Autism and the God Connection: Redefining the Autistic Experience Through Extraordinary Accounts of Spiritual Giftedness

Stillman's latest volume about autism hovers startlingly close to the edge of reason (or, arguably, abandons reason entirely) and invokes a cosmic cornucopia of ghosts, spirits, angels, miracles and past lives to make the case that ""the seemingly sudden and mysterious surge of children identified with autism ...is our Creator's purposeful plan to refocus us on the importance of reverence for all of humanity."" Tales of telepathy, direct communication with animals, spirit interaction, mind reading and previous lives abound. This barrage of hokum distracts from the touching stories of connecting with autistic people, and though he writes gently, Stillman, who has Asperger's Syndrome, mixes unsettling and unbelievable stories with summaries of scientific research and clinical studies. Some open-minded readers may value the idiosyncratic point of view, but claims like, ""His grandmother's deteriorated physical state, while in the final stages of Alzheimer's here on earth, was of no consequence when it came to contacting Justin"" and, ""It certainly makes good sense that telepathy is one such mode of communication available to autistic people"" strain the author's credibility.