When You Have Finally Found Your Voice, What Do You Most Want to Say?

Elizabeth Bonker, 14, is profoundly affected by autism and can’t speak, yet she illuminates the inner world of autism through poems that she types one finger at a time. I Am in Here: The Journey of a Child with Autism Who Cannot Speak but Finds Her Voice by Elizabeth and her mother, Virginia Breen, combines Elizabeth’s poetry with Virginia’s stories. Intensive educational, behavioral and medical interventions have all helped Elizabeth to find her voice.

Virginia Breen

Virginia Breen is the mother of three beautiful children, two of whom are affected by autism. She has contributed inspirational stories from the journey to Elizabeth’s poetry in I Am in Here. Virginia studied computer science and electrical engineering at Harvard, business at Columbia and eastern philosophies in Singapore. Even in the darkest days, she knew Elizabeth was “in there.”

Elizabeth Bonker

Elizabeth Bonker is a talented young woman who, like any other fourteen year-old, is simply trying to discover her place in this world. Unlike most fourteen year-olds, however, Elizabeth is profoundly affected by autism and cannot speak. Nonetheless, she illuminates the inner world of autism and the world around her by typing out poetry. More than seventy of her poems are in her recently published book, I Am in Here.