For the Love of Ann: The true story of an autistic child

by James Copeland

The story of an autistic child and of how she and her family coped, taken from her father's diaries. She was, in fact, the first recognized case of autism in the United Kingdom.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good that this book and the events in the narrative are about creating awareness of autism at a time when it was quite unknown , and a milestone in this awareness.
But I hope we have ended and moved on from use of hitting children as a way of treating autism. It is no solution.
The promotion of this form of 'treatment' left a bad taste in my mouth,
did we ever find out what the rest of Ann's life was like given this book ends the narrative in the early 70s?

[M.C De'Ath · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when I was around 10 years old. It affected me so much that I can honesty say it was my first nudge into my career in Special Needs.

[Pennyjo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack Hodges tells the true story of Ann based on the diaries kept by her father throughout her life. Born at a time when very little was known about autism, Ann's family refused to give up on her even when all of the doctor's said there was nothing to be done for her. Through perseverance and dedication, they changed her life and helped her adjust to the confusion of her life. All for the love of Ann.

This book was one of my favorite books when I was a teen. In fact, this book led me to work as a paraprofessional at a special education school and coach Special Olympics. It impacted my life in a positive way. When I reread it this semester, I found it to be just as appealing as it was when I first read it. This book will definitely be on my classroom bookshelf and may even find its way onto my required reading list.

[Ursula · Rating 5 out of 5]

 
I read this YEARS ago. I'm surprised I forgot to put it on my list of read books. It is an amazing story about a family's journey through the hardships of raising and understanding an autistic child before autism was readily accepted and understood.
 

[Wayne Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ann Hodges was born on Jan. 10, 1952, to Jack and Ivy Hodges of Mayor St. in Salford, England, near Manchester. She had an older brother, Leonard, and later a younger brother Leslie. Shortly after her birth, a door was left open and the midwife reported that Ann became “blue with cold,” though medical experts now believe that she had a paroxysm of breathing. As the girl grew older, her parents began to notice that she had serious problems—not looking people in the eye, being non-verbal, drinking only from a bottle until age eight, repetitive behaviors such as continual rocking, and irrational fears. They took her to all kinds of doctors, and finally when she was six one of them said, “I am so very sorry to have to tell you this, but I’m afraid that our tests show that it is extremely unlikely that your daughter will ever be educated, or for that matter, that she will ever be able to recognize you as her parents,” calling the girl schizophrenic and a psychopath.

Jack and Ivy did not accept this diagnosis and refused suggestions to put their daughter into a mental home, so they began the process of trying to educate and train her themselves. Jack kept a diary of everything they did over the next fourteen years which formed the basis for this book. How did Ann respond? What eventually happened with her? The Hodgeses later learned that Ann suffered from autism, a condition, very poorly understood in that day, of children who cannot communicate with the outside world and have sensory processing issues even though in many cases they have perfect brains, sight, and hearing. Even today, no one knows the cause for certain. Author James Copeland, a Scottish journalist who used Jack’s record to create this account, calls it “a story of love and devotion, the like of which I had never heard before.” There is no bad language, but a few references to dancing do occur.

The biggest objection which some people have with the book is the supposed “cruelty” and “abuse.” There was a short period of time when Ann’s parents found that the only way which they could get through to her was by slapping her. So far as I could tell from the reading, nothing that was physically damaging was done but it was more like a parent spanking a small child. Of course, many people today consider any striking of a child for any reason, or for that matter even issuing a stern “no” in rebuke, as cruel abuse. Yet Copeland points out, “In fact, they had unwittingly stumbled on what is now considered an effective method of training autistic children—reward and punishment.” Also, we need to remember that this story comes from a time when autism was not well known and before many of the support services that are available today existed. Several parents of autistic children have said that reading the book gave them hope without concluding that it necessarily promoted “violence.” Anyone wanting to gain a better understanding of autism would do well to read it.

[Ditchwater · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book should come with a trigger warning for survivors of ABA (Applied Behaviour Analysis) and child abuse.

[Emily Hewitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. An uplifting, feel-good story about a young woman with autism who grew up in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s. It was interesting but very predictable. I’m not sure that nowadays Ann would be classified as having general autism but probably more specifically Asperger’s? I tried Googling to see where she is today or what happened to her after this book was published but unfortunately couldn’t find any info.

[Hazel Went · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is well written, but the reader needs to take into account that it was written in the 1970s. It's a frightening account, mainly of the lack of understanding about autism and how to support children back then - written based on the diary of Ann's father, it details how Ann's parents were effectively left to work out how to help Ann, as she was written off by medical professionals. A sign of how far we've come... yet somehow an indicator of how far we have yet to go.

[Patti P · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a young girl. It belonged to my sister and I would read it at night before she came to bed. I remember that after I finished it we talked about it and still today I remember how much I enjoyed reading it.

[Aparna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an epitome of how parents never give up on their child. I happened to read For the love of Ann by accident, a book I will be thinking about for a very long time. It's the story of Ann, a beautiful little girl who is autistic. In the 1950s autism was considered more a psychiatric condition than a development disorder, the world was still trying to make modern sense of it. With Ann's parents there was a choice to make - resign to the fact that Ann has no future like the rest her age or trust their intuition that doesn't agree with this. This is a true story based on the diaries her father kept through her growing years. The book is a capsule of hope and resilience, but more importantly it's a reminder of the power of family. The compassion and thoughtfulness of Ann's younger siblings are an integral part of her journey; it's a wonder how accomodative children can be.

Every child is different, every autistic child equally so. If you are a parent who is searching for a light of hope, please read this gem of a book.

[Fishface · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story of how the parents of an autistic child, left to cope on their own by a medical profession that had no idea how to proceed, taught her to behave nearly normally. They used a method that our squeamish modern-day world would never accept, but by gum it worked.

[Julian · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a very difficult read for a 18yo, but utterly moving.

6 out of 5 from me.

[Lir Talan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as a child - my mother had an interest in child psychology, and I used to raid my parents' bookshelves for reading material. It made a big impression on me, although I was undiagnosed with ASD at the time - it stuck with me that there were parents who would never give up, who still loved you when you were 'defective', which was my own self-assessment back then.

I was not diagnosed with severe ADHD and Aspergers/ASD until my late 30's-early 40s, and I cried when I found out there were reasons why I couldn't do things the same way, the expected way, as my other siblings.

The book does portray some types of 'treatment' that would be considered very inadvisable or even abusive today; as her parents weren't able to get any guidance from medical professionals, they tried literally everything. At one point slapping her seemed to be the most effective way to get her to listen, though I remember very clearly how much they hated doing it, that the mother cried over it.

They didn't know, they couldn't know the ways that some of the things they did were harmful. It was the 60s-70s, and even doctors & professionals were recommending some of the same harmful things, as recently as 25-30 years ago. I'm sure they had regrets as they learned more about what ASD is and better ways to treat it, to help children learn how to manage their own reactions and emotions, and how to interact socially - especially in the last 20 years, if they were still alive to see it, great strides in understanding and treatment have been made. They likely mourned over what they did in ignorance.

But the very strongest impression I remember from the book, since I read it when I was about 12, was how much they loved their daughter. No matter how difficult it seemed to understand or communicate with her, they never gave up, and love was at the heart of everything.

Even when they realised that for all the autonomy they were able to give her, she would never be 'normal' - she was still beautiful and beloved. That mattered much to me then and since. It gave me hope.

[Danijel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Str. 140 - Ne bi bilo prav od njih, da bi jo zadržali samo zase. Pripada vsakemu človeku, saj lahko pokaže, da lahko človek premaga VSE, kar mu NASPROTUJE. Pripada obupanim, predvsem pa pripada vsem Anam tega sveta in njihovim staršem. Če bo ta zgodba predanosti in prekipevajoče ljubezni enemu samemu dala upanje, potem jo je treba povedati.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book from the point of view of a family in the mid 1900’s raising a profoundly autistic daughter with very challenging behaviour. It is a great description of how this family, with great determination , supported their daughter to become the best person that she could. Their methods would be frowned upon now but they worked and the results speak for themselves.

[Leggo tra le nuvole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il libro purtroppo risente del fatto di essere abbastanza datato e di riportare (di conseguenza) nozioni sull'autismo scorrette e ormai superate. Il caso clinico descritto è interessante, ma sconsiglierei la lettura a chi non abbia già un bagaglio di conoscenze sufficiente a discernere tra i dati oggettivi presentati e le conclusioni errate - basate su teorie di riferimento obsolete - proposte dall'autore.

[Dominik Golob · Rating 4 out of 5]

214

[Megan Clemance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in the early 1970's, but very relavent today into helping understand autism and it's various aspects. Easy to read, very personal and honest.

[Ella Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

So inspirational 💖

[Ethli (w-p) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bardzo fajnie opisana hisoria walki o autystyczną dziewczynkę w czasach, gdy o autyźmie jeszcze prawie nikt nie słyszał... Dzieje się w Anglii. Napisane z perspektywy rodziców (na podstawie rozmów z nimi, ich dzienników itd.,przez osobę,którą zainteresowała historia Ani.) Dwoje braci, jeden starszy, drugi młodszy. Ojciec pracujący, matka w domu. I Ania - bardzo autystyczna, krzycząca, gdy coś się zmienia, i bez widocznych powodów, zamknięta w sobie, nie nawiązująca kontaktu, kiwająca się, zapadająca w stereotypie. Tak jak pisze w epilogu prof. Wroniszewski, założyciel fundacji Synapsis - choć teraz już nie stosuje się metod opartych na klapsach, to jednak w tamtym czasie i tamej Anglii, była to powszechnie aceptowana forma wychowania. W tym przypadku, mimo kar tego typu, dzięki wielkiej ilości miłości, energii i zaangażowania w naukę dziewczynki, mimo niewiedzy na temat behawioralnych metod, rodzicom udało się - samemu - nauczyć Anię - najpierw samodzielnie jeść, pić, ubierać się - a z czasem i mówić, rozumieć... Udało się posłać ją do szkoły, a potem zapewnić indywidualną naukę, gdy już - do szkoły wyższego szczebla - nie mogła chodzić. Udało się wyzwolić Anię z lęku, "metodą szokową". Aż, bedąc nastolatką, doszła do formy, gdy mogła już sama robi zakupy, wychodzić z przyjaciółmi, wracać nocą do domu i pracować... Zgodziła się, by napisać o niej książkę. Piękna opowieść.

[charith · Rating 4 out of 5]

My sixth grade teacher read parts of this book aloud to our class. It always stuck with me and I always meant to read it in its entirety. Twenty-five years later, I finally found the book online, bought it, and read it for myself.

It is a story about the education of Ann, a girl with autism. From the back cover, "A story of hope, courage, love and the stubborn refusal of her family to give up. Through those painful years Ann's father kept a diary, carefully noting each sign of progress. That diary is the basis of this book."

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have owned this book since I was 13 and read it at least 20 times. It is the story of a girl born in the '50's who has autism, which at the time was barely known about, and how her family came to help her live a more 'normal' life. Every time I read this, it resonates within me.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

People are amazing!

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eye opener into the world of autism. Highly recommend