Moving Beyond Survival - The Early Years: How We Thrive With Autism

A parent of a child diagnosed with ASD can be overwhelmed, exhausted, and desperate for relevant, factual, helpful information that is useful and that makes sense. Moving Beyond Survival - The Early Years: How We Thrive With Autism, is a quick, easy read, relating our family's experiences, life lessons, and suggestions for raising a confident and happy autistic child. As you read this book - starting from before our son's first breath through his sixth year - follow us through our son's ASD diagnosis, our early intervention service experiences, and the five-week outpatient admissions and methods for adjusting our son's eating aversions. Walk with us through his three years of public preschool, progressing into a year of full-day kindergarten. This book offers advice on the difference between an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) and a 504 plan, suggestions for managing a successful family vacation, and ways to help your child make and keep friendships. Finally, it finishes with a candid discussion of our marriage and the vital importance of finding joy and keeping humor as part of the fabric of your life. This story informs, inspires, and can provoke you to think differently about your child's ASD diagnosis. Know that this is not "the end of the world" - just the start of a journey that can be a truly rewarding experience and can change who you believe your child, and yourself to be, forever. Walk our path with us, and let me share how you and your family can survive and thrive in this world of ASD.