Julie Buckley has a pretty full plate: she is a pediatrician; mother of a daughter overcoming autism; breast cancer survivor; and now, author. 

She has written the just-released Healing Our Autistic Children: A Medical Plan for Restoring Your Child's Health, which brings home the point that autism is a whole-body phenomenon - not a disorder confined to the brain. Dr. Buckley breaks down the science behind methylation, immune dysregulation, and a host of complicated chemical and physiological processes into easy-to-understand concepts. After finishing the book--a surprisingly easy read considering all the science involved--it would be hard for the reader not to accept the whole-body model. 

"I wrote the book as an invitation for people who aren't sure whether or not the world is round to come look through the telescope," says Dr. Buckley. She  employs the kind of metaphors that make the book unintimidating for the new parent. 

The book is also aimed at educating the uninformed physician; to assuage any fears of 'pseudoscience,' the appendix contains almost 100 references, and 17 abstracts of critical studies.   

Dr. Buckley readily admits that before her daughter was affected at age 4, she was not a particularly well-informed pediatrician with regard to ASD, knowing only what she had been taught in med school.   When asked how she dealt with parents who  related stories of their child's regression, she pauses before saying quietly, "I told them they were crazy." 

And on the other side of the fence, Julie the Mom, like many autism Moms, remembers being in denial.But after accepting the diagnosis,she quickly got up to speed. She helped her own daughter improve remarkably via biomedical interventions, but she  wanted to also help spread the word.She speaks at conferences, trains other physicians, and now has written a book.

"It's all about building communication bridges," says Dr. Buckley.