Kristine Barnett's son, Jacob, was so affected by autism that his pre-K teacher assumed he would never (re-)learn the letters of the alphabet. Now, he has set the world's record for being the youngest paid researcher in Physics.Ms. Barnett seems to be one of those rare souls who has an intuitive grasp of what will help little children blossom; this book focuses on how she helped this transformation happen. It is neither a straightforward narrative nor a detailed description of her methods. It seems, instead, to be a best-parts version of both.
Her main takeaway message is that we can't give up on any child, even if the school system has declared them to be in essence unteachable. I was raised believing this-- our version is to say, "genius is as common as dirt"-- and it is therefore small wonder that I was so taken with this book.
