Book Review: Barely Visible: Mothering a Son Through His Misunderstood Autism by Kathleen Somers
Barely Visible: Mothering a Son Through His Misunderstood Autism by Kathleen Somers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Kathleen Somers’s son Jack was diagnosed with Asperger’s in elementary school. That was almost twenty years ago – Asperger’s is no longer a diagnosis. It’s been rolled into the autism classification now. Someone who would have been diagnosed with Asperger’s back them is now would be called high functioning or level one autistic.
Somers is unflinchingly honest about her journey with her son, who’s in his 20s now. She and her ex-husband were in denial about Jack’s situation for quite a long time. It seems that in some ways she’s still a little in denial. In the epilogue she mentions that at some level she hopes that Jack outgrows his autism even though she knows that this is impossible.
I think that this book would be helpful for someone whose child was recently diagnosed with autism and that is still in the denial/anger phase. Barely Visible is somewhat of a cautionary tale of what not to do at that stage. I think Sommers would agree. I think this book would also be helpful for people who have younger autistic children, even if they’ve had the diagnosis for a while – like me. My autistic son is five years-old and he was diagnosed level one at three. I know that even though we’ve adjusted fairly well for now, middle school and high school will present new challenges. I got an idea of what those years could look like from reading Jack’s story.
I also think that people who are not a parent of an autistic child but have one in their lives could benefit from this book. It will help them see that autistic behavior is not a disciple problem. Our kids don’t act the way they do because they are spoiled or we’re not hard enough on them.
If your life is affected by autism, this is a book worth checking out.
