Biblio Files: talking about books

Gift From My Son: Autism Redefined by Keli Lindelien, 2004 Benjamin was born to an unusual family. His mother, Keli Lindelien, still feels guilty because she predicted the death of a friend when she and the friend were teenagers. He died. Lindelien also believes that her daughter, Benjamin's older sister, can see auras. Lindelien chose not to have an amniocentesis while she was pregnant because of a vision. Benjamin is unusual in another way. As a toddler, Benjamin was diagnosed with PDD-NOS. Although he began developing speech normally, he regressed and did not speak for a year.
Benjamin's sensory sensitivities are described by his mother in spiritual New Age language. Lindelien's accounts of her son's sensitivities seemed almost impossible to me until I tried to reword them in terms of sensory integration. Lindelien "redefines" autism as a gift in two ways. First, she believes that the reflection forced upon her by a disabled child was a gift. Second, Benjamin's hyper sensitive sight, hearing, and empathy are a gift. Benjamin is currently fairly high functioning.
Much of this book is too mystical for me. I could not understand what Lindelien's visions were implying. Lindelien asks a lot of questions instead of stating what she believes. I could not follow where the questions where leading. I find much of what Lindelien says to be unbelievable and at times contradictory. However, it is nice to see that Lindelien enjoys her son. Appendix A, a toilet training protocol, might be of some use.
Question: Lindelien claims that Benjamin can see auras. Can you see or otherwise sense auras? Do they have colors?
Happy reading.

Ants at Work: How an Insect Society is Organized
by Deborah Gordon
Illustrations by Michelle Schwengel
1999
Did you know? Harvester ant colonies that last for more than two years generally will last for another fifteen years. The colony dies after the queen ant dies, because then no more worker ants are born. The worker ants live only for a year. Ant colonies typically reach an adult size of about 10,000 ants and begin to reproduce (produce more colonies) when they are four or five years old, but if they are crowded by other colonies they may never reach full size or reproduce.
Deborah Gordon studies red harvester ants, Pogonomymex barbatus, in Arizona during the summer.
The most interesting thing that this book does not talk about enough is ant pheromones. The spread of smells and communication through them ought to have been elaborated on. Can ants leave messages with pheromones? If so, why doesn't that account for why ants know whether or not foreign ant are neighbors?
Pleasant reading.

Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language
Hereditary Deafness on Martha's Vineyard, 1985
by Nora Ellen Groce
Jonathan Lambert, a deaf man, moved to the Martha's Vineyard Island in 1694. His is the first recorded case of deafness on the Island, but far from the last. The group of people who moved from Kent to Martha's Vineyard in the seventeenth century carried with them a recessive gene for deafness. They also brought with them a sign language and an inclusion of the deaf in their midst unparalleled anywhere else in any other time in European or American culture. Due to inbreeding, deafness was fairly common on Martha's Vineyard for centuries, and conversational competence in the local sign language was standard. Deaf men on Martha's Vineyard, unlike deaf elsewhere in the nation at that time, were deemed competent to vote, hold office, sign legal documents, and otherwise act as full members of society.
This book is frequently cited as proof that the deaf can be fully integrated into society and that deafness does not have to be a handicap. I read this book having already read many excerpts of it in other books, among them No Pity by Joseph Shapiro. Therefore, I expected this book to be mostly about the workings of the Martha's Vineyard community and the lives of its members. What the book actually focuses on are the origins of the society. Groce traces the genetics of the hereditary deafness on Martha's Vineyard and the usage of sign by the ancestors of the colonizers of Martha's Vineyard. She considers why sign became commonplace, and compares it to the communities surrounding it. Interestingly, Groce is very clear about where all of her information comes from. When she fills her guesses in, the reader is made aware of it. This makes the book read as a scholarly account rather than a piece intended for a general audience.
In considering what made the Islanders learn sign, Groce overlooks something. None of the people born deaf on Martha's Island ever learned to speak or to read lips, and none heard at all. Therefore, they had to be signed to. To include the deaf, the Islanders had to learn sign. Groce assumes that those born deaf cannot learn to speechread, and that speechreading, picking up less that half of all words, would not serve to integrate the deaf. However, the ability to speechread is almost as hereditary as the ability to hear. Includes end notes, an extensive bibliography, and an index.
Happy reading.