Bruno Gepner is a psychiatrist with a doctorate in neuroscience, a senior lecturer at Aix-Marseille-1 University, and president of the Autisme Vie Entière federation, at Montperrin Hospital Centre, in Aix-en-Provence.

People with autism often feel that everything around them is moving too quickly, particularly in relation to social interaction (speech; face, eye and emotional expression; gestures; movement). From their earliest childhood this excessively rapid pace leads to numerous difficulties in understanding verbal, emotional and body language and in adjusting social behaviour accordingly. These difficulties, in turn, generate stress, anguish and withdrawal.
Reducing noise and visual stimulation in autistic children’s environment (ecologically or with the aid of specialised software) will heighten their visual attention, improve verbal and emotional comprehension as well as imitative skills, calm stress-linked behavioural disorders and favour social-emotional reciprocity.
This book aims not only to inform the parents and health providers of autistic children, but also to bring greater awareness to a wider audience; to offer hope thanks to recent findings in the neurosciences; and, finally, to present the reader with Doctor Gepner’s theoretical-clinical approach, which he has developed during a 25-year career spent working with autistic children and adults.

• A critical analysis of current practice in dealing with autism and a plea for a thought-out, personalised fusion of the various educational and therapeutic approaches.
• A humanistic reflection on the condition, anguish and singularity of autistic children and adults.