Memoirs Special Needs

Patti M. Hall’s life is pitched into an abyss of uncertainty when a golf ball-sized tumour is discovered in her teenage son’s head and he is diagnosed with gigantism, a disease of both legend and stigma. After scrambling to access a handful of medical experts in the field, Patti learns that her son could grow uncontrollably, his mobility could be permanently limited, and his life could be cut short without timely and aggressive treatment. Patti’s attention shifts fully to her son, away from her relationships as well as her own career and health.

The world Annette Hines knew exploded when her infant daughter Elizabeth was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease—a degenerative, life-limiting illness. Annette’s joy quickly turned to apprehension and she knew nothing would ever be the same again. Butterflies and Second Chances is the inspiring true story of a mother’s special needs journey, and her struggle to secure the best possible life for her child in the face of bureaucratic resistance and marital crisis. It is a story of sacrifice, dedication, and the life-altering adjustments a special needs parent has to make when ...

We all know the fairy-tale. An everyday girl meets her Prince Charming, they get married, have children and ride off into the sunset. Sadly, this isn't always the case and Christine McGuinness is keen to change the stereotype that marriage, fame and fortune brings an easy and blissful life. This is Christine's first audiobook, where she tells the world her life story for the very first time. While telling her story, Christine was diagnosed with autism, as revealed in this book for the very first time.

All Janine Urbaniak Reid ever wanted was for everyone she loved to be okay so she might relax and maybe be happy. Her life strategy was simple: do everything right. This included trying to be the perfect mother to her three kids so they would never experience the kind of pain she pretended not to feel growing up. What she didn’t expect was the chaos of an out-of-control life that begins when her young son’s hand begins to shake.

When the newly qualified vet, James Herriot, arrives in the small Yorkshire village of Darrowby, he has no idea of the new friends he will meet or adventures that lie ahead. From the author whose books inspired the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small, this first volume of unforgettable memoirs chronicles James Herriot's first years as a country vet, with the signature storytelling magic that has made him a favourite the world over.

Owen-known to his family as "little buddy" or "Little B"-has a rare genetic disorder that leaves him largely confined to a wheelchair. Before being united with Haatchi, Little B was anxious and found it difficult to make friends. Haatchi-an adorable Anatolian Shepherd puppy-was abused and left for dead on railroad tracks. He was struck by an oncoming train, and although his life was saved, his leg and tail were partially severed. Haatchi was left massively disabled and totally dispirited.

The moving true story of a little girl with Asperger syndrome, controlled and abused by the one person she called her friend. Taylor had always struggled to make friends - she felt 'different'. Taylor never knew her father, and her mother wasn't around much. She just didn't understand people and was alone and scared most of the time. That was until, aged just 11, an older married man called Tom befriended her. She loved having someone who would talk to her, listen to her - a protector. But when he moved away a few months later, she was easy prey.

After three long years, Johnny’s young son, Sam, experiences a breakthrough. But even as calm comes to Sam's body, the illness makes off with his mind. Violent outbursts, strange obsessions - what has happened to his sweet boy? Cinematically weaving three generations of fatherhood, Remember, You’re the Greatest is a memoir of hard questions. Of unexpected joy in the ache of mystery. And the power of a special needs child to teach a father what greatness truly looks like.

Anna grew up in a house that was loving, even if her mum was ‘a little eccentric’. They knew to keep things clean, to stay quiet, and to look the other way when things started to get ‘a bit much for your mum’. It’s only when her mother reaches her 70s and Anna has a family of her own, that the cracks really start to appear. More manic. More irrational. More detached from the world. And when her father, the man who has calmed and cajoled her mother through her entire life is diagnosed with cancer, the whole world turns upside down.

At the age of thirty, just as everything was falling into place for him, Lee Pesky died of brain cancer. For his father, Alan, grief came with the realization that he had lost the chance to love Lee as he was—not as he wanted him to be. Ambitious, successful, and always striving for more, Alan had a hard time relating to a son who struggled with learning disabilities at a time when there was little understanding or help for kids who had them. Their relationship was complicated, and now, Lee was gone.

When Kate Swenson’s son Cooper was diagnosed with severe, nonverbal autism, her world stopped. She had always dreamed of having the perfect family life — watching her boy play at baseball games, walking him down the aisle. She hadn’t signed up for life as a mother raising a child with a disability.

At the peak of the Cold War, Mitchell Minor was born to a military family living on Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Michigan. Unknown to his parents, the base's groundwater was contaminated from firefighter foams (PFAS/PFOA), de-greaser, and jet fuel. His mom drank the poisonous water which caused Mitchell’s small head (microcephaly) and other birth defects. This book is for every family who feels overwhelmed and for friends and family to better understand how to help. The Minor family invites you to experience God’s love during their 30-year journey with Mitchell.

Kenna was born January 9, 2012, weighing in at a meager 9.6 ounces. She was born 16 weeks too soon. After spending 183 days riding the roller coaster in Club NICU, she is finally home. This is our story of hope, finding happiness in unlikely places, and making the best of the life we have.

Graham Hale Gardner died before turning 23 and never learned to walk or speak due to severe cerebral palsy complicated by epilepsy. Yet he left a legacy of love and compassion that deeply moved scores of people from widely different backgrounds. Graham’s story, written through the eyes of his father, speaks of the enormous legacy left by a boy who never spoke. A story that raises provocative questions about the “invisible lines of connection” that make us human.

Andreas Souvaliotis was raised at a time when being on the autism spectrum wasn't easily diagnosed or even discussed. Minds like his were simply considered odd. He also knew from an early age he was gay, and it terrified him as he was growing up with openly homophobic parents in one of Europe's least tolerant societies. Andreas' differences made him an outsider, right through to his mid-40s. And then suddenly, everything changed. Misfit is the extraordinary memoir of a man who realized there was strength in his strangeness, that it could be used as a force for good.

I wrote this book because I wanted the world to know the story of my special needs son Lloyd C. Darby lll. Affectionately known as DJ, which stands for Darby Junior. When people triumph over their circumstances as my wife and I have, there are usually hidden lessons others can benefit from contained within the events. However, if we don’t share our stories with the world, no one will ever hear about them.

Andrea Ott-Dahl, who with her partner Keston Ott-Dahl has two other children, agreed to act as a pregnancy surrogate for a wealthy Silicon Valley family. When pre-natal testing revealed the baby would be born with Down Syndrome, Andrea was urged to abort the child. Instead, the Ott-Dahl's chose to keep and raise the daughter they would call Delaney, overcoming their fears while navigating legal, medical and emotional challenges.

Susan Casserfelts kriminalromaner i Höga kusten-serien har lovprisats och blivit riktiga ljudbokssuccéer. Men medan hennes författarkarriär tog fart brottades hon med svårigheter på det privata planet. När sonen Hugo föddes förstod Susan ganska snart att han var annorlunda, men det dröjde mer än fem år och många läkarbesök innan han slutligen fick sin diagnos: autism. Med hjälp av bildstöd och teckenspråk försöker föräldrarna hantera Hugos många utmaningar. Samtidigt kämpar Susan med att få hjälp för sin egen utmattning.

Follow a mother's journey through the twists and turns of autism spectrum disorder. Planet A is a book that gives the reader a glimpse into the behaviors of a child, Jackie Christiansen, on the autism spectrum. It is real and raw dealing with issues of explosive anger, social ineptness and low maturity, all of which can cause complete confusion and low self-esteem. Parenting can be extremely exhausting and getting the outside world to understand can be challenging. Through IEPs (Individual Education Plans) within the school systems to navigating the causes of behaviors the book is laced ...

In Everything Is Going to be K.O. Kaiya Stone writes about her own experiences of living with specific learning difficulties: from struggling at school to being diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia while at university, to performing her own one-woman stand up show inspired by her journey. Always funny and unfailingly honest, Kaiya outlines the frustrations of having SPLDS but also the ways in which they have fuelled her creativity.