'A friend like Henry' is a true recount of what the writer, Nuala Gardner, had experienced with her children which has autism- Dale and Amy. Dale's autism is more severe that his sister's.Since the time that he was born, he would not interact with people, preferring to stay in the enclosed world of his own. His autism was so severe that his behaviour could veer from silence to shrieking banshee in just a few seconds. Violent behaviour accompanied when his parents tried to pacify him, and this would result in them suffering scratch marks and cuts from Dale's screaming episodes.

However, as not much treatment and diagnosis were available for autistic patients, Dale's autism could not get diagnosed until much later. This caused his condition to deteriorate further. Luckily, everything changed after Nuala and her husband chose a Golden Retriever (named Henry- after one of Thomas Trains which Dale was obsessed about) for their son, Dale. Henry was able to break into Dale's autistic world, and together with Dale's parents, Dale was eventually able to overcome most difficulties and was able to merge together with the society.

'A friend like Henry' is certainly an interesting and heart-warming read!

-Jia Zhen :D