See it feelingly

Since the 1940s researchers have been repeating claims about autistic people's limited ability to understand language, to partake in imaginative play, and the generate the complex theory of mind necessary to appreciate literature. In this book the author, an English professor whose son is one of the first nonspeaking autistics to graduate from college, challenges this view. Discussing fictional works over a period of years with readers from across the autism spectrum, the author was stunned by the readers' ability to expand his understanding of texts he knew intimately. Their startling…