Product Description

In November 1991, Echo Fling was told by her son's teacher, at the schools' parents' evening, that his behaviour in class was "not normal". After two years at school, Jimmy had failed to make any friends, and recently had started to act aggressively towards his classmates and react violently to any changes in his routine. Echo was not taken completely by surprise: she had suspected for some time that her son was different to other children. For the next five years, she and her husband accompanied Jimmy to more than a dozen doctors, medical specialists, learning consultants and psychologists. finally, at the age of ten years old, Jimmy was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. Written in the first person, this volume tells Jimmy's story from his mother's viewpoint. as well as charting Jimmy's development from infancy to pre-adolescence, Echo provides practical advice for parents of children with Asperger's syndrome evolved from her own experience and gleaned from conferences she attended. She describes the diagnostic criteria and provides information on resources and support groups. This is the book that she needed when she first set out to have Jimmy diagnosed, and it will enable parents and teachers to understand and help other children with Asperger's syndrome.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #438455 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Customer Reviews

A book written by 'Every-mum'
Parents of children with Asperger's Syndrome seeking common ground and advice might balk at the idea of finding it in a book by a Mormon journalist and the head of ASPEN. My advice is that if you are amongst those balkers, think again! Echo Fling's emotional honesty and pragmatism mark her as a true 'Every-mum', and her unique gift is that she is a master story teller. Through a riveting narrative, the reader is guided through over a decade of Echo learning from both her successes and her mistakes as a Mother of Jimmy, who is eventually diagnosed as having Asperger's Syndrome.

Parents of children like Jimmy will share tears and gain great warmth from Echo's 'Mommy-moments', but I suspect this book could be as important for professionals too. Perhaps for the first time, it documents the process by which parents instinctively work with a child struggling to make sense of the world. Fling's approach is an almost perfect balance of informed thinking and parent nouse, from the use of 'cueing', to the employment of genial sarcasm as a way of managing her son's obsessive questioning. No doubt this book will become a source for 'training' parents, but a more important message is that living and working with children like Jimmy requires a focus and humble tenacity which all professionals would do well to emulate.

A book to recommend highly to both the 'Newbie' and old hand, whether parent or professional.

Excellent insight to living with an Aspergers child
I found this book fascinating. Every mother and father of an Aspergers child should read this. I have a 5 year old son with Aspergers and could sympathise with Echo and her family. The book is very informative and will provide support to those in a state of confusion.

Very easy to read and could not wait to find out how things progressed

Wish I had read this one earlier. A book I can relate to!!!
The author so often reflected my own feelings, although we are geographically miles apart. I was very impressed with the frankness that Echo expressed and the realisation that the mothers or primary carers are the most likely people to be "expert" on their child's condition. This book says so many of the same things that I have been feeling about my son yet they are such different cases. I am INSPIRED!!!!!!!!!!