This is a heart-warming, awe-inspiring story of Kim Peek, the mega-savant who was the inspiration for the movie, Rain Man, and his father, Fran, who is an unparalleled role model for every parent. Learn about Kim's unique brain structure, reclusive early childhood, remarkable transformation, prodigious-savant memory abilities in 15 subject areas, and vast impact on the education adult disability community, "golden rule" message, and symbiotic relationship with his father. This book will help you better understand the wonder of Kim and his amazing abilities as a "prodigious intellectual memory savant: who has read and memorized over 12,000 books! It will also indelibly imprint on your mind and heart the power of unconditional parental love.

A father's inspiring account of Kim Peek, made famous by Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman.

This dynamic and richly layered account of mental health in the late twentieth century interweaves three important stories: the rising political prominence of mental health in the United States since 1970; the shifting medical diagnostics of mental health at a time when health activists, advocacy groups, and public figures were all speaking out about the needs and rights of patients; and the concept of voice in literature, film, memoir, journalism, and medical case study that connects the health experiences of individuals to shared stories. Together, these three dimensions bring into conversation a diverse cast of late-century writers, filmmakers, actors, physicians, politicians, policy-makers, and social critics. In doing so, Martin Halliwell’s Voices of Mental Health breaks new ground in deepening our understanding of the place, politics, and trajectory of mental health from the moon landing to the millennium.

Rich Shull like many of his counterparts worldwide grew up in an era before Autism was diagnosable and as such we have figured out Autism from end-to-end. With our Personal experience in Autism thinking and real life we blend together Autism (Picture Thinking) and normal thought to achieve a normal life. We drive hold normal jobs and are not the stereotypical Rain Man or anti-social genius, the world knows so well, as Autism. We can see the OBVIOUS errors and myths the current Autism thinking has created and thank our lucky stars we were never diagnosed, or we would all be in a group home. Modern Autism Education is two Steps backwards. Our success in real life needs to be studied and accounted for. It is Autism's success bottled and waiting to be tapped. What Current Autism Expert can claim first had knowledge with Autistic thought and our super active senses and even our Pain free injuries? Pre Rain Man Autism has ignored us for years now, Perhaps it has missed a few points that we have discovered and cured?

In this fascinating book, Dr. Treffert looks at what we know about savant syndrome, and at new discoveries that raise interesting questions about the hidden brain potential within us all. He looks both at how savant skills can be nurtured, and how they can help the person who has them, particularly if that person is on the autism spectrum.

What does the term "reading" mean? Matthew Rubery's exploration of the influence neurodivergence has on the ways individuals read asks us to consider that there may be no one definition. This alternative history of reading tells the stories of "atypical" readers and the impact had on their lives by neurological conditions affecting their ability to make sense of the printed word: from dyslexia, hyperlexia, and alexia to synesthesia, hallucinations, and dementia. Rubery's focus on neurodiversity aims to transform our understanding of the very concept of reading. Drawing on personal testimonies gathered from literature, film, life writing, social media, medical case studies, and other sources to express how cognitive differences have shaped people's experiences both on and off the page, Rubery contends that there is no single activity known as reading. Instead, there are multiple ways of reading (and, for that matter, not reading) despite the ease with which we use the term. Pushing us to rethink what it means to read, Reader's Block moves toward an understanding of reading as a spectrum that is capacious enough to accommodate the full range of activities documented in this fascinating and highly original book. Read it from cover to cover, out of sequence, or piecemeal. Read it upside down, sideways, or in a mirror. For just as there is no right way to read, there is no right way to read this book. What matters is that you are doing something with it—something that Rubery proposes should be called "reading."