Clay Dillon doesn't understand people. He's been told how to, but the lessons don't stick. He's six years old, and he's hoping that school will be different from his experiences at his mother's daycare. He tries to tell himself the friction he has with other kids comes from them viewing him as the babysitter's kid. He's also trying really hard not to do things that make people dislike him, but when he gets confused, he hits his head and stops talking.No one uses the word autism to talk about Clay Dillon, but it should be used. This novel takes a hard look at extreme childhood behavior, the ways adults interpret it, and the consequences to children when parents resist medical assistance or when they're too stressed to follow through with it. Based on the real-life experience of a transgender autistic woman's undiagnosed childhood, it serves as a stark reminder that children are themselves navigating a hard world, even if adults tell themselves they've made it easy.From the author's afterword:"It's not easy, learning that you had a major developmental disorder that somehow slipped under the radar for years and years. The fact is, though, that they did not have the vocabulary or the support resources that are available today. When I was growing up, it was still assumed that autism was partially defined by cognitive deficits......it impossible for Clay to understand the differences between himself and others. Despite his high IQ and scholastic performance, and despite the fact that he knows something is different, he will always need someone else to explain to him what is different......It [the story] is the intersection of a family history of disorder, a socioeconomic niche that is always plagued by problems accessing support programs, and a moment in time when science and technology were almost, but not quite, capable of rising to the challenge of kids like Clay."Length: 65,000 words
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