Gravity Pulls You In: Perspectives on Parenting Children on the Autism Spectrum
by Vicki Forman (Editor), Kyra Anderson (Editor) and Woodbine House
A refreshing, slice-of-life perspective on parenting individuals with Autism
Mom’s Choice Gold Award Winner in the Parenting – Special and Exceptional Needs category
View the universe of autism – its marvels, chaos, and life-changing impacts – through the eyes of the contributors to Gravity Pulls You In. In 33 essays and poems, mothers and fathers raising children on the autism spectrum explore their lives in the context of autism’s gravity, discovering what’s important and what they find centering.
Editors Kyra Anderson and Vicki Forman, both parents and writers, have crafted this anthology to encourage a sense of connection among parents and transcend divisive autism politics. In addition to a foreword by John Elder Robison, author of the New York Times Bestselling book, Look Me in the Eye, and a regular contributor to Psychology Today, the creative group of contributors are accomplished writers, and many also hold day jobs as scientists, professors, teachers, actors, advocates, and therapists. Their slice-of-life depictions are a refreshing departure from the usual diagnosis/grief/acceptance arc of many autism accounts, and serve as a reminder that life is lived in the many small, everyday moments.
Readers are invited into contributors’ lives where they’re sure to find an attitude, a circumstance, an epiphany they can relate to. Within these accounts of fierce love and keen regard for their unique children, lie moments of exceptional clarity and transformation, such as one mother’s story about her full circle reconciliation to a home movie depicting her son’s perseverative behaviour and another’s appreciation for her daughter just as she is or will be. Or the poem about well-meaning but intrusive people who offer advice on how to “correct” a child with autism and a father’s account of a hilarious outing to Hooters with his hip-hop adult son. These pieces are sure to resonate with parents, caregivers, and anyone who’s interested in the world of autism.
2010, 202 pages
ISBN: 978-1-60613-002-5
Table of ContentsexpandClick to collapse
Foreword by John Elder Robison
Preface by Kyra Anderson
Part I: Notes from Autism’s Edges
Label by Anonymous
Notes from Autism’s Edges by Mothersvox
Guilt, Denial, and Videotape by Mama Mara
Birthdays by Kristen Spina
Finally at Three: Two Words Put Together by Grey Brown
Middle Earth by Drama Mama
How to Talk to an Autistic Child by Kimberly Farrar
A Child Blinks by Janet Muhm Kay
The Real World of Autism: The Refrigerator Mother Club by Chantal Sicile-Kira
Watching My Son Watch Sleeping Beauty by Anjie Greene-Martin
Sometimes, Never by Susan Segal
Part II: String Theory
String Theory by Emily Willingham
Evolution of a Fairy by Carolyn Walker
Live via Satellite: A Parenting Journey by Mary McLaughlin
Flood Plain by Bruce Mills
The Wages of Autism by Kristina Chew
Proverbs 13:24 by Aileen Murphy
No Pity by Maggie Kast
The Stone by Barbara Crooker
Part III: And the Shoes Will Take Us There
As Great As Trees by Ann Douglas
Other Child, Other Mother by Cheri Brackett
100 Percent by Leslie Quinn
Navigating Autism by Christine Stephan
Driving Down the Road . . . and Growing Up with My Asperger’s Child by Susan T. Layug
Heart-Shaped Rock by Kyra Anderson
You’re Adopting Whom? by Ralph James Savarese
Oh, the Community by Veronika Hill
The Mother at the Swings by Vicki Forman
And the Shoes Will Take Us There in Spite of the Circumference by Bobbi Lurie
To Persevere by Ralph Savarese
The Visit by Laura Shumaker
Is There Anything Else We Should Know? by B. E. Pinkham
The Family Gangsta by James Wilson
Editors
Contributors
Gravity Pulls You In: Perspectives on Parenting Children on the Autism Spectrum is designed to foster development in the areas of:
- Communication
- Resource preparation
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