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George & Sam

Two Boys, One Family, and Autism

Charlotte Moore

St. Martin's Griffin

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ISBN10: 0312374240
ISBN13: 9780312374242

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320 Pages

$23.99

CA$26.99

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Charlotte Moore has three children, George, Sam, and Jake. George and Sam are autistic. George and Sam takes the reader from the births of each of the two boys, along the painstaking path to diagnosis, interventions, schooling and more. She writes powerfully about her family and her sons, and allows readers to see the boys behind the label of autism. Their often puzzling behavior, unusual food aversions, and the different ways that autism effects George and Sam lend deeper insight into this confounding disorder.

George and Sam emerge from her narrative as distinct, wonderful, and at times frustrating children who both are autistic through and through. Moore does not feel the need to search for cause or cure, but simply to find the best ways to help her sons. She conveys to readers what autism is and is not, which therapies have worked and which have not been effective, and paints a moving, memorable portrait of life with her boys.

Reviews

Praise for George & Sam

"English writer Moore puts her unusual family under a microscope in this moving book. Her two oldest sons, George and Sam, are autistic; her youngest is not. As exhausting and difficult as this situation is for Moore, it makes for a book that is extremely helpful in conveying the enormous differences in how autism affects children. One autistic son is very verbal; the other has limited language. One is anxious, and one is fearless about running away. George & Sam also illustrates how certain therapies can work well with one and do nothing for the other. At the end of the book, the reader feels he really knows the boys as interesting individuals. Despite their sleep disorders, educational needs, disruptive behaviors and lifelong need for constant care, her two older sons clearly provide Moore with satisfaction."—USA Today

"Charlotte Moore has not one but two autistic kids. She also has a non-autistic son, who has provided her with a convenient means of comparison. She is a professional writer, extremely competent, methodical and intelligent. Between her two boys, she has had occasion to try almost every treatment or diet or therapy that may alleviate the disorder. She provides a useful list of organizations at the back of the book and during her narrative describes a goodly portion of the sometimes harrowing, sometimes amusing behavior of autistic children—what the often bewildered parents of the newly diagnosed may fairly expect in the future . . . [Moore] explains the symptoms that nervous parents should look out for, and describes what they should do to care for these youngsters."—Carolyn See, The Washington Post

"English novelist Moore has made a distinctive contribution to the genre of personal narratives about autism. While most focus on a single child, Moore writes about her sons, George and Sam, 13 and 11, respectively. In this finely crafted book, Moore shares her day-to-day struggles, allowing us to see how differently autism manifests itself in her two children; George and Sam have different needs, issues, and responses to therapies. Her vivid examples, such as George's refusing to eat or Sam's obsession with tumble dryers and compact places, are presented without an extensive explanation or resolution, in large part because this condition defies easy solutions. Moore may disappoint some readers with her point that not all approaches work for all children and that our victories are not always clear-cut. But this reviewer found her honesty heartening, and many other parents of autistic children will as well. Including an introduction by novelist Nick Hornby, this book is highly recommended for public libraries and academic libraries with autism or disabilities collections."—Corey Seeman, Kresge Business Administration Library, University of Michigan, Library Journal

"British journalist Moore brings a reporter's eye and a mother's love to this exploration of autism. The author's two elder sons have autism, which afflicts roughly 1 in 100 children. Their diagnoses came as a shock. George and Sam had seemed perfectly normal as babies, but autism is rarely diagnosed before 24 months. Moore tells parents what to watch out for. Healthy kids play games that move through richly imagined worlds: The toy truck becomes an airplane, and the child becomes a pilot who's going to rescue his mommy from a bad guy. Autistic children's play gets stuck; they can push the truck backward and forward, but they never put a story line in motion. Autistic people, the author explains, have a different sense of self than everyone else. They can't conceive that other people don't know the things they know. So when George loses a ball, he might come running to his mother in tears, but it doesn't occur to him to explain why he's upset. Moore matter-of-factly presents the challenges of her life: the expensive tutoring that autistic kids require, the strange eating habits they develop, the simple fact that she may well be caring for George and Sam until she dies . . . Moore provides to illuminate the interior roots of her sons' often strange behavior. Altogether brave and informative."—Kirkus Reviews

"As Moore astutely points out, 'Giving birth to an autistic child doesn't make you an instant expert on the subject.' Moore, a British journalist, doesn't claim to be an expert, but as the mother of George and Sam, two autistic boys (she has a third nonautistic son as well), Moore is able to provide a perceptive look into the habits and, to a certain extent, the minds of her sons. 'A common belief among people not deeply familiar with autism,' she writes, 'is that there is a normal child trapped inside, struggling to get out. That's a false belief . . . Sam has no 'normal' core' . . . for anyone dealing with an autistic loved one, the details are chilling and insightful. Less memoir than road map, the book lays out every aspect of her children's lives, such as their inability to integrate at school, their eating and sleeping habits, their stims ('self-stimulation,' the autistic behavior that can soothe or calm) and the structures of their day. She shies away from nothing. With fact, theory and her own take on matters, Moore's book will reassure others in her position that they are not alone in their struggles."—Publishers Weekly

Reviews from Goodreads

About the author

Charlotte Moore

Charlotte Moore is a writer and journalist who lives in Sussex, England with her three sons. She is the author of four novels and three children's books. For two years she wrote a highly acclaimed column in the Guardian called "Mind the Gap" about life with George and Sam. She is a contributor to many publications.