See Sam Run. A Mother's Story of Autism Mayborn Literary Nonfiction
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Manufacturer: University of North Texas Press
Author: Peggy Heinkel-wolfe
Binding: Hardcover
Publication Date: 2008-05
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Label: University of North Texas Press
Number Of Pages: 186
Features for See Sam Run. A Mother's Story of Autism Mayborn Literary Nonfiction :
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Editorial Review
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.
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Customer Reviews
As she began to come to terms with her autistic son, she wrote her story down 
2008-07-09
How do you raise a child diagnosed with autism? "See Sam Run: A Mother's Story of Autism" is Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe's story of dealing with it. Look at the growing number of autism spectrum diagnoses, she wonders - is the diagnosis system improving, or is there something wrong with modern health? The numbers, while important, speak of nothing of the daily troubles parents must face. As she began to come to terms with her autistic son, she wrote her story down in "See Sam Run: A Mother's Story of Autism", highly recommended for community library collections.
A map to guide you through the maze when something is not quite right with your child. 2008-05-20
I preordered See Sam Run, and started reading it the day it arrived in my mailbox. The next morning, when I woke up with a stomach upset, I was thankful that I could call in sick and finish reading it.
This book took me on a familiar journey thorough the haze of denial, the thick fog of despair that descends when denial is no longer possible, then through the maze of discovery trying to find a professional who would listen without condescension or judgment, and provide the help we needed. What a relief to learn that I am not the only mother who has harbored those thoughts and feelings, faced the cold, bare truth, and fought and clawed her way through that maze.
The picture this narrative paints of Sam's day to day life helped me clarify and map our own journey. I cried traveling back through those painful memories. I cried for my son and Sam, for Peggy and Mark and me. Taking the journey with and through another helped heal the scars.
I laughed too. I laughed at the quirky, funny boy that is Sam. I laughed at the captions he wrote for the pictures. I laughed in relief that we have found, after all that running, an easier pace.
My son is not autistic. He has Sensory Integration Dysfunction. I'm not sure if he has something else because we gave up trying to find out. We decided to just deal with it. He now compensates beautifully.
There are many resources in the back of this book to help ease the journey other parents and children face. This book provides a map through the maze.
When a parent admits something is wrong and that they need help, why is it so torturous to find that help? That's the question I was left with after reading this book; and that is the question that needs an answer. You see, I'm not the only mother and Sam is not the only son!
Touching 2008-04-13
Very touching book. I couldn't put it down once I started reading. This is one book I will let people know about.
