Behind the Mirror: One Woman’’s True Story of Living with Autism and Her Work with Children on the Spectrum

The life story of Jeanne Simons, whose own autism informed her pioneering work with autistic children.

Jeanne Simons devoted her career as a social worker and educator to the study, treatment, and care of children with autism. In 1955, she established the Linwood Children’s Center in Ellicott City, Maryland, one of the first schools dedicated to children with autism. Her Linwood Model, developed there, was widely adopted and still forms the basis for a variety of autism intervention techniques. Incredibly--although unknown at the time--Jeanne was herself autistic.

Behind the Mirror reveals the remarkable tale of this trailblazer and how she thought, felt, and experienced the world around her. With moving immediacy, Jeanne tells her life story to developmental psychologist, friend, and collaborator Sabine Oishi. Jeanne’s unique experience is supplemented by commentary from Dr. Oishi, who explains the importance of key biographical details and fills in additional information about the diagnosis and treatment of autism. Enhanced with a photo gallery, a look at new approaches to the education of children with autism, and a history of Linwood since its founding, the book also contains a foreword, an afterword, and an appendix by James C. Harris, MD, the past director of child psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the founder of its autism clinic. Demystifying the experience of autism, Behind the Mirror is a groundbreaking account of possibilities and hope.

Jeanne Simons, LCSW, ACSW (1910-2005), was raised and educated in Holland as a certified Montessori teacher and earned her degree in clinical social work from Boston College. She worked with unusual children all her life, both in Holland and the United States. In 1955, she founded the Linwood Children’s Center for children with autism in Ellicott City, MD. There, she pioneered a highly successful treatment approach, which she described in the book The Hidden Child: The Linwood Method for Reaching the Autistic Child. Sabine Oishi, PhD (BALTIMORE, MD) was born in Switzerland and educated first as a teacher and then as a child psychologist at the University of Geneva. She earned her PhD in child development and family therapy from the University of Maryland. She has worked as a teacher, researcher, and therapist both in Switzerland and the United States. With Jeanne Simons, she was the coauthor of The Hidden Child. James C. Harris, MD, is a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he is the director of the Developmental Neuropsychiatric Clinic.