THERE’S A BOY IN HERE
By: Judy Barron & Sean Barron
Anonymous
Summary/Parents
• The book is narrative by a mother and son who
give an account of their lives dealing with the son
having Autism.
• Judy and Ron were a young couple that gave
birth to a son who had very different emotional
needs.
• Sean did not display a common bond with his
parents as most babies/children should.
• They knew something was wrong, but for several
years could not find a name for it.
• They went to several doctors to plead for help for
Sean.
Summary/Young Boy
• Sean’s behavior was uncontrollable!
– He liked to play with odd items around the house.
– He didn’t play with childhood toys as they were
designed for.
– Sean would take the toys and play a game of throwing
up.
• Sean did not develop friendships with other
children. He played well with Megan (his sister)
at times, but most times Sean would tease her.
• He played alone most of the time.
Summary/Diagnosis
• At age 5, someone give Sean’s behavior a
name: “Autism.”
• Dr. Rossi put Sean on a retraining program
to focus on developing movement
coordination and communication.
• Sean was resistant at first, but with
consistent pushing, fighting, and tough
love, the strategies begin to work on Sean.
Summary/School
• Sean began school. He was isolated and felt
alone, but he seemed to do better in school than
at home.
• He would come home and be disruptive.
• Sean did well academically, but his social skills
were not good.
• He did things to gain attention and acceptance
from his peers. This caused even more
frustration for Sean.
• He developed unhealthy relationships with
adults/teachers.
Summary/Help
• Judy was at the end of her rope with
dealing with Sean’s behavior and trying to
find a cure.
• Sean was sent to a group home for
emotionally-behaviorally dysfunctional
students for almost two years.
• Sean didn’t seem to make any progress
away from home. He didn’t like to be
there.
Summary/Young Adult
• Sean made it through grade school and
graduated from high school despite the fact
that e had a difficult time socializing with
his peers throughout those years.
• He entered college and transitioned into
adult life. Sean moved back to Ohio to
start a life of independence.
• Sean found his own ways to cope with
Autism and live a functional life.
Fact
• Autism is characterized by impaired social
interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal
communication, and usual, repetitive or severely
limited activities and interest.
Autism Fact Sheet. Retrieved November 7, 2007, from
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm#99683082
Reaction
• There are no known strategies that have been
proven to work on a vast majority of students
with disabilities.
• The strength and determination of Judy Barron is
phenomenal. She was determined to cure her
son of this awful disease. “We continue to ask
about for Sean-wasn’t there a psychologist we
could take him to?” (J. Barron & S. Barron, 1992)
Fact
• Autism is a very difficult disability to explain
and categorize.
• Three distinctive behaviors of Autism:
– Social interaction
– Problems with verbal and nonverbal
communication
– Repetitive behaviors/obsessive interest
Autism Fact Sheet. Retrieved November 7, 2007, from
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm#99683082
Facts from the book
• “Most of the experts referred to autism as
childhood schizophrenia; no one knew
what caused it and there was no known
treatment” (J. Barron & S. Barron, 1992)
• “When he came home from school he hit
the front door, shot through it, and tore
around the house in a frenzy of activity. It
was like an explosion”. (J. Barron & S.
Barron, 1992)
Reaction
• Autism is a very difficult disability to explain or
understand because every child is different.
They can be on any part of the spectrum.
• Once you feel like you understand the effects
it has on one child, then you could come
across different effects for another child.
• It becomes difficult for an educator to find
ways to assist every child with Autism. One
of my biggest challenges is motivation.
Educator’s Reaction
• Most educators are not skilled to work with
students with Autism. Students with Autism
have different characteristics and require
different levels of support. Most of the
students have high academic ability but low
level social skills.
• I have a student who is very smart and
capable of completing his assignments, he
LACKS motivation. He makes excuses and
refuses to complete any assignments.
Educator’s Reaction
• Regular education teachers grow frustrated
when students with Autism require so much of
their time and need constant encouragement.
They feel the students are inappropriately
placed socially, but have the academic ability
to master the objectives.
• Students without disabilities do not
understand why students with Autism have
different ways of interacting socially. They
tend to call the students weird and tease
them.
Reflection
• This book was very interesting, as it gave
me an understanding of the day-to-day
experience of living with Autism.
• I liked the narratives of the mother and son
on an particular incident. Sean’s account
of the incident was very interesting, as it
allowed the reader to understand that most
of his actions were uncontrollable and due
to his fear of rejection.
References
Barron, J, & Barron, S (1993). There Is A Boy In Here.New
York, New York: Simon & Schuster.
Autism Fact Sheet. Retrieved November 7, 2007, from
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail
_autism.htm#99683082