A Miracle of the Heart

Thirty years ago, Jacob Raphael was diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder (autism), and his family was told he "would have to be institutionalized." Twenty years later, as a college junior majoring in Creative Writing and minoring in Philosophy, Jacob was asked how his class in Dante was going. He replied, "Well Dad, we're making our way through purgatory."

A Miracle of the Heart is Jacob's and his father David's memoir of shared discovery. Told in essays written over a thirty-year period, the book offers a written time capsule of Jacob's growth and the family's experience.In transcribed father-son conversations following each essay, the true triumph of Jacob's story unfolds. The two discuss heroic archetypes and compare heroes' journeys. Jacob speaks openly and insightfully about the challenges faced by those with autism. As an advocate for those with spectrum challenges, Jacob observes: "We should be very cautious of people who try to 'cure' autism."

At the heart of the book is DIR/Floortime, a relationship-based developmental framework for understanding and addressing the challenges of children with developmental and learning differences. The Raphael family's embrace of this framework, founded by Drs. Stanley Greenspan and Serena Wieder, unlocked Jacob's growth and nurtured a bright, funny, and thoughtful young man. The book recounts those years with honesty about the struggles alongside the joy of each step forward.

Animating the narrative is the role that religious faith can play when individuals and families face hardship and challenge. Religious text and learning frame life's difficulties and offer guidance and wisdom in the search for answers and a path forward.While the topic of A Miracle of the Heart is autism, its core theme is the majesty of shared journeys — even the most difficult ones. Its messages of hope and redemption will speak to individuals and families of all faith traditions who seek meaning and transformation in their own lives.

David Raphael is a social worker whose career has spanned both the Jewish communal world and the front lines of autism advocacy. In the months following Jacob's diagnosis, he co-founded the Floortime Foundation, providing support and resources to hundreds of families and clinicians navigating the autism spectrum. He has delivered keynote presentations at national gatherings of autism professionals, educators, and parents, met with multiple parent groups, and published two essays on his family's experience of autism in the peer-reviewed Zero to Three Journal. He has completed a soon-to-be-published children's picture book about autism narrated from a child's perspective.

Diagnosed on the autism spectrum early in life, Jacob Raphael earned a Georgia HOPE Scholarship, graduated from Georgia College with a major in Creative Writing and a minor in Philosophy, and is currently at work on a novel. He is an active member of several adult autism communities and two writing groups, tutors teenagers on the spectrum, and works as a substitute teacher. He will soon submit his application for a graduate-level social work program. Jacob's embrace of his autism identity and his interest in collaborating on a shared memoir catalyzed the co-authoring of this book.

Serena Wieder, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist whose work has contributed to a deeper understanding of how relationships shape human development. Through decades of clinical observation of infants and her work with children and families, she helped articulate a relational perspective emphasizing that emotional connection forms the foundation for thinking, communication, learning, and mental health.With the late Stanley Greenspan, she co-created the DIR(R) Model (Developmental, Individual-difference, Relationship-based), an integrated framework that expanded understanding of neurodiversity, particularly autism, by recognizing the importance of individual differences in sensory processing, motor planning, and affective experience. Their work helped shift the field toward developmental approaches grounded in relationships and lived experience.