Title: Gravity Pulls You In
Subtitle: Perspectives on Parenting Children on the Autism Spectrum
Editors: Kyra Anderson and Vicki Forman
Length: 202 pages
Website: www.gravitypullsyouin.com/
Finalist for: Favorite Special-Needs Memoir
Message from the Editors: "Kids with autism are kids first and they do learn and grow and change, and so do we as we parent them. Cultivate awareness, curiosity, a more careful seeing, a willingness to be surprised, and above all, the need to honor and respect the individual. With all the misconceptions surrounding autism, it feels important to open up a dialogue and talk about what is and isn't true about autistic children, how parents of autistic kids feel and don't feel, and what their days and lives are like. We hope this book is a way to begin that conversation."
Excerpt from Gravity Pulls You In:
From the essay "A Child Blinks" by Janet Kay:
I never once bragged about Michael's genius. Because, for every accomplishment I could list in his first years, there was another critical failing. All the really important things my maternal touch should have taught him -- kindness, empathy, self-control -- these things went unlearned.
Though he counted and read early, Michael didn't bother telling us. In fact, he didn't bother telling us much at all. His earliest words and phrases came two years too late and were comprised of clipped consonants, scant vowels, and very little information. The mantra, "A sun my eyes" was first used on sunny days and later for all days outside. The phrase, "A Bonnie" first described our cat, but was later used to talk of any animal. The surprising words, "Two three" were spoken over and over for twenty minutes straight as one-year-old Michael built a tower out of twenty-three blocks. It was the last time we would hear him speak for years.
It has been a long time, these fourteen years, and yet it has passed like a day. "Wouldn't it be a riot," he says, "if you honked your horn, and instead of 'beep-beep' it said 'meow?'" Jen laughs and asks him where he came from. I've wondered that myself at times. He is far too fresh to have sprung from this earth. He's too marvelous for my words.
Are you a fan of Gravity Pulls You In? Tell us why you love it.
> > > Read a review
