As I sometimes do on Sundays, I would like to share a few links that I have run across recently which may provide some benefit to others (perhaps informational, thought-provoking or just plain fun).
Oh, you want to know who won the giveaway? All in good time, my friends, all in good time.
Okay, okay, I’ll wait here while you scroll down and see if it was you. Just make sure you scroll back up because there’s some really good stuff here in these links that you won’t want to miss.
The Links
Informational: Walking the Autism Road with Someone You Love by Christine Hoover – a short article with highly practical suggestions for anyone who wants to be a friend to a family dealing with a diagnosis of autism or another disability. This was helpful to me to more easily articulate an answer to friends who ask me how they can help.
Thought-Provoking: Vaccines: Are you REALLY “Green”? at 1-2-3 Autism Free – interesting post about how many people who are concerned with going green and/or organic also choose to vaccinate their children, given the ingredients in said vaccines. I have to admit I’m on the other side of the problem, easily choosing not to vaccinate but having a harder time being truly green and organic in my household products and practices.
As promised on my Cowboy & Wills review, I am also announcing the winner of the free copy of the book. I listed out and numbered all of the entries from the top down, with Mrskroberts being number 1 and Shenkfam being number 13. I then ran a random number generator at Random.org, and this is the result:
The winner is number 2, Elizabeth Channel. Congratulations, Elizabeth! I’ve sent you an email asking for your mailing address, and the book will be sent directly from the publisher once I have that information.
And thank you again to Monica Holloway for sharing her son’s story with us!
I recently received a review copy of Cowboy & Wills: A Remarkable Little Boy and the Puppy That Changed His Life by Monica Holloway, which is the story of her son Wills’ diagnosis with autism and the journey she embarked on to find answers and the help that he needed. Amazingly enough, one of the best answers she found was in Cowboy, the golden retriever puppy who made the biggest difference of all.
As I read this book, I could really identify with Monica’s struggles to deal with all of the emotions that come along with having a child with autism, accepting the diagnosis and finding your way through the maze of therapies and programs that are out there.
Although my husband was not living apart from us, as Monica’s was due to his job, I definitely took on the burden of researching and filling out forms and making appointments for my son, as I think most moms do. (My husband is more than willing to take time off work for whatever meetings and other needs Michael has, but my schedule and organizational strengths made it natural for me to take the lead in that area.)
It is always difficult to see your child not fit in to a typical recreational or educational setting, and even harder when the professionals in those settings aren’t willing to do what it takes to make inclusion successful for everyone involved. I cried along with Monica when the director of Wills’ private kindergarten says they will deal with it:
Maybe we’d found a place where we belonged. I broke down into embarrassing sobs.
Neal was sympathetic. “I know this is difficult, Monica.”
I shook my head, rifling through my purse for a Kleenex or a Starbucks napkin. “I’m not crying because it’s difficult, it’s always difficult. I’m crying because you care so much. I’m crying because you aren’t giving up on Wills.”
“CCS is a community,” Neal explained. “It’s good for other students to see that someone can struggle and still be accepted.”
Monica seeks out many different resources for Wills’, but it is when they get him a puppy that they really see him start to come out of his shell. Cowboy is a natural draw for adults and children alike, and Wills begins to gain confidence and interact more with the world around him through her. Although she only lives for 2 1/2 years due to illness, she truly changes his life.
If you are interested in reading an excerpt from Cowboy & Wills, simply click on the link to download it. (Please let me know if you have any trouble with this, as it is the first time I have tried to link to a Word document on my blog.) You can also view the trailer below – here’s the link to the source if it’s not coming through on here.
Don’t Forget the Giveaway!
I am excited to be able to offer a free copy of this book to one of my readers with a US mailing address. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post and include a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. Comments will be closed at midnight on August 7th, and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter.
Wow – this fall went by very quickly! I haven’t been posting much about books lately; heck, I haven’t been posting about much of anything – it’s been so busy around here.
Anyway, my goal for Fall Into Reading 2009 wasn’t so much to read specific books as it was to go through my huge list of books to read and clean it out.
This list has been growing steadily on my Shelfari profile, but I don’t always remember to check the list before going to the library. I started with 192 books listed, which included a variety of fiction and non-fiction books, along with some children’s books I wanted to check out for Michael.
So, how did I do? Well, I managed to cut my list in half, either by reclassifying books I had actually read or by removing books that I couldn’t find through the library and wasn’t interested enough in to purchase. I would have read more of the 96 still on the list, but our library is undergoing major renovations and has had a good chunk of their inventory in storage for the last six months.
Thanks to Katrina at Callapidder Days for creating and hosting this challenge. Hopefully, I’ll win one of the prizes and be able to buy a couple of the books from my list!
Thanks to everyone who entered to win the copy of Nourishing Hope for Autism. Skipping over the one commentor who did not want to be entered in the drawing, there were 10 entries, and here is the result from Random.org:
So, the winner is Janet, who left the following comment:
Janet September 29, 2009 at 9:57 am
Wow — this sounds like a great read.
Don’t ASD and crinkley pages go hand-in-hand? After all, don’t all cats have asperger’s?!
I’ve sent you an email, Janet, and I’ll send out the book as soon as I have your address.
Written for parents, this book provides both scientific explanations of how and why autism diets work, as well as how to implement them into your cooking and your lifestyle.
This book is not a light read by any means, but the time and effort spent digesting the information will be of great benefit as you are faced with the complex task of implementing a special diet with your child.
The Breakdown
Ms. Matthews begins with a discussion of the genetic, environmental and biochemical factors at work in the various body systems of an affected individual.
She then moves on to a detailed explanation of the different vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other supplements commonly used. This is followed by discussion of over a dozen different diets. She also addresses picky eaters and sensory issues.
One of my favorite sections of this book is Part Three, where she leads us through a holistic approach to nutrition that goes beyond simply becoming GFCF or SCD compliant. Ms. Matthews discusses cleaning up both the diet and the home, and then addresses how to choose the appropriate autism diet, implement it and refine it. Other areas covered in this section of the book include supplements, immune function and detoxification.
The Giveaway
I have been given an additional copy of this book to give away. In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that it has been slightly water-damaged when one of our cats knocked over a glass of water onto it. It is completely intact, just a bit crinkly in spots.
This giveaway is open to anyone with a US address. To enter, simply leave a comment below and make sure you leave a valid email address so I can contact you in the event that you win. I would be interested to hear what aspect of the book interests you the most, but it is not required to win.
Entries will be open through Sunday, October 3rd, and the randomly chosen winner will be announced on Monday, October 4th.
Earlier this year, I participated in Callapidder Days’ Spring Reading Thing challenge and really enjoyed it. However, I wasn’t very successful in meeting my main goal, which was to finish the various non-fiction books I had started and left laying around the house. I just couldn’t make myself do it. I have read a lot more non-fiction in the last few years than I used to, but none of these were books I felt compelled enough to actually get all the way through and so I didn’t.
Anyway, I wasn’t sure about joining in with this one until I thought of the perfect goal, one that will feed my craving for fiction and my need for organization and lists at the same time. See, I have a huge list of books that I want to read, titles gathered from trips to the local bookstore to see what’s new as well as from book reviews that have caught my eye on various blogs over the last few months.
This list has been growing steadily on my Shelfari profile, but I don’t always remember to check the list before going to the library. There are currently 192 books listed, which also includes some children’s books I wanted to check out for Michael.
So, my goal for Fall Into Reading 2009 is to clear out my “I Plan to Read” list, either by actually reading the books or by eliminating the ones I can’t locate/decide not to read after all.
My plan is to keep trackly weekly of what books I have read and how many are left on my list. Hopefully by December 22nd, I will be down to ZERO! (Of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t add any new books to the list, just that I will be caught up to what I have on there now.)
To find out more about this challenge or join in on the fun, visit Callapidder Days. You can make any kind of goal you want to, even if it’s just to read one book all the way through!
I have been totally horrible about blogging since I came back from my little break, I know. I just have not been able to find a schedule that works for me, partly because of our various summer activities and partly due to some contract work that I have taken on. And I haven’t done a very good job of getting that done either!
I’m hoping to settle into a routine again, at least by the time school starts if not before. Of course, I am always reading something no matter what, so here’s a few of the books I have read this month:
Accidental Happiness by Jean Reynolds Page – I found this quite captivating. It is written from the perspectives of the two main characters in alternating chapters, which adds to the sense of being a little off-balance the entire time. I could never predict what the next turn would be, and I really liked that about it.
The Alphabet Sisters by Monica McInerney – Very good book about three sisters who have been estranged and are forced to be together for their grandmother’s 80th birthday. Lola, the grandmother, is an especially fun character, although there are definitely some heart wrenching moments in the book.
The Note II: Taking a Chance on Love by Angela Hunt – Interestingly enough, this book is not a straight sequel to “The Note” because some of the details had been changed when it was made into a movie (which I haven’t seen). I like this author immensely, so enjoyed this book, but it wasn’t as complex or as long as I normally prefer.
Summer on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber – An enjoyable installment to her series set in downtown Seattle and centering on a yarn shop. Even though I don’t knit, I have greatly enjoyed all of the books so far and found this one to be no exception. My personal recommendation would be to start with the first one, The Shop on Blossom Street, and work your way through so you don’t miss any of the story!
by Monica Holloway, which is the story of her son Wills’ diagnosis with autism and the journey she embarked on to find answers and the help that he needed. Amazingly enough, one of the best answers she found was in Cowboy, the golden retriever puppy who made the biggest difference of all.
