Born in Germany in 1973, Birger Sellin was a happy and outgoing child who learned to speak unusually early. Shortly before turning two, however, he suddenly grew terrified at the sight of other children and inexplicably stopped talking. His parents, struggling to cope with his increasingly bizarre and unruly behavior, watched helplessly as their beloved child retreated into a dark and lonely world. He spent the next sixteen years in silent isolation, caged behind the walls he had constructed. Like nearly 400,000 people in our own country, Birger Sellin is autistic. But when he was nearly eighteen, he began to type, with someone supporting his arm. His parents learned, to their amazement, that he had taught himself to read - and now that he was able to express himself, he poured out thoughts and feelings that no one had suspected he possessed. Beginning with faltering attempts to express his love for his family, he soon developed increased control.