Episode Details

David interviews Mary Brown, mother and communication partner of non-speaking autistic writer Woody Brown, whose debut novel Upward Bound (Hogarth) gained national attention and was a Read With Jenna pick. Mary recounts Woody’s early diagnosis at age two, low expectations from doctors, and her shift to assuming competence after seeing Soma Mukhopadhyay and Tito, leading to years of letterboard-based learning at home alongside therapies and public school special education. She describes advocacy for a high school diploma, a post-high-school crisis, and Woody’s community college success, where she ultimately served as his in-class support and built strategies for tests, papers, scheduling, and independence. Woody studied abroad at Oxford, transferred to UCLA (starting on Zoom during COVID), and began creative writing under Mona Simpson, developing Upward Bound and winning honors and writing prizes. At Columbia MFA, novelist Paul Beatty connected him with agent Sarah Chalfant (Wylie Agency), resulting in a two-book deal, and Mary addresses skepticism around his communication and a Today Show B-roll controversy, emphasizing apraxia, regulation needs, and routines including daily reading and meditation.

Topics

00:00 Meet Mary and Woody

03:07 Early Diagnosis and Low Expectations

05:17 Soma and the Turning Point

09:05 Learning the Letterboard at Home

10:27 Fighting for Diploma Track

14:19 After Graduation Panic

16:29 Community College Breakthrough

19:42 Disability Office and Testing Battles

28:14 Oxford Moment and Transfer Dreams

31:24 UCLA Zoom and Creative Writing

32:55 Mona Simpson Mentorship

35:49 Columbia Acceptance Call

37:12 Assume Intelligence

39:17 Apraxia Not IQ

40:23 Building Inner Life

41:52 Writer Emerges

43:16 Facing Naysayers

44:32 B-Roll Controversy

48:02 How He Types

53:18 Columbia Book Deal

57:39 College Prep Tips

01:10:04 Routines After School

01:12:11 Closing Thanks