Best Friends With Autism, Apraxia, and Autonomy: Andrew and Jakob Set Their Voices Free Hardcover – September 22, 2025

The experts were wrong. Jakob and Andrew have autism and apraxia. Their speech is unreliable. They were labeled as cognitively delayed and intellectually disabled. School testing showed them to have the understanding and intelligence of third graders. Most people treated them as such. But those closest to them knew better. They never doubted that they had so much more to say, so much they wanted to do, so much to share with the world. That their minds were fully intact, and the words were there, they just couldn’t get them to come out. In August 2023, when they were both 22, they proved their loved ones right. They became able to openly communicate by spelling words one letter at a time on a keyboard and iPad with the help of an experienced communication partner. It became very clear very quickly that all those experts had been terribly wrong. There was no cognitive delay or intellectual disability. Jakob and Andrew were fully competent, capable, aware, and brilliant. After 22 years of their thoughts being trapped, they have so much to say. In their own voices, they share what it’s like living with autism and apraxia. The challenges they face and their triumphs. What their lives were like before communication and how their lives are now that their voices have been freed. Since their breakthroughs, their lives have changed in ways no one could have ever predicted. They are now young men...with autism, apraxia, and autonomy. Read more