Each Day I Like It Better: Autism, ECT, and the Treatment of Our Most Impaired Children

ISBN-13: 9780826519757 Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press Publication date: 04/01/2014 Pages: 216 Product dimensions: 6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d) In the fall of 2009, Amy Lutz and her husband, Andy, struggled with one of the worst decisions parents could possibly face: whether they could safely keep their autistic ten-year-old son, Jonah, at home any longer. Multiple medication trials, a long procession of behavior modification strategies, and even an almost year-long hospitalization had all failed to control his violent rages. Desperate to stop the attacks that endangered family members, caregivers, and even Jonah himself, Amy and Andy decided to try the controversial procedure of electroconvulsive therapy or ECT. Over the last three years, Jonah has received 136 treatments. His aggression has greatly diminished, and for the first time Jonah, now fourteen, is moving to a less restricted school.Each Day I Like It Better recounts the journeys of Jonah and seven other children and t