I came across this book while browsing twitter one night while lying in bed worrying about the future as you do, well I do.  I sometimes lie for hours scrolling through #autistic #autism #meltdowns making myself feel better with other peoples frustrations or jubilations.

I liked the title immediately.  If you have an autistic child you will be familiar with the fact that a lot of people expect your child to have a remarkable magic talent.  “What’s his thing?” “I bet he’s good with numbers” are the common ones.

Not all autistic people are Savant’s. Savant’s are people who have incredible abilities usually falling into a few different categories to name a few:

Musical abilities – being able to playback perfectly a piece of music after hearing it only once.

Artistic abilities – Stephen Wiltshire a prime example his ability to remember skylines and reproduce them in drawings is breathtaking.

Calendar Calculation – being able to produce the day of a week a date falls on thousands of years away.

Memory – Reilly has an awesome memory and shocked us all when he started to google  bus registration numbers and we realised they were actual buses he had been on or seen weeks even months before – but I don’t think he’s Raymond Babbitt. If he is I’ll meet you at Aspers!

The book written by comedian John Williams really struck a chord with me.  I related to everything he said but its so funny too.  My favourite part is his disability top trumps and that SEN parents can be arseholes too.  I don’t want to spoil it for you.  But I am guilty as charged – If your child had 4 hours sleep mine had 3.  I also lol’d at the school shoes and too short tracksuit bottoms I see this week in, week out.

It’s honest, it’s sad and its thoroughly enjoyable.  ‘The Boy’ as he is loving referred to has an amazing relationship with his father despite the many challenges they face over relationships, schools, behaviour, disability etc.

You can click on the link below for more information.  Myself and my Mam read this book on holiday and now my husband is half way through and loving it and sometimes not loving the stark similarities in our lives.  I thoroughly recommend it.