Melanie Albor
Dr. Jennifer Buss-SPED 55700
September 27, 2018
“The Reason I Jump”
Book Review
“The Reason I Jump” is a book that has been on my list for quite some time now. When we were instructed to do a book review and this was an option, I was pretty excited. The author of the book is a nonverbal 13-year-old boy with autism. I really feel that his primary goal of publishing the book was to bring awareness to autism and educate people on many experiences he’s had. I think sometimes we do take for grated that luxury of self advocacy. In Naoki’s case, he is nonverbal, but found a way to get his point across. I believe that many professionals and, in my opinion, everyone, should read this book because it is such a vital resource to really understand the emotions and the thought processes of a person with low spectrum autism. Naoki tells us of many experiences he has when he feels like he’s “locked out” or “stuck” in his body and doesn’t know how to express himself. Since he is nonverbal, there is not much of ability to express himself through words and he explains how that is something he struggles with each day. I think about coming home from a long, stressful day at work and “unloading” (I like to call it), on my husband about my day. It gives me a sense of relief to get the stress out by talking to a loved one and Naoki does not have that luxury that many of us take for granted. These instances, he tells us, are many reasons why autistic people do the things they do, such as, scream, lash out, etc. Another part of the story that really resonated with me was that Naoki explained many times how autistic people really do want to be social. Many people believe that autistic people don’t want to be social or just want to be isolated, but Naoki told us that is not true. He walks us through many social situations that have happened to ...
