Is autism the mental illness of the century? Reports of lives shattered from birth abound. In the face of institutional deficiencies and risks of exclusion, Barbara Donville created a specific educational method that enabled her to keep an autistic child in the regular school system, where he became a brilliant student.

The method, to be implemented by the child's parents, targets specific symptoms and their treatment (mastery of space, education of the senses, learning to pretend, etc.) and has already helped dozens of children to overcome autism. The author shows how, with courage and perseverance, empathy and love, hope can flourish.

In France alone more that 100,000 people have been diagnosed with autism; 80% of them are boys.

Only 8,000 places are available in specialised institutions.

The methodology described here has been shown to work.



Barbara Donville is a psychologist specialising in therapy for the parents of autistic children.