Customer Reviews

The Mind Tree: A Miraculous Child Breaks The Silence Of Autism

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I found this book absolutely fascinating. For a severely austistic child to be able to write and voice his thoughts is an incredible feat. All the hype behind it is very appropriate-this is a book that should have exactly that sort of exposure. Tito allowed his writings to be published, not only so they could be shared with the general public but also to raise awareness about autism. A severely austic child is clearly not a helpless case as many people before believed and if there are other books out there like this one, perhaps The Mind Tree will help bring attention to them.

I give this book 5 stars!

From the moment that my son was diagnosed as Autistic, I searched for books that are written by Autistic individuals because I wanted better insight and there's no better insight than from the one who walks the path themselves. Tito not only gave great insight, he amazed me with the most beautiful poetry that I have ever had the priviledge of reading.

I have read this book 4 times, bought 7 copies to send to all my family. I have a non-verbal child with autism and this book has given me insights into what his life is like. It is so inspiring you can not put it down! Tito is such an articulate writer that I sometimes need to re-read his book to catch all the different meanings his words have said. Actually some of his poetry reminds me of great prophets in the Bible, that need to be studied, considered at every angle, and deeply absorbed. Thank you Tito for all your inspiration! Keep it up!

Tito Mukhopadhyay is a genius. It's as simple as that.

This brilliant young man who was born in 1989 has severe autism. He has said that he cannot work comfortably using more than one sensory mode at a time. He is marginally verbal. Tito's mother Soma has worked tirelessly with him and taught him to read using a letter board. From the letter board she developed RPM, Rapid Prompting Method. Soma would guide Tito through the paces until he mastered the given skill and was ready to fly solo. They have also started HALO, Helping Autism through Learning & Outreach. HALO is a nonprofit organization that provides 1x1 intensive work with clients with autism, families, educators and other professionals.

Tito describes the experience of a person locked in a limbo of silence due to autism beautifully. He provides excellent explanations of his behavior as a child. For example, he lined up all his red toys around his tricycle as he wanted to honor it with things in the color he loved best. He paints word masterpieces, murals of descriptions that explain what having severe autism has been like for him. Thanks to Soma and Tito, these Ambassadors of Autism have helped bridge gaps between those in need of understanding of autism and those who live the experience. His expressions are vividly colorful and his brilliant use of imagery will take root and develop into a large tree of knowledge, as stated in this book. This is a must read!

My brother's daughter is a an autist child of similar age to Tito. This book has so emotionally moved me that I do not have Tito's genius to express them in words.

I understand that one child in every 250 born could be an autist. Then it is a must that the rest 249 must read this book.

Simply amazing and I wish a very happy life for Tito with the fullest kindness and consideration from humanity at large - the least I can wish for the author.

I've only read one other book about Autism. That was "Speed of Dark", which was fiction from the point of view of an autistic. It provided fascinating insight into the viewpoint of an autistic, but again it was fiction. It is worth noting that the author was the mother of an Autistic.

I digress. Onto the book "The Mind Tree". I feel I should tell people what this book is actually going to be like. I would have liked to give the book 3.5 stars, but alas there is no option for it. So, I gave it the benefit of the doubt with 4 stars. This is because I know how remarkable it is for someone with such severe Autism as Tito to have written the way he wrote so articulately. That having said, the reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because Tito's prose can be hard to read. Not that it isn't readable--he's actually quite articulate at times--I just found myself doing a LOT of double-takes on certain sentences that I had trouble reading.

The "story" (for lack of a better term) is basically a description of the events of Tito's life as he remembers them. He remembers a great deal, which is impressive. He also does a pretty good job of explaining why he couldn't do things like converse or focus, as well as explained some of his behavioral oddities. For instance, he describes his nervous rocking and/or movement of his arms as "flapping" and explains that he did this because if he wasn't moving, he lost "track" of his body and couldn't "feel" his hands, arms, etc.

This could actually be a good book to read if you have a severely autistic child, or otherwise have a severely autistic person in your life. I think it would help to better understand the world through their eyes and why they behave the way they do. I found the book, overall, a bit dull and I found myself spacing out at times. It really is more or less just an account of how he went from doctor to doctor, from city to city, with his mother in an effort to find him some help. I've always felt that autists really were "normal" people deep down, but that something prevented them from communicating, behaving correctly or properly dealing with social situations, and Tito's words are a fascinating look into exactly how that feels.

I loved Tito every moment I read the book and have immense respect for the dedication, persistence and effort of his mother Soma. She seems to be a very strong woman to handle it all alone. But I have to mention this that I hated the part where Tito writes he was hit hard until he paid attention. I have seen and heard of many successful people who cannot ever forget their childhood abuse by their parents even though they were for good reasons.This is a very wrong concept used earlier and is not encouraged any more by many many people these days. Even though hitting might prove right for some reason it does a permanent damage to one's inner self.