Interview

Judith Newman discusses the bond between her autistic son and Siri

Did you think that your Times piece would strike such a chord?
I had no idea. I'm always shocked when someone reads anything I've written that's more than a blurb on Facebook. But you forget how many people are affected by autism. It's not just having a kid on the spectrum but relatives and friends are affected, too.

A book about your family is so deeply personal.
Writing a book about your family when your kids are older is a dicey prospect. That aside, writing about your family seems both incredibly self-indulgent and incredibly risky at the same time. I'm always surprised when people say 'you're so brave.' What is your choice? If you're writing about your life, what are you going to do but be truthful?

In one chapter, you write candidly about guilt and blame. Was that difficult?
Like every single mother, when you have a child with an issue, you think 'what happened,' 'what did I do.' Autism is such mystery and I believe it's a cocktail of genetics plus environment, but I don't beat myself up about it anymore. The answer is probably a combination of things—I had a child with a man much older than me, I had IVF, I was older, I had a terrible ...