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Material Type | Library | Call Number | Suggested Age | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book | Searching... Cabell County Public Library | 362.196 B | Adult | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
The emotional trauma that families go through when they find out their child has an autism spectrum disorder can feel like being plunged into darkness. Francesca Bierens is here to show that there is also a light at the end of the tunnel.
Over a period of fourteen years, Francesca Bierens interviewed ten families of children on the autism spectrum. This book records their answers: how they felt, how they coped, and what gave them strength and solace. Each family discusses how they reacted when they found out their child had autism, and their feelings leading up to diagnosis. They share their positive and negative experiences of professionals, and describe the support that they received, often from grandparents, respite care givers, support groups and other parents. Two of the original children, now in their 20s, also talk about the experience of growing up with autism, and describe how their lives are now.
Above all, Bierens' message, and that of the families she interviews, is one of inspiration and hope, showing that there is light, love and laughter along the way. Their stories should be read by anyone who is affected by or working with autism.
Author Notes
Francesca Bierens is a speech-language therapist and primary school teacher. She has a particular interest in working with children with autism spectrum disorders and their families. Francesca has also worked as a speech-language therapist in Malaysia and Canada. She now lives in Auckland, New Zealand.
Reviews (1)
Library Journal Review
Personal narratives of autism can provide readers with vivid portraits of life with this condition. While some strive for a complete picture of an autistic individual, others offer descriptions of a wider range of autistic people. Bierens goes for the latter in this excellent book. Drawing on interviews with ten families of children and adults on the autism spectrum, she weaves a wonderful tapestry of different skills, abilities, and experiences that better represent the full autism spectrum. There are great sections on how family life is changed and how these individual excel as adults. In a chapter devoted to where a family might find support, one parent lamented a book that recounted the grim upbringing of a severely autistic child. Verdict If that parent had owned a book like this, he would have seen a much broader set of examples and possibilities, critical for fully describing a condition that manifests itself so differently in different individuals. Strongly recommended for all parents of autistic children and their support network.-Corey Seeman Kresge, Business Admin. Lib., Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgements | p. 9 |
| Preface | p. 11 |
| Introduction | p. 13 |
| Chapter 1 'Life does get easier' | p. 15 |
| Chapter 2 'We're a family-we go where she can go' | p. 23 |
| Chapter 3 'We are not going to hide our children away' | p. 35 |
| Chapter 4 'You can't try and rush them' | p. 55 |
| Chapter 5 'We've been able to gradually expand his environment' | p. 73 |
| Chapter 6 'We respect her right to be different' | p. 87 |
| Chapter 7 'You need to have somewhere to offload' | p. 101 |
| Chapter 8 'She is so funny and so mischievous' | p. 123 |
| Chapter 9 'He's gone way beyond functioning in society-he's now excelling' | p. 135 |
| Index | p. 190 |
