How do you create an ordinary family life, while dealing with the extraordinary needs of an autistic child?
Meet Mickey - charming, funny, compassionate, and autistic. In this unflinching portrait of family life, Liane Kupferberg Carter gives us a mother's insight into what really goes on in the two decades after diagnosis. From the double-blow of a subsequent epilepsy diagnosis, to bullying and Bar Mitzvahs, Mickey's struggles and triumphs along the road to adulthood are honestly detailed to show how one family learned to grow and thrive with autism.
Liane Kupferberg Carter is a well-known writer and advocate in the autism community who currently lives in New York with her husband Marc and two sons, Jonathan and Mickey. She writes for the New York Times parenting blog Motherlode, as well as the Huffington Post blog, and was a staff writer for Autism After 16. Liane is a member of the Autism Speaks Parent Advisory Committee for the Transition to Adulthood Tool Kit, and a co-author of the Autism Speaks Advocacy Tool Kit. Her website can be found at www.lianekcarter.com.
Table of Contents
1. Prologue: Don't Stop Believin'. 2. 1992: Diagnosis. 3. Child's Play. 4. Desperation. 5. Dizzy with Love. 6. Besieged. 7. Healing Our World. 8. Family Legacy. 9. Those Kids, Those Parents. 10. Sticking Out My Neck. 11. Moments of Agitation. 12. Behavior is Communication. 13. Consumed. 14. Zones of Comfort. 15. Brothers' Bonds. 16. Learning to Soar.