Fragile Success: Ten Autistic Children, Childhood to Adulthood

This book presents ten longitudinal case studies of individuals with autism and discusses the nature of childhood autism and teaching children with autism. The studies involve students of the Elizabeth Ives School for Special Children, which Virginia Sperry directed from 1966 to 1972, who were tested at the Yale Child Study Center in childhood; seven of them were tested again in adulthood. The book provides the test results and detailed information about the subjects’ lives over the approximately 25-year period, the quality of their lives at the end of the study, what kinds of jobs they held if they work, and what kind of social interactions they had, if any. In the studies, the children’s parents discuss their experiences raising a child with autism and caring for an adult with autism. The second edition adds a new case study and follow-ups for all but one of the original study participants to show how their lives are now.