'Truthful, joyful, unflinching, and kind, Twice Exceptional is testament to an autistic nonspeaker's hidden brilliance; his father's love; and their joint determination in the face of ableism.' David Mitchell, New York Times bestselling author of Cloud Atlas
'Twice Exceptional should be required reading for teachers, parents, and professionals who work with non-speaking individuals.' Temple Grandin, New York Times bestselling author of Visual Thinking
Sumit Dhanda's son Viraj was two when he was diagnosed with severe autism and apraxia, a disorder that significantly impaired his motor control. One after another, therapists and doctors delivered the same message: Viraj was intellectually disabled. He would never speak. He might be better suited to a residential facility. Sumit, a single father, had no choice but to relinquish a thriving career on Wall Street to focus on his son's needs. Never once did he doubt that the experts were right.
Then, one fateful morning when Viraj was almost thirteen, a startling truth emerged: his intelligence had been there all along-expansive, concealed, waiting to be discovered.
Twice Exceptional is the story of a father who refused to accept the experts' verdict and a son who defied his doubters. It chronicles the years after the epiphany and how, with the support of a pioneering therapist and a determined father, Viraj learned to type independently, using just his right thumb. As Sumit would discover, Viraj had been aware of the world around him all along-he had simply lacked the means to engage with it. His silence had obscured a gift for math and science, as well as an astonishing capacity for self-expression.
These revelations brought with them an even more vexing challenge: How could Sumit get the world to see-and believe-what he saw in his son?