The Other Child: The Exceptional Siblings of Special Needs Children

About Linda Scotson

Linda Scotson was born in Manchester in 1945. She studied painting at the Central School of Art in London and then taught at Croydon Art College exhibited widely and wrote poetry. She is the mother of her daughter Lili and her son Doran. Doran developed a blood condition shortly after birth which resulted in severe brain injury. The story of his rehabilitation is told in Linda Scotson's first book Doran: Child of Courage. He was diagnosed with severe athetoid cerebral palsy visual impairment and severe bilateral hearing loss. His Doctors prognosis was that Doran would never be able to sit stand walk or feed himself was unlikely to have any form of speech and would not grow normally any understanding he might have had would be frustrated by his sensory motor loss. They suggested because of the gravity of Dorans brain damage that he went into care. When Linda refused they advised he be permanently sedated or he would have muscular spasms and cry continuously. Linda felt sedating Doran denied him opportunity to relate to the world around him. She politely handed back the prescribed phenobarbitone. Linda Doran and his elder sister Lili began an extraordinary journey. She wrote a book describing the journey Doran Lili and herself had made so far. The book was translated into many languages and became an international best seller. Parents from all over the world contacted her asking for help. Today Doran is six feet tall with an athletic body he runs half marathons speaks clearly and intelligently and has become an accomplished and gifted painter. Linda points out how fortunate she is to have the help and support of her daughter Lili who works with her at Advance where they visibly change lives. The approach is now extended to many other conditions since the work of the diaphragm is key to both physical and mental health.