Twice Exceptional: A Devoted Father, His Nonspeaking Autistic Son, and the Silent Triumph That Took Him to MIT

A father’s account, and a son’s own words. The moving memoir of a single father whose son was presumed intellectually disabled, but became the first nonspeaking autistic person admitted to MIT—called “truthful, joyful, unflinching, and kind” (David Mitchell) and “required reading for teachers [and] parents” (Temple Grandin).

Sumit Dhanda’s son Viraj was two when he was diagnosed with severe autism and apraxia. Therapists and doctors delivered the same message: Viraj was intellectually disabl...