Mom’s education on Asperger syndrome leads to book
By Jennifer Bhargava
The Kansas City Star
When Lisa Barrett Mann had her first child, she knew it was going to change her life. She just didn’t realize how much. Thirteen years ago, she had a successful career at a publishing firm in Maryland. Nowadays the Overland Park woman’s life is consumed by Asperger syndrome.
Years of research and raising her son, David, eventually led her to write a book about the neuro-developmental disorder, “More Than Little Professors,” which was published over the summer.
The road to a flourishing career change — and a move across the country — wasn’t easy, however.
The symptoms of Asperger came early. Violent temper tantrums consumed her son when he was a toddler. He was often inconsolable.
Onlookers in her East Coast town would shake their head condescendingly. “Discipline him more — all he needs is a whack on the bottom,” they would tell the frazzled mother. What they didn’t know was that discipline didn’t work. Nobody understood.
“I had a degree in psychology and had worked as a nanny — I thought being a mom would be easy for me,” Mann said. “So it was very frustrating when I couldn’t soothe my own child. A lot of times, I felt like a bad mom.”
As David got older, more symptoms of the yet-to-be-identified condition began to appear. He would become obsessed with certain topics and lecture everyone about them. His amused parents would listen as the mature 4-year-old educated them about the inter-dimensional portals he learned about in comic books.
The habit made it hard for him to connect with kids at school, though, and his senses seemed to be out of whack. David would fret over a small scab on his arm but barely notice if he had severe strep throat.
When he was 7 years old, a doctor finally diagnosed him with Asperger Syndrome. He was placed in a special school and Mann quickly switched gears.
She spent most of her time researching the disease and attending conferences about it. She connected with parents in similar circumstances over the internet. She soon began freelancing as a health writer for the Washington Post and editing books on developmental disorders. Her connections in the world of Asperger syndrome grew stronger every day.
One of her new friends was Brenda Smith Myles, an award-winning professor at the University of Kansas whose intense research on Asberger syndrome gained worldwide attention. When the two were chatting about Mann’s experiences with her son, Myles threw out a suggestion: write a book.
The result, which took Mann more than three years to put together, is a collection of stories, poems, quotes and drawings created by children from all over the world who have Asperger syndrome.
Myles is thrilled with the outcome.
“Lisa has always had the ability to get the best from people, whether they are children in school or adults at the university,” Myles said. “The manner in which she approached this book was extremely innovative. I know of no one else who could do justice to this topic. Lisa’s presentation of the material really allows the children’s voices to come through.”
While she was working on the book, Mann’s life finally started to get back on track. With therapy, her son soon made swift progress. He was making friends and acing his classes. More importantly, he was happy.
Her family moved to Overland Park so she could get her master’s degree from KU in special education/autism and Asperger syndrome. She graduated in May and is now working as an interventionist for children and adults with Asperger syndrome or similar disorders.
The freshly published book already has parents like her cheering because the variety of stories and poems shows the spectrum of the disease itself. She has met parents who are tired of people thinking that Asperger syndrome causes similar symptoms in every person. The condition actually has dozens of variations, which makes it one of the most difficult disorders to research.
“Some of these kids are grown up beyond their years, like little professors,” Mann said. “And some act silly and immature. I don’t want to find a cure for Asperger syndrome because I don’t want to change who these kids are. They are awesome kids.”
Myles hopes that teachers and parents who don’t know about the syndrome will read her book. She believes it could make the condition better well known.
“Anyone who reads this book will walk away with joy, hope and incredible knowledge of Asperger syndrome,” Myles said. “One of my friends who has children with Asperger syndrome cried after reading the book. She said that someone finally captured the ‘wonderment’ that our children bring to us. Lisa’s book makes the world a better place.”
An interesting website on “Famous People with Aspergers Syndrome” http://littleredbus.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/famous-people-with-aspergers-syndrome/