"Maureen Marshall has written a captivating memoir in which she discovered that the power to change is born out of a consistent cushion of love, support, faith and encouragement. This is heartfelt, genuine, and very rare."

"Maureen Marshall has written a stunning, moving memoir chronicling the year she spent working with children with severe communication problems. During that time, Maureen also found herself. This is an important book, that shows that love—not medication or labels—is what will truly free every child."

“Solitary Genius is a unique book that lends itself to multiple levels of learning. Mo Marshall openly shares her own struggles with learning, allowing her to see the inherent good in each of the children on the Autism spectrum that she works with after graduating from college. Mo focuses on the gifts each child uniquely has to offer, reminding us that regardless of who we are, we all sense when someone genuinely cares and respects us. As a professor of speech-language pathology in a Catholic Jesuit institution, I look forward to using the book in my classes to teach the students about the complexities of the profession and of life.”

“Solitary Genius is an honest portrayal of how to create a caring community of learners while accepting the students’ diverse needs and characteristics. Students will be successful, both academically and socially, once the educator focuses on the process of education rather than the products. Ms. Marshall’s experience is also a prime example of the parental impact on their children and how the educators must find the strengths in all parents to truly benefit the children. I also had my Sophomore Early Childhood Education majors read the book as part of my course curriculum. They absolutely LOVE it! Solitary Genius has provided a foundation for productive class discussion and expansion. Thank you.”

“Parenting a child with autism, PDD, ADHD or similar challenges can be confusing and taxing for loving parents who want more for their kids than sometimes they can give. This memoir is based on Marshall’s experiences of allowing development to happen through internal understanding, creating comfort, and realizing that every child has his or her own unique shape that society tries to jam into a square hole. Through her ability to almost read her students’ minds, and to sense what it was like being in their skin, these children slowly began to trust the outside world Marshall created in her classroom. Progress was made, where hope was gone. This book teaches us that in all aspects of our world, there is always something more that we cannot see, feel, touch or smell. By thinking out of the box, or more appropriately, out of defined walls, we can connect to these children. They are solitary geniuses in their own right, and learning their language also helps us expand ours. The book is a fast and simple read, and I highly recommend it to educators who want to step out from their teacher-trained curriculum and believe that we can be even more than we already are."

I used the book group model for Solitary Genius and I think it was the most successful group activity I have ever conduced in any course.