Publisher's Synopsis
WORDS NOT SPOKEN is a father's first-hand account of raising a son that could not speak or adhere to basic social norms - and his fight to find an alternative to institutionalization when his son reached adulthood. Author Lawrence Markin did not even know what autism was when his son Eric was diagnosed in 1988 at the age of two. Few people did at that time. Mr. Markin's journey over the next two decades - from his initial quest for knowledge, to what it was like living in a household consumed by chaos, to the unique living arrangement he fought to make happen when Eric became an adult - is detailed with brutal honesty and raw emotion. The author's wit, wisdom and honesty evoke both humor and pathos throughout the narrative.
Lawrence Howard Markin is a successful Chicago businessman with a son at the far end of the autism-severity spectrum. As president of Sherman Plastics Corporation in Naperville, Illinois, he leads a recycling business that has received multiple grants from the state. As father of Eric Markin, he helped blaze new trails for other parents of children with autism, particularly those with the highest levels of severity. Eric, almost totally non-verbal and unable to conform to social norms, would have been institutionalized for life not long ago. Mr. Markin forged a better solution, becoming an advocate for community placement over institutionalization and helping create what is now considered a best-practice model in Illinois. He tells his heartfelt story in Words Not Spoken.
