Daniel Isn't Talking by Marti Leimbach

I am not surprised to read that Marti Leimbach has an autistic son. Anyone who could write characters as well as she either must have a lot of personal experience or is a genius. I liked the book a lot and it's a good one to read to learn about the impact autism has on family members, particularly the mother.

Melanie Marsh is an American married to a veddy proper Englishman named Stephen. His family is la-dee-dah and since Melanie is so much an individual, the first thing I wondered is how she and Stephen even got together in the first place. He turns out to be an insensitive idiot and his family is not much better, except for sister Cath.

When we first meet Melanie, she's the somewhat hysterical mother to two small but perfect (or so it seemed) children, Emily and Daniel. The thing is, Daniel's almost 3 and not talking. He's also withdrawn, seems deaf, doesn't interact with other people, doesn't play creatively...and Melanie's red flags are waving everywhere. Stephen thinks she's overreacting but it turns out she's not.

Daniel reminded me so much of our Little T in so many mannerisms and I just knew that Leimbach had to have some kind of personal experience with this.

A savior in the form of an offbeat Irish early education teacher named Andrew appears to work with Daniel and help bring him to the world.

By then the family is shattered and it's up to Melanie to keep what's left of them together. Good, informative read!