You’ll like this Series Better! Meet The Author Series Kicks off with Amy S.F. Lutz

AVENTURA, Fla. - Oct. 3, 2014 - PRLog -- AMY S.F. LUTZ, author of “Each Day I Like It Better:  Autism, ECT, and the Treatment of Our Most Impaired Children” kicks-off the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center’s free community Meet the Author Series, on Wednesday, October 29, 7pm, at the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center, 18900 NE 25^th Avenue, North Miami Beach.

In this, her first book, Lutz shares her family’s personal story – how she and her husband struggled with whether they could safely keep their autistic 10-year old son, Jonah, at home any longer.  Countless behavior strategies, multiple medication trials, and a ten-month hospitalization all failed to control his violent rages.  They then turned to what has been referred to as “the most controversial treatment in medicine” – electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).  “Each Day I Like It Better” includes a survey of the most recent ECT research as well as self-contained chapters recounting the ECT journeys of six other families, but it is ultimately the story Jonah’s profound transformation:  the boy who once broke his teacher’s nose is now preparing for his bar mitzvah.

Amy Lutz’s presentation, which also includes a Q&A, book signing, and complimentary refreshments, is being sponsored by the MAR-JCC’s Or Gadol Special Needs Department, The Friendship Circle, and Yachad, all of which provide community resources and programming for children and adults with special needs.

The Meet the Author Series is a collaborative effort of the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center and organization sponsors - the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center, Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation – North Dade Branch, the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, Temple Sinai, and WIZO.  The series will offer, between October – April, at least seven authors on national tour, whose recently published books will be of interest to both the Jewish community, as well as general community.

This free series is made possible through the MAR-JCC’s Steven J. Kravitz Adult Jewish Education Fund and organization sponsors, and “with the support of the Miami Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.

The next Meet the Author program will feature Matthew Levitt, author of “Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon’s Party of God” on Wednesday, November 5, at noon, at the Michael-Ann Russell JCC. For further information, contact David Surowitz, Meet the Author Series Coordinator, at 305-932-4200, ext. 127.