09/24/2026
A navigator doesn't choose between the compass and the map. Neither did I, writing AUTISM 1ST from Chaos to Conduction. It's built on both neuroscience and metaphor. Neither one is the territory. But together, they help families and providers navigate it.
The neuroscience reflects our current understanding of the developing brain, grounded in decades of research. Though I've come to see the fact that no single framework fully explains the brain as a feature of good clinical work. Not a flaw, but it does leave room for continued discovery.
The metaphors—Humpty Dumpty, cars and trains, astronauts, wolf pack—are a bridge. Images often reach places clinical language can't, especially when we're asking families to absorb complex neurodevelopmental concepts in the middle of a hard week.
I've watched this play out in real time: a physician engaged first with the illustrated metaphors. A parent opened up after reading the neuroscience chapters. When Jungian psychoanalyst Robert Bosnak encountered the framework, it was the clinical logic and practical tools that resonated most.
Different minds enter through different doors. This book was written with each of them in mind — because the families and providers I work with don't fit one profile either.
If you work with individuals and families navigating autism as a clinician, educator, or provider—I'd welcome the conversation. And if these pages help you see a child, a family, or yourself with more clarity and compassion, they've done what I hoped they would.
Maybe now it's your turn to open a door. AUTISM 1ST: From Chaos to Conduction is available now on Amazon and Shopify. Link in bio
