Talk Talk Sweet Charlotte

This month for my 12 month challenge I read Talk Talk Sweet Charlotte by Dean A. Le Brenton.
This book is about a teenage girl who is autistic and learns to communicate.
I’ve been getting more and more interested in the autistic world, especially since I’ve seen that I can really relate to those kids. This book provides a really good insight into their heads. What they really are thinking.
The book starts out with Charlotte being aggressive and non-verbal. Besides being autistic she has severe OCD. Something else I can relate to. By the end of the book she is communicating and showing restraint from beating up teachers to having more social graces.
Do you see the book cover up there? It displays an alpha board. That is what Charlotte mainly uses to communicate with. Since she was mostly non-verbal (not speaking), she types out her words on this board or hits yes and no.
One of the things that definitely struck a chord with me in this young girl’s story is how she was given school work based on her behavior and not her ability to do the work. And the other teachers in the environment did not believe she could succeed as much as she did and she may have suffered a bit from that. Dean tried his best though and kept contact with her parents which helped make sure she could keep making progress despite the lack of effort on the school’s part.
The book also talks about autistic savant abilities. Such as looking at the floor that had just been littered with toothpicks and almost immediately knowing that there were exactly 326 tooth picks on the floor. That isn’t Charlotte’s savant ability. Her’s is a lot more unbelievable. But you’ll have to read it to find out.
On some bad notes, the book does have quirks in its writing. It isn’t published by a big publishing house so that may be why. But I do believe the story is big-publishing-house-material. This book is for you if you want to learn more about autistic kids and how to treat them right. Charlotte knows if you look at her out the corner of your eye, whisper about her quietly and call her names. Chances are the other autistic kids know that too.

Guess what?! I have someone joining me on this 12 Month Challenge. Meet Andy! She hopes to be able to read that large stack of books she has waiting for her. Good luck Andy!
If you would like to join my 12 Month Challenge click here.