Thousands of children are diagnosed with autism each year, with a
rate of occurrence of 1 in 150 births, compared to 5 per 10,000 just
two decades ago. This astounding escalation has professionals
scrambling to explain why the devastating neurological disorder,
which profoundly affects a person's language and social
development, is on the rise. Are we simply getting better at
diagnosing autism, or is a modern health crisis unfolding before us?
Of course, behind the numbers, the debate, and the speculation,
individual families are struggling to live with autism every day. Some
parents have described autism's onset as being like a cloud slowly
descending over their child, until the family is finally smothered by
despair. Parents wake up each morning challenged yet again to
reconcile the Spartan social world of their son or daughter with their
own. After months and even years, most families are able to find a
new kind of normal. Others never do.
In See Sam Run, award-winning writer and journalist Peggy
Heinkel-Wolfe describes how her parenthood quickly descended
into chaos as her son, Sam, became uncommunicative and
unmanageable. "I'd grown to hate making entries in his baby book,"
she writes. "The energy I had before he was born, when I wrote
paragraphs anticipating his arrival, was gone now. Writing down
Sam's barest achievements felt fraudulent." Little by little, she found
a new truth: that by learning to understand the ugliness inside herself,
she learned to love her new life and her son, and to harness, at last,
the energy needed to realize Sam's fullest potential.
See Sam Run reaches deep into the heart of anyone whose
life has been touched by developmental disability—and it will
resonate profoundly with those who have been transformed by a
newfound ability to love.
_________________________________________________________
PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE received a master's degree in
journalism from the University of North Texas. She was among the
first members of Families for Early Autism Treatment (FEAT) in
California. Following the death of an autistic teenager shot by a
police officer, Heinkel-Wolfe helped researchers at the University of
North Texas find funding for autism research, including a grant for a
police training program now used by police departments across the
nation. She lives in Argyle, Texas, with her son, Sam, her husband,
Mark, and their two other children, Michael and Paige.
Number Two: Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Series
What people are saying about this book
"This is a book written from the heart by a mother nearly driven to
madness by her son's maniacal behavior. But she slowly learns
how to pay attention to what makes Sam tick, what makes Sam
run. And as her journey of discovering what ails Sam unfolds,
many parents will find themselves hooked."—George Getschow,
Writer-in-Residence, Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism
at the University of North Texas
"See Sam Run is well written and poignant as well as
emotionally satisfying for the reader. The author's narrative voice is
strong, intelligent and authentic. Her story is one that is important
to get out."—Dianne Aprile, Spalding University
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