Strange Son - Hardcover

Portia Iversen, an Emmy Award-winning art director, has been a vigorous proponent of autism research since her son Dov was diagnosed with the condition in 1994. Together with her husband, Jon Shestack, she established the Cure Autism Now Foundation (CAN), one of the largest nongovernmental funding resources for autism research worldwide.

Jane Kaczmarek tracks the winding path of Portia Iversen's journey to understand her autistic son, Dov, diagnosed at age 2. Kaczmarek's narration captures Iversen's frustrations as she goes from specialist to specialist, who can tell her little about her son's disability, particularly how to bridge his communication deficits. Kaczmarek voices Iversen's determination as she takes on the task herself, studying microbiology, founding an organization to help autistic children, and building a relationship with the startling, bright autistic Indian poet Tito Mukhopadhyay. Kaczmarek recounts Iversen's successes in identifying and leading research scientists in efforts to understand autism and in finally seeing her own child learn to communicate more effectively. S.H.W. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine