What s wrong with Iris? She is difficult to make contact with, she talks gibberish. She refuses food, she wets herself, screams for almost everything, bites small children, and never does what she is told. And why can she in short rare moments solve problems which not even grown-ups manage? How can she learn so many complicated words that she s heard only once? Why was she already as a small child a full-fledged liar and con artist? A different childhood is a fascinating autobiographical depiction of what it s like to grow up with autism. A true story about the trans-formative power of love and a unique document from the inside about an autistic child s life and struggle create for herself a place in the world.