It has been an extraordinary experience for us to have the great privilege of working with a group of world-class authors and to benefit from the tremendous experience of our consulting editor, one of the most eminent international leaders in the field, Professor Sir Michael Rutter. Not only have we learned an enormous amount from these experts in their field but we have also been deeply impressed by their support, warmth and, in many cases, remarkably good humour. It is no way to detract from these outstanding contributors, to comment that the papers that moved us most were the three written by people who have had experience of autism in their own lives: a foster carer of a child with autism, a parent of two children with autism and an adult who not only has autism himself but also has a son with autism. In this context we must also draw attention to the poem Same written on behalf of a teenager with autism by his foster carer. These three papers and the poem tell us how it really is. We recommend all the papers in this remarkable collection but please do not miss the experience of reading these contributions, in particular.