My book is about my life and about my three very severely mentally retarded sons who cannot speak a single word. But in 2005 I learned a method to be able to converse with them as with any other person with normal intellect. It was and is revolutionary.
My non-speaking sons have encouraged me to write this book so that other people without speech can also begin to communicate. I have so far written with over a hundred non-speaking or only imperfectly speaking people. All of them could use this method. But since it is hard to believe this, more people should learn it so that it can spread. But it is not entirely easy to learn this method.
This method is practiced by thousands of people in Europe, America, Australia, Japan and there are an incredible number of books written about it. But it is so unlikely that some "scientists" here in Sweden cannot believe it. But there are a number of people here in Sweden who can use it.
My central message is that all those who cannot speak can use this method to communicate with us ordinary people. This was the most transformative experience of my life. I myself could not believe it for several weeks that my sons could communicate like any healthy person.
I have always been interested in people with developmental disabilities and have never been sad that I, in addition to my two healthy children, had these children with developmental disabilities. But I was often in despair at not being able to do more for them. The book tells how I overcame this. I would like to teach this method of communication, but my sons and others are so eager to write with me that I have too little time.
I hope that many people can find joy and inspiration from my book to start communicating with their intellectually disabled children. It also works with other diagnoses or if you can't find a good diagnosis.
Just now, Erik, who can't speak a single word, wrote that I should write: "My mother must write that she now knows how we feel."
I was born in Mettmann, Germany, and today I live in Stockholm.
Hilke
