"You Don't Want to Go For a Ride": Our Family's Journey with Autism

by John M. Harpster

Overview

In the early ‘90s, John and Tamara Harpster became the parents of an active, inquisitive baby boy. As he grew from an infant into a toddler, he began to exhibit signs he was different from other children his age. When he attended preschool, his parents discovered his remoteness, tantrums and speech delays were due to autism. After his journey to adulthood his parents realized sharing their experiences in the book “You Don’t Want to Go for a Ride” might help new parents know they are not alone. Their story reveals a family dealing with the demands and issues of autism. Read of their struggle in first bridging the critical ability to communicate with their son using artwork and LEGO bricks to build his speech. Then read about their challenges when they discovered that even speech wasn’t always enough as his verbal skills improved.

Get an intimate look into day-to-day life of a family dealing with safety, temper, isolation and hopeless days as they desperately try to connect and understand the little boy trapped inside. Along the way, they learned the crucial bond of family and appreciating normal moments of home life that most people take for granted. Learn of their experiences with homeschooling, meltdowns, special interests, and isolation from others and within the family. Their firsthand account tells of their mistakes and the decisions where they found unique ways to break through and connect with their son in his world. In addition, each chapter gives readers lessons learned along with reference information for that phase of life from other books and studies. Both parents tell this compelling story and the details of their experiences with family, their son and the world of autism.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940154493953
Publisher:	Shell Creek Publishing
Publication date:	09/19/2017
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

John M. Harpster was born in Ft. Worth, Texas and raised in Arlington. After several years of odd jobs, he went back to college and got his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from California State University in Northridge, CA. His first job after college was in Fort Worth, Texas at General Dynamics. He met and started dating Tamara Stensland, also a software engineer at General Dynamics, and they were married in Dallas, Texas. They currently live in Lakeside, California with their son John and their cat Kayla. Because he was born over the Thanksgiving holiday, he claims everyone in the USA celebrates his birthday. After some years of retirement John has decided to start writing with his debut book of Doing the E.T. Tango: Dancing with the Universe. He is currently writing on other books, including another satire called “Elijah” and one about his life raising and teaching his autistic son. He is also building a wooden robot that he can put in the front seat of his car to enable him to drive in the HOV lanes on the freeway.

Table of Contents

Preface

Foreword

Introduction

1 - The Parents (Us)

2 - Pregnancy

3 - The First Years

4 - Seeing a Problem

5 - Getting to Know Our Son – All Over Again

6 - Exploring Paths for Communication

7 - The Education of J.T. – Homeschooling

8 - Living with Autism

9 - More Roads to Communication: LEGO Bricks and the Swamp

10 - The Start of the Teen Years

11 - The Road to Adulthood

Afterword

End Notes