Book review: Lisa Ackerson Lieberman’s “A ‘Stranger’ Among Us”

Posted by Patricia Wright on December 16th, 2009

Parents of children with autism often find themselves needing to hire a professional to work in their home and provide direct support for their child. Hiring and managing in-home care requires significant skills. Fortunately Lisa Ackerson Lieberman has developed a wonderful resource to guide parents in this process.

Ms. Lieberman has expertise as a social worker, plus she is a mom to a child with autism and has a partner who has a progressive physical disability. This multi-faceted perspective allows for meaningful content in all fourteen chapters and 191 pages of A Stranger Among Us: Hiring In-Home Support for a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorders or Other Neurological Differences

Ms. Lieberman provides concrete examples and personal anecdotes to help make this book both practical and enjoyable. The book follows a fairly linear framework, starting with making a decision to hire care and choosing what type, finding and interviewing candidates, training and supervision and finally terminating an employee or ending the professional relationship.

I especially liked a chapter where Ms. Lieberman encourages parents to include their child in the hiring process. Every child needs to learn to make choices and direct their own life. By involving a child with autism in the hiring process (in an age and developmentally appropriate manner), that child begins to develop self-advocacy and self determination. Ms. Lieberman’s inclusion of this chapter is demonstrative of her desire to ensure that her own son with autism develops successfully. This includes meeting her son’s needs via appropriate care provision and ensuring her son is able to access important learning opportunities.

Ms. Lieberman has produced a great resource for families. For anyone faced with tough decisions — like why and how to provide in-home care for their family member with autism — A “Stranger” Among Us is a must-buy.

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One Response to “Book review: Lisa Ackerson Lieberman’s “A ‘Stranger’ Among Us””

1. Lisa Lieberman Says:
   December 22nd, 2009 at 11:45 am

   I am grateful that this information is being made available to families of children and young adults with all types of challenges. I have been hiring individuals to support my own family members for over twenty years. It is clear to me that we have thrived (rather than survived) because of these “strangers” who have become an integral part of our family circle.

   I have published several articles that focus on more specific aspects of hiring one-to-one support for beloved family members. These can be downloaded from my website: http://www.disabilityinthefamily.com/articles.htm

   Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions or concerns regarding how to undergo this process with success.

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