Bio, 2009: Dan Burns
[Part 1]
Dan E. Burns, Ph.D., graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1979 and taught English at Southern Methodist University, University of Texas at Arlington, and University of Phoenix, publishing in numerous scholarly journals. In 1990 his third child, Benjamin, was diagnosed with autism. Dan and his wife, Susan, explored early biomedical and behavioral treatments. In 1992 the couple divorced and Dan became the primary advocate for his severely autistic, profoundly retarded son. Dan helped organize a Dallas chapter of FEAT, support group for parents, and pioneered educational and medical interventions.
In 2006, Dan and his former wife joined forces to implement the new biomedical protocols coming out of the Defeat Autism Now! movement, including Applied Behavioral Analysis, sensory integration, megavitamin therapy, and detoxification. Dan, Susan, and Ben live in Dallas Texas.
Here's some copy from the cover jacket:
[back cover blurbs as of Jan. 09]
“Saving Ben is a haunting tale, so powerfully told that readers will find it practically crawls under their skin as they flip the pages. The story is told through the sensibility of a self-conscious gay man searching for clues in a public library that might help him understand the nature of his son’s strange behavior. Answers don’t come easily. It will take years for the father, distracted by grief and denial, to see his son as his darling “scarecrow,” a never-ending work in progress, but also a gift. This is no ordinary journey, with no neat and tidy resolution. It’s the story of Benjamin’s downward spiral into a world not well suited to deal with him. Only a father who grew to love his son unconditionally, a father who was willing to sacrifice all for his son’s sake, could save him.”--George Getschow, Writer-in-Residence, Mayborn Graduate School of Journalism at the University of North Texas
“This is a significant work to help inform parents of autistic children. Dan Burns shows he is a pioneer in his struggle to recover his son.”—Dr. Constantine Kotsanis, Wellness Metabolic Institute
Dan is looking for other people who would be willing to write a brief five-star review for Amazon.com a little later this year. The idea is to get most of the early reviews positive and get some momentum building for the book. If any of you are interested in reading Dan's book and writing a brief review, you can contact Dan at: daneburns@email.phoenix.edu
[Part 2]
Dan and Ben were featured on cnn.com's IREPORT.com: Your views on Autism yesterday, March 27, 2009 for National Autism Awarness Day which is April 2, 2009.
SAVING BEN
Preface and Acknowledgements
This is not the book I had hoped to write. Soon after Ben was diagnosed in 1990, I began keeping a diary. By 1995 I had accumulated more than 500 pages of observations, fears, and hopes, all shaped by the vision that someday he would emerge from autism and re-enter the world practically indistinguishable from someone who had never been afflicted. Indeed, hundreds if not thousands of pre-school children are recovering from autism (see www.autism.com), and I still hold onto the hope that someday, Ben will be among them. But by 2007, when he turned 20, “someday” had crossed the river to a more perfect time and place where every tear will be wiped away. Until then I have an imperfect story of an ongoing struggle, one that has left me with much to celebrate, and much to grieve.
This book is in a sense an answer to my grief. When I sat down in December of 2007 and wrote the first sentence, I could not have said how the book would end, or even why I was writing it. I only knew that the time had come. I dreaded writing the scenes that exposed aspects of myself I would have preferred to keep hidden, but it became clear to me as I relived those times that Ben’s story was inseparable from his mother’s story and from my own. Autistic children discover the fault lines in a marriage, and their fates hinge on challenges to the family, how we rise or fall: how we resolve our guilt, our anger, our shame; how we reach out to a future that seems at times dark as the Styx. Perhaps I could help other parents struggling with autism and with the medical profession, the school system, their marriages, and themselves. I had only to tell the truth.
In the end, I found that I had written a recovery story after all. What is recovered is family. Not quite the same family we had, though the cast of characters is the same, but a family more resilient, forgiving, and loving. Like the characters in The Wizard of Oz, we have made a journey through a perilous land, and we have discovered in ourselves the gifts that prepare us to seek the future beyond the fear, the darkness. After the earthquake, wind, and fire, a still, small voice of peace.
I am indebted to the many professionals and family members who walked beside me on this healing journey: To Dr. Bernard Rimland, who established Defeat Autism Now! and pioneered the behavioral and the biomedical treatments that are helping so many children. His personal response to my queries nudged me in the right direction. To Dr. Constantine Kotsanis, who helped pioneer the new biomedical protocols. He gave Ben’s mom and me valuable professional advice when most conventionally trained doctors offered no treatment and no hope. To Sharon Hawkins, Ben’s aide and “mom-at-school,” who took him into her heart and home during the darkest days. To the Reverend Shelley A. Hamilton, for her prayers these many years. To Mom, who was always there when Ben and I needed her, who still speaks in the spirit of love whispering through these pages. To Ben’s mom, Susan, who with courage and persistence overcame her crippling psychological disorder to help revive Ben’s biomedical program. To Ben, my courageous, wonderful son.
I am also indebted to writers, critics, and editors who helped me construct a coherent, well-paced narrative. To Sandra Williams, Ph.D., whose quick and cogent feedback helped shape every scene, whose encouragement and admonishments kept me writing through long months when the task seemed endless. To Mark Noble and the gang at The Writer’s Garret peer workshop, Stone Soup, who provided useful technical feedback and cheered me on. To my senior editor, Ronald Chrisman, whose steady hand guided the manuscript through many drafts. To George Getschow, whose reading, editing, and invigorating questions prompted a cover-to-cover rewrite, and the to farsighted folks at the Mayborn Graduate School of Journalism, whose award made this book possible.
The journey is not mine alone. It is yours, brave, broken-hearted father and mother; it is yours, teacher, doctor, preacher, caregiver, administrator, scientist, politician, you who see in the tragedy and triumph of a child a challenge and a hope. At the end of the road is not a gleaming emerald city, but a promise: We will persevere. We will tell our stories. We shall never surrender. Together, we will overcome.
[Dedication]
To all my children.
©2009 Stillwater High School Class of 1964