Gift from My Son

A breakthrough look at autism

    When Keli Lindelien’s son Benjamin was diagnosed with autism, her life was turned upside down. No longer could she function as a family law attorney or juvenile prosecutor. Now she had a new full-time job: taking care of Benjamin.
    But she wanted to do more than merely use behavior-modification therapies to make him fit in. She wanted to understand him and help him. The diagnosis proved to be the beginning of an extraordinary journey.
    Combining external research and inner work to enhance her understanding of autism, she searched for and discovered natural medicines and therapies that reversed many symptoms. In the process, she learned to communicate with Benjamin at his own level.
    Watching carefully, she discovered that Benjamin’s condition included not only disabilities but also unsuspected abilities. Ultimately, her observation and experience led her to develop a new theory about the role of left versus right brain dominance in autism.
    This breakthrough view of autism, told by the mother of an autistic child, includes a comprehensive chart of the progression and reversal of Benjamin’s physical symptoms that resulted from a course of natural therapies, tips to parents of autistic children on toilet training and travel, and a description of other resources available.

"There are a number of fine books written by parents of autistic children, but with Gift from My Son Keli Lindelien takes us to new territory: using intuition as a guide on the journey of autism. Lindelien’s story of how she came to understand many of Benjamin’s seemingly purposeless behaviors and how she was led to the therapies and lifestyle changes that helped her son is a moving and inspiring account. It demonstrates once again that the body-mind has its own wisdom, which is revealed to us if we learn how to see."
—Stephanie Marohn, author of The Natural Medicine Guide to Autism

Book Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE