A Child's Journey Out of Autism: One Family's Story of Living in Hope and Finding a Cure »

Leeann Whiffen lives in Salt Lake City with her husband, Sean, and her three sons, one of whom used to have autism. Leeann serves on the Autism Council of Utah, collaborating with autism organizations and individuals around the state to help families find solutions. Leading autism specialist Dr. Bryan Jepson, the parent of a son with autism, has treated hundreds of children on the autism spectrum. He established the Children's Biomedical Center of Utah to provide the most-up-to-date care and to raise awareness. He is currently the medical director of Thoughtful House in Austin, Texas.

Told with the intensity of a medical thriller, the extraordinary story of how Clay Whiffen and his family conquered autism.

Publishers Weekly

The story of Clay Whiffen started out no differently than that of countless others diagnosed with autism: his parents, author Leeann and her husband, Sean, felt they could only watch as their happy baby morphed into a child they did not recognize. At first, the parents, in their 20s, denied their son could be autistic. (In the foreword, Dr. Bryan Jepson writes that in the mid-1980s, autism was a rare condition-1 in 5,000 children; by the mid-1990s, it had become the most common developmental disability with 1 in 150 children diagnosed.) But soon, Leeann writes, "I feel compelled to do whatever it takes to help Clay.... I stay up all hours of the night investigating everything related to autism." As Sean worked hard to cover the cost of Clay's treatment, Leeann became a master networker. The Whiffens decided on an applied behavior analysis program, and "I press forward in sheer faith that what we do will help him." Although the book's dialogue is often stilted, Whiffen has written an inspirational and educational story. (Mar.)

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