Ebook
Autism is a rising epidemic that affects 1 in 68 children. When Jennifer Noonan's son was diagnosed in 2009, she refused to accept the conventional wisdom that autism was largely permanent, instead launching a relentless investigation into the very latest dietary, immunological, and metabolic research available. "I certainly had no reason to believe at that time that autism was treatable," she writes, "but somehow I decided, in my classically pigheaded way, that it would be." This spirited audacity gave her not only courage -- and ultimately success -- in the face of such a devastating diagnosis, but also a self-aware and darkly funny perspective on her own faults and struggles over the next six years.
With equal parts defiance, tenacity, and wry humor, No Map to This Country details one family's journey through the modern autism epidemic, and the lengths to which a mother will go to heal her family. Neither a medical manual nor a heartwarming tale of growth, Noonan's groundbreaking yet profoundly relatable memoir seamlessly combines cutting-edge research with a gripping and unapologetic account of her family's fight for recovery.
Praise for No Map to This Country
“Careful and eloquent, honest and moving...Noonan's work demonstrates why we should have the deepest respect and admiration for the parents.” —Dr. Andrey Rzhetsky, Pritzker Scholar, Professor of Medicine and Human Genetics, Computation Institute and Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology, University of Chicago
“Jennifer Noonan picks up the gauntlet of Clara Claiborne Park and Bernard Rimland as devoted parents preparing for a marathon and finishing it... The book provides a guide path to those new to the world of autism, pioneers in their own right, as to what to expect and how best to proceed.” —Manuel F. Casanova, MD, SmartState Endowed Chair in Childhood Neurotherapeutics, University of South Carolina, Greenville Health System
“Funny, engaging, courageous, No Map to This Country is a roadmap for anyone embarking on the journey to understanding what helps kids with autism.”
—Patricia Stacey, author of The Boy Who Loved Windows
Jennifer Noonan is the founder of www.thegfcflady.com, a website for autism parents. Despite the photos and recipes on her popular website, Jennifer Noonan is not a professional photographer, and she's definitely not a professional cook. She's just a mom who got thrown into the deep end when she decided to put her autistic son on the GFCF Diet. She found herself not only having to memorize reams of information about safe and unsafe ingredients, but having to learn a lot of the basics of cooking at the same time.
Everything on her site - and in her memoir - comes with the disclaimer that the GFCF Diet is one part of a larger collection of biomedical treatments for autism, pioneered by the Autism Research Institute and to visit www.autism.com for information on specific medical therapies, scientific research, videos of fully-recovered children, and help finding an ARI doctor in your area.
Website: www.thegfcflady.com