A CHILD OF ETERNITY

Purportedly the writings of an autistic child who, when introduced to facilitated communication, revealed herself to be ``part angel, part seer.'' Jorde, the mother of young Adriana, is into spiritual growth, meditating, self-hypnosis, channeling, and past-life regression therapy; thus her fantastic claims about her daughter are not entirely surprising. It is she who tells Adri's story, and at the beginning it is an absorbing one. Part one is an account of the child's early years and of Jorde and her husband's struggle to discover what is wrong with their child and, after finally receiving a diagnosis when Adri is four, their search for ways to help her. Part Two, titled ``Emergence,'' is something entirely different. It is Jorde's journal from March to September 1991, in which she describes and records many facilitated communication sessions with her nine-year-old dughter. Jorde acknowledges that this technique (in which the autistic person's hand is physically supported and guided at a keyboard by someone else) is controversial but dismisses skeptics. Adri relates that she has lived previous lives, knew Jesus, and in fact was his disciple John, that Cleopatra and Xerxes put a curse on her, that she is actually a powerful spiritual master named Pompeii, and that Jorde must listen to her spiritual guides, especially Mohammed. In Part Three, Jorde stretches credulity further by describing Adri's telepathic and telekinetic skillsshe is able to type words on her keyboard and turn her radio off and on while at a distance from these devices. Jorde concludes by quoting many of Adri's so-called messages about love, healing, God, truth, and mankind's future. Reminiscent of Birger Sellin's I Don't Want To Be Inside Me Anymore (p. 149), which was presented as the work of a talented young autistic man whose mother acted as his communication facilitator, but if possible, even less credible. (First printing of 100,000; author tour)