A Body of Evidence: Disbelief, Hidden Disability, and Systemic Harm

An evidence-driven memoir about what happens when a child’s distress is repeatedly misread as defiance, and a parent is left carrying the record.

A Body of Evidence is an evidence-driven memoir about raising a child whose distress was repeatedly misread as defiance within family life, therapy, and public education.

Over twelve years, S. M. Korhonen documents the growing paper trail left behind by incident reports, evaluations, behavior plans, school meetings, emails, and daily survival. What begins as confusion gradually becomes a larger reckoning: the problem is not only one child’s visible struggle, but the assumptions adults and institutions bring to it.

As the evidence accumulates, so do the consequences of getting it wrong. Restraints, exclusions, fractured trust, repeated school changes, and the exhausting labor of trying to make systems see what they keep explaining away.

Part memoir, part witness account, A Body of Evidence examines hidden disability, disbelief, and the systemic harm that follows when familiar frameworks are applied too confidently. It is a book for readers willing to sit with a difficult truth: when systems struggle to question their own approaches, children pay the price.

Guy Stephens, Founder & Executive Director, Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint:
"Body of Evidence is an intensely moving and necessary account of what happens when systems demand compliance instead of understanding. Drawing on her journey as the parent of an autistic child with a PDA profile, S.M. Korhonen shows how well-intended systems of care can fail neurodivergent children and what it looks like to push back with persistence, courage, and love. These pages were sometimes painful for me to read as the father of an autistic child who faced similar school‑based trauma, but that is precisely why this book is so important. Parents will recognize themselves, curious and caring educators will see the urgent need for change, and advocates and policymakers will find a powerful body of evidence for ending compliance‑based and restrictive practices that fail our most vulnerable students.”

Diane Gould, LCSW, Executive Director and Founder, PDA North America:
“I just finished A Body of Evidence: Disbelief, Hidden Disability, and Systemic Harm, by S. M. Korhonen, and was blown away. Her story so mirrored my experience working in multiple special education programs as a school social worker and my experience advocating for complex neurodivergent learners around the country. It was written in such a clear and powerful way. S. M. articulated thoughts and feelings that I had no words for. I caught myself holding my breath multiple times while reading, just like I often do in school meetings. She outlines the patterns, practices, and beliefs that hinder schools' success in educating PDA and other students through her personal story. Because of that, the book reads like a novel, and I had a hard time putting it down. Although this was not the intent, there is so much to learn from the book for parents, educators, and others who care about children and families. The book is hopeful because it includes what is possible when people understand and build trust. The reader comes away wondering why it needs to be so hard. I would love to see this book read by all education majors at every college and university in America.”

I. H., Speech and Language Therapist:
"A profoundly moving read that evokes a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions. By the time I finished Chapter 17, 'One Last Try,' I found myself wiping away tears from an impact so deep it is hard to put into words."