provide more for my brothers, but we did what we could. I feel this book would only add to my Mother's and many others heart ache.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Amazing book!!
I bought it for my sister and she has been totally thrilled to have it. She said the book is full of great information!!
Published 1 month ago by Melissa Brooks
Surprisingly Good
Before I get into the content, I want to say a couple quick things about the general qualities of the book. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Katya
Awesome!
Amazed at how much information she gives and what your pediatrician isn't telling you. Many suggestions to try to help recover your autistic child and many resources to help you on... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Michigan269
Excellent must have for parents of an autistic child!
Jenny McCarthy does such a good job with this! Its funny, very relatable, and quite a page turner. I cant wait to read her other books about having an autistic child.
Published 5 months ago by MrsObey
Bimbo, menace, greedy and killer
The diet was disproven 5 years before Jen was even born. Chelating the heavy metals out of our guys coming back from Vietnam who had been exposed to Agent Orange was when those... Read more
Published 7 months ago by C. A. Curie
good book
very informative came on time and exactly what we ordered little expensive but we wanted to read it and its a good book
Published 7 months ago by john
Louder than Words
This book was a gift for my mother who has been looking for it for a while and was finaly told it was out of print. She has a grandson and I a nephew who has mild Autism. Read more
Published 7 months ago by pumpkin
Self-serving garbage
I've read many, many books about autism & this is the only one I would never recommend to anyone. Jenny sounds more interested in talking about herself than in anything else. Read more
Published 8 months ago by MS_Reader
Serious but funny and inspirational
This is a fast read that both breaks your heart AND makes you laugh--not surprising from a comedian's perspective. Read more
Published 11 months ago by JanRDmom
AWESOME BOOK!!!!!!!!!!
Very hopeful and informative!!!! Will be try a few of the things. Although I've been through most of the process of getting a diagnosis and stating with ABA and a special day... Read more
Published 11 months ago by kk
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San Diego, Thank God, Los Angeles, New York, Palm Springs, Blue's Clues, Baby Laughs
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