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Children with Emerald Eyes: Histories of Extraordinary Boys and Girls
Mira Rothenberg pioneered both the clinical distinction and treatment protocol for autistic and severely disturbed children as separate from those for the mentally retarded. Winner of a Woman of the Year award from the New York City Chamber of Commerce and the National Organization for Mentally Ill Children, she eloquently recounts a lifetime of taking on seemingly hopeless cases and bringing these children, through painstaking therapy and love, back into the world. Unflinchingly honest, whether dealing with the raw pain of her patients' lives or with Rothenberg's own complex feelings for them, Children with Emerald Eyes explores the landscape of mental illness while never losing sight of the humanity within each patient.
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
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August 4, 2020
Dalyje (o gal ir visose, bet visų nesu skaičiusi, nedrįstu sakyti) savišvietos ir saviieškos knygų raginama tyrinėti savo pomėgius, prisiminti, ką labiausiai mėgai veikti vaikystėje/paauglystėje, ką darydamas džiaugiesi ir t.t., ir pan., o paskui iš to susikurti savo svajonių darbą. Tai va - Mira Rothenberg neturėjo jokio, visiškai jokio noro dirbti su sutrikusiais vaikais, nes labai puikiai jautė, kad jie tokie pat sužaloti II pasaulinio karo siaubo kaip ir ji pati. Ji žinojo, kad pradėjusi dirbti ir bandydama jiems padėti privalės susidurti ir su savo skausmu, apie kurį galvoti nesinori. Ir visgi - ji ėjo ir darė, nes galbūt patikėjo likimu ar nuojauta, kad kas kitas, jei ne ji, o galbūt tiesiog pasidavė aplinkinių spaudimui. Kokia priežastis bebūtų, vaikams ir pasauliui buvo labai svarbu, kad buvo tokia Mira, kuri tikėjo, jog kiekvienas sutrikimas yra kažkas arčiau klaidingo būdo būti pasaulyje nei tiesiog nepataisoma yda, ir savo darbu patvirtino C.G. Jung'o mintį, kad didžiausias pasipriešinimas nurodo didžiausias galimybes.
Skaitydama daug galvojau ir apie save ir savo nesutrikusius draugus ir pažįstamus ir mūsų visų norą kažką gauti iš šio gyvenimo, kitų žmonių ir pasaulio, ir kokius keistus kelius mes kartais renkamės savo norams gauti, savo saugumui užtikrinti ir artumui pajusti. Pasidariau išvadą, kad nuo šių vaikų mes kartais skiriamės tik prisitaikymo lygiu, tačiau dėl kažko skauda kiekvienam. Ir jei daugiau žiūrėtume į tai, kas mus jungia ir labiau bandytume suprasti priežastis, galbūt ir tų, kuriuos laikome nepritampančiais ir atsilikusiais, turėtume mažiau
Skaitydama daug galvojau ir apie save ir savo nesutrikusius draugus ir pažįstamus ir mūsų visų norą kažką gauti iš šio gyvenimo, kitų žmonių ir pasaulio, ir kokius keistus kelius mes kartais renkamės savo norams gauti, savo saugumui užtikrinti ir artumui pajusti. Pasidariau išvadą, kad nuo šių vaikų mes kartais skiriamės tik prisitaikymo lygiu, tačiau dėl kažko skauda kiekvienam. Ir jei daugiau žiūrėtume į tai, kas mus jungia ir labiau bandytume suprasti priežastis, galbūt ir tų, kuriuos laikome nepritampančiais ir atsilikusiais, turėtume mažiau
October 12, 2020
This is a book of horror stories, in which terrifying monsters do battle with angels, with each combat waged to win mastery over human minds and souls. The monsters are, remarkably, also the very minds and souls of the humans over whom the battles are fought. Perhaps even more remarkably, this is not fiction; these are case studies of attempts to treat children who are deeply afflicted by mental and emotional illnesses.
The angels are the amazing people who devote much of their lives to helping these children. They are not angels just from nine to five on weekdays; they are dedicated in ways and to degrees that are truly amazing. The children with whom they work - and suffer- are horribly damaged. Some times the children can be helped; on other, agonizing occasions, they can not be.
One of those angels was Mira Rothenberg, the author of this book. There is not much biographical information about her in the book itself, but combining some information from here and some from her obituary in the New York Times, I can say that she was born into a Jewish family in Lithuania in 1922. She came to New York in 1939. (Her father, who had remained in Europe, died in the Holocaust.)
She became a clinical psychologist, treating emotionally disturbed and autistic children. She was married for a time and had one son, Akiva Goldsman, an author who later won an Academy Award for the screenplay for the film A Beautiful Mind. Rothenberg died in 2015 at the age of 93.
The period covered in Children with Emerald Eyes goes from shortly after the end of World War II until 1976, a span of some thirty years. I do not know much about changes in treatment of children with autism or mental illness in the past seventy-five years, but I suspect that they have been large and significant. There is little presented in the book about the causes of the children's many different emotional and mental illnesses, other than to discuss ill-treatment that the children had faced, whether from families or from concentration camp officials or just from fate. There is, I think, not much attempt to differentiate here between autism and other illnesses.
Rothenberg discusses a number of the children with whom she had worked. She and her fellow therapists show a most impressive caring and courage in case after case. She repeatedly takes disturbed, sometimes violent children into her heart and even into her home. Each case, each child, is different, and each requires a different kind of treatment and a different set of sacrifices. Each time the reader hopes that Rothenberg can work a miracle. Frequently she does, and that is enormously moving. The times when she and her colleagues fail are even more affecting. It is impossible to predict outcomes. Some of them are almost unbelievably good; these must have helped her to deal with the profound disappointments of unsuccessful treatments.
There does not seem to be much explanation in the book of its title. Early in the book, Rothenberg writes, "I want to dispel the fear of these crazy children - these children with their all-seeing emerald eyes. Once people see the reasons for their insanity, if not the cause of it, the fear will be gone." This is clearly not intended to mean that the children actually all have "emerald eyes." My thought was that this might be a reference to the shining eyes that unite all the children, part human and part something "other," in the film These Are the Damned. This, rather to my surprise, was precisely correct. In the obituary mentioned above, Rothenberg tells of how her son came to suggest the title:
“'I said they were like the children we had seen in a science-fiction film who had eyes that were green and very intense,' she recalled. 'I said autistic children feel and see everything, although they don’t say anything about it. After [her son] read the book in galley form, he named it "Children With Emerald Eyes."'”
The second part of the title is "Histories of Extraordinary Boys & Girls." The children are "extraordinary" in their illnesses and their pain. Rothenberg and those with whom she worked, trying to make the minds and the lives of these children better, are the ones who are genuinely extraordinary.
The angels are the amazing people who devote much of their lives to helping these children. They are not angels just from nine to five on weekdays; they are dedicated in ways and to degrees that are truly amazing. The children with whom they work - and suffer- are horribly damaged. Some times the children can be helped; on other, agonizing occasions, they can not be.
One of those angels was Mira Rothenberg, the author of this book. There is not much biographical information about her in the book itself, but combining some information from here and some from her obituary in the New York Times, I can say that she was born into a Jewish family in Lithuania in 1922. She came to New York in 1939. (Her father, who had remained in Europe, died in the Holocaust.)
She became a clinical psychologist, treating emotionally disturbed and autistic children. She was married for a time and had one son, Akiva Goldsman, an author who later won an Academy Award for the screenplay for the film A Beautiful Mind. Rothenberg died in 2015 at the age of 93.
The period covered in Children with Emerald Eyes goes from shortly after the end of World War II until 1976, a span of some thirty years. I do not know much about changes in treatment of children with autism or mental illness in the past seventy-five years, but I suspect that they have been large and significant. There is little presented in the book about the causes of the children's many different emotional and mental illnesses, other than to discuss ill-treatment that the children had faced, whether from families or from concentration camp officials or just from fate. There is, I think, not much attempt to differentiate here between autism and other illnesses.
Rothenberg discusses a number of the children with whom she had worked. She and her fellow therapists show a most impressive caring and courage in case after case. She repeatedly takes disturbed, sometimes violent children into her heart and even into her home. Each case, each child, is different, and each requires a different kind of treatment and a different set of sacrifices. Each time the reader hopes that Rothenberg can work a miracle. Frequently she does, and that is enormously moving. The times when she and her colleagues fail are even more affecting. It is impossible to predict outcomes. Some of them are almost unbelievably good; these must have helped her to deal with the profound disappointments of unsuccessful treatments.
There does not seem to be much explanation in the book of its title. Early in the book, Rothenberg writes, "I want to dispel the fear of these crazy children - these children with their all-seeing emerald eyes. Once people see the reasons for their insanity, if not the cause of it, the fear will be gone." This is clearly not intended to mean that the children actually all have "emerald eyes." My thought was that this might be a reference to the shining eyes that unite all the children, part human and part something "other," in the film These Are the Damned. This, rather to my surprise, was precisely correct. In the obituary mentioned above, Rothenberg tells of how her son came to suggest the title:
“'I said they were like the children we had seen in a science-fiction film who had eyes that were green and very intense,' she recalled. 'I said autistic children feel and see everything, although they don’t say anything about it. After [her son] read the book in galley form, he named it "Children With Emerald Eyes."'”
The second part of the title is "Histories of Extraordinary Boys & Girls." The children are "extraordinary" in their illnesses and their pain. Rothenberg and those with whom she worked, trying to make the minds and the lives of these children better, are the ones who are genuinely extraordinary.
December 5, 2015
This book was really not what I was expecting from the cover blurb. In fact, I'm really rather pleased at what it turned out to be, since I think it's a fairly unique book in my collection. There are similarities to Torey Hayden's books about working in special needs classrooms and clinical practice in the 1970s, but Mira's stories are a lot darker, a lot grittier, and filled with far fewer stories of recovery. Also pivotal to the tone of Mira's stories are the facts that she was a newly educated professional in the very immediate aftermath of World War Two, and most of her stories are from the later forties through to the sixties. She is Jewish, and that often coloured her interactions with her patients, most notably, a group of over thirty Displaced children who spoke a Babel of languages who had been accepted into the United States as refugees, and secondly, in her work with a young boy who idolised Hitler, because he saw him as an all-powerful ideal, a solution to the powerlessness in his own life.
Mira's interactions with autistic kids was of particular interest to me; Danny, a child who she ultimately could not help, who was not only autistic but had had severe trauma and was violent to himself and others, and Peter, an "idiot savant", probably a prodigious one, who was a calender and mathematical lightning calculator, who could solve the Times crossword by the age of seven, and had a incredible, perfect memory (as savants tend to). He also had a life controlled by magical thinking, obsessive compulsive rituals, repetitions, relentless questioning, counting, an overwhelming obsession with cats (because he saw them as the solution to immortality), and needing to know a wealth of information about every single person he so much as passed on the street, as a means of keeping track of "parts of himself". Apart from some that were based on trauma, to a modern reader, Danny seemed to have developed a lot of his rituals because of sensory integration problems that modern clinicians now know about because of autistic people's personal accounts, which weren't available back in the '50s and '60s when Mira was working with him. Both Donna Williams and Tito Mukhopadhyay have described the complex processes they have to work through to recognise items as simple as a door by means of deductions (Donna was helped by Irlen lenses, she describes her newly cohesive world on getting them in Like Colour To The Blind), and also, how their bodies often feel fragmented, and not connected to them. (Tito in particular describes his need to physically stim as a result of this disconnection.) Peter's case in particular makes me wonder if in a modern treatment setting, his progress would have been faster, purely because of this knowledge and the abundant techniques used now as a matter of course to help people with sensory integration problems (many of which can be done in the home with easily available, cheap resources).
As a whole, reading a book about methods used to work with emotionally disturbed and mentally ill children fifty to sixty years ago was remarkably insightful and refreshing. Though Mira's conclusions are obviously influenced by Freudian theory (something I don't always like or agree with), she worked in what then was a very unconventional, child-led way that until now I didn't think existed until much later. She seemed to work with children (and by extension, their families) in a way that was judgement free. Even when it was parental abuse, or parental mental illness, affecting the child's health directly, she never seemed to 'blame' them, just made the connection and tried to work with the child and family as best she could. In these days, I think many of the children who were being abused would be removed from their homes by the state, Chaim and Anthony in particular, but I don't know whether their outcomes would have been different in a modern world, with modern methods. I think sometimes, it's a combination of the right circumstance and the right guide to help someone out of a dark place, and modern psychiatry doesn't guarantee a happy ending any more than 1950's psychiatry did.
Mira's interactions with autistic kids was of particular interest to me; Danny, a child who she ultimately could not help, who was not only autistic but had had severe trauma and was violent to himself and others, and Peter, an "idiot savant", probably a prodigious one, who was a calender and mathematical lightning calculator, who could solve the Times crossword by the age of seven, and had a incredible, perfect memory (as savants tend to). He also had a life controlled by magical thinking, obsessive compulsive rituals, repetitions, relentless questioning, counting, an overwhelming obsession with cats (because he saw them as the solution to immortality), and needing to know a wealth of information about every single person he so much as passed on the street, as a means of keeping track of "parts of himself". Apart from some that were based on trauma, to a modern reader, Danny seemed to have developed a lot of his rituals because of sensory integration problems that modern clinicians now know about because of autistic people's personal accounts, which weren't available back in the '50s and '60s when Mira was working with him. Both Donna Williams and Tito Mukhopadhyay have described the complex processes they have to work through to recognise items as simple as a door by means of deductions (Donna was helped by Irlen lenses, she describes her newly cohesive world on getting them in Like Colour To The Blind), and also, how their bodies often feel fragmented, and not connected to them. (Tito in particular describes his need to physically stim as a result of this disconnection.) Peter's case in particular makes me wonder if in a modern treatment setting, his progress would have been faster, purely because of this knowledge and the abundant techniques used now as a matter of course to help people with sensory integration problems (many of which can be done in the home with easily available, cheap resources).
As a whole, reading a book about methods used to work with emotionally disturbed and mentally ill children fifty to sixty years ago was remarkably insightful and refreshing. Though Mira's conclusions are obviously influenced by Freudian theory (something I don't always like or agree with), she worked in what then was a very unconventional, child-led way that until now I didn't think existed until much later. She seemed to work with children (and by extension, their families) in a way that was judgement free. Even when it was parental abuse, or parental mental illness, affecting the child's health directly, she never seemed to 'blame' them, just made the connection and tried to work with the child and family as best she could. In these days, I think many of the children who were being abused would be removed from their homes by the state, Chaim and Anthony in particular, but I don't know whether their outcomes would have been different in a modern world, with modern methods. I think sometimes, it's a combination of the right circumstance and the right guide to help someone out of a dark place, and modern psychiatry doesn't guarantee a happy ending any more than 1950's psychiatry did.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 4, 2017
Stebėtinai išmintingo darbo su neįgaliais vaikais, begalinės kantrybės, atkaklaus atsakymų apie negalę sukeliančių bei palaikančių veiksnių ir simptomų prasmę ieškojimo aprašymas. Lenkiu galvą prieš šį įspūdingą specialistės darbo su vaikais prisiminimų rinkinį.
January 11, 2013
The book children with emerald eyes is about the authors experiences with 6 kids, that have 6 different stories,and their struggles with different mental disorders. How some of them seem impossible to help, because no one truley understands them the way Mira does. She tells how some of these kids she has saved, but others could not be helped, and she has felt as though she has failed them.How that these kids really don't have disorders, and anger issues. They are just crying out for help, and affection. Thats exactly what Mira does for them. She learns to understand them in a different way, and show their beauty of their personalites. I give this book a 8 out of 10. I do because she makes it seem like there is nothing wrong with them, which I start to believe. How they are special in ways of how they were nurtured, and just need comfort in their life. It's a day by day jounaling from Mira, which was not always entertaing, but it was true. 'when Cheims mother died, she dragged him down with her." (Rothenburg 25) Saying that one child was doomed, because of the way his mother treated him and what she went through, she used Chaeim too. Overall it was a good book.
August 31, 2017
This book is a beatufil collection of case-histories of children who suffer from severe mental inllness. Mira Rothenberg- psychologist, psychotherapist, teacher- tells her journey with her children in a sincere and loving way. She is not interested in clinical labels and boxes, that is not her job. She searches for the mind entraped in the illness and connects it to the surrounding world. She is not always successful and sincerely admits so without blamig anyone in the process -the child, the parents or herself. The only culprit is the illness itself. This a truly fresh perspective for the times Mira worked with these children-1950's and '60's. Althogh the book still has the psychoanalytic approach in interpreting the source of behaviour and illness-Dr. Goldstein and Dr. Meerloo's thoughts regarding the cases- it is in the spirit of the era. Mira has courage, inteligence, open mindedness and a thirst for learning from her children-as she names them. Ms Rothenberg is a gifted writer, such as Oliver Sacks-who mentiones her book in his own stories. I recommend this reading to enyone who works with children trapped in a different world then ours and wishes to make a sense of it. I truly enjoyed and learned from it.
March 30, 2024
Parts of this should be made compulsory reading in education systems. Made me feel grateful for my state in life, extremely appreciate of mental health professionals who work with children and had me tearing up more than once.
The book was a slow burn for me and I couldn’t read it in one sitting because it gets overwhelming. I like Mira’s authenticity when she doesn’t make it seem all hunky dory but also lists out what she abhors about her patients. All the of the stories don’t end in success which makes it feel more real.
The book was a slow burn for me and I couldn’t read it in one sitting because it gets overwhelming. I like Mira’s authenticity when she doesn’t make it seem all hunky dory but also lists out what she abhors about her patients. All the of the stories don’t end in success which makes it feel more real.
July 3, 2021
I bought this book years ago, probably when my son was first diagnosed with autism. For some reason I never picked it up until recently. I'm not sure whether reading it earlier would helped me parent my son or not. But it's well-worth reading, filled of stories of how the author was able to get through t0 children seemingly unreachable, and also some with strange habits.
February 10, 2022
I couldn’t decide if I loved this book or if it was just ok. There was so much, but it was all kind of the same so towards the end it was getting a little boring. But the stories that Mira tells are important. We need more people like her in the world that are willing and able to connect with those that struggle.
August 16, 2017
Nuostabi. Tobula.
December 1, 2018
Great read about psychology specifically with children's disorders.
February 8, 2019
This is a psychologist who works with some very disturbed kids. One, you'd almost wonder was possessed. The long, hard compassionate work and the steps of breakthrough, make a fascinating book.
February 26, 2019
Istorijos sudėtingos... Tačiau įtraukia nuo pirmo iki paskutinio puslapio... Perskaityta iškarto - vos pradėjus, vakaras neprailgo. Sukrečia...
February 4, 2020
I didn’t like a lot of the language used here, but that’s expected for something published in the 60s. I understand why this is a classic.
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April 26, 2020Read in 1979
Want to read
September 15, 2023On the shelf in Book one of Moore's Swamp Thing.
November 23, 2014
I stumbled upon this book hidden in a back and bottom shelf in my High School library.
It absolutely moved me and was, in fact, the inspiration to pursue a degree in Psychology.
Mira Rothenberg has a way with words and sharing the stories of these deeply disturbed children that shows them beyond people that needed to be "fixed". She showed that the journey of therapy isn't an easy one and that not everyone has a happy ending. It was a beautifully written set of short stories and one that I read at least twice.
It absolutely moved me and was, in fact, the inspiration to pursue a degree in Psychology.
Mira Rothenberg has a way with words and sharing the stories of these deeply disturbed children that shows them beyond people that needed to be "fixed". She showed that the journey of therapy isn't an easy one and that not everyone has a happy ending. It was a beautifully written set of short stories and one that I read at least twice.
September 25, 2007
This book seems to come from a psychoanalytic/psychodynamic perspective; that seems hard for me to really relate to. However, there are some really good stories in this book about how children with mental problems overcome their challenges and some stories about how they cannot overcome. The stories about the children the doctor could not "save" are some of the most meaningful to me.
July 11, 2007
This is an incredible book by Mira Rothenberg, who was pioneer in her research into child autisum. The case studies that Mira presents are heartbreaking and inspiring and fascinating. I couldn't put it down.
August 25, 2007
An inspiring book of snapshots of what life is like working with children with various disorders. I was most struck by Rothenberg's compassion & intuitively strong ability to work with these populations.
August 17, 2007
first time i read about children with psychological problem.
February 18, 2009
this was a really good book. its really touching and amazing how one person can make so many differences in so many children's lives.
February 27, 2010
These stories are magical and devastating.
The author is incredibly gifted.
The author is incredibly gifted.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews