Educational Media Reviews Online

Behind the Glass Door won First Place in the National Council on Family Relations Media Awards for good reason. The program clearly articulates the enormous impact of an autistic child on the family and the community surrounding that family. Through footage taken throughout the early years, we see Hannah, an autistic child, and her family as she grows from a screaming, non-walking toddler into a calm first grader mainstreaming in a regular public school.

Hannah who is not fully autistic is actually labeled a PDD (pervasive developmental disorder). Her developmental abilities lie between a normal child and an autistic one. This program gives us definitions of her condition in words as well as in pictures - the picture of her family life.

The main character in this portrayal is Hannah's mother as she tells the viewer what it's like to learn of an autistic child, to accept the diagnosis and to constantly live with the manifestations of this disorder. Hannah was non-communicative, non-talking and in a world of her own. She slept little and screamed lots.

Knowing her daughter was separated from a world of love and understanding and seemed to be in pain, Hannah's mother set out on a full-fledged campaign to reach her daughter and to teach her. Her mother tells of how she mourned her daughter's condition until she let go of expectations for her.

Hannah's mother talks of feeling tired, frustrated, sad and even hopeless at times. We see her cry as she relates how some literature blames the mother for this condition. Hannah's father also explains his trials and feelings in a very moving and honest manner.

Like other autistic children Hannah wanted to be left alone in her own world. As a viewer we see all this, thus making it easier for us to understand. We see her repeat behaviors and scream when all is not perfect in her world. We see how the other three daughters in the family are impacted by the constant demands of their sister, and the resultant loss of parental attention and time for them.

Through the camera we see administrators in the public school planning Hannah's school program. By the end of the program we have witnessed the progress of a non-communicative, self-absorbed toddler who is now in first grade writing sentences and singing with the class. This video provides not only an education, but also hope - hope that through lots and lots of hard work, some autistic children can be reached and helped.

Highly Recommended