Today, we’re continuing our conversation with Danyelle Ferguson, author of (dis)Abilities and the Gospel, a great resource book for parents and teachers of children with cognitive disabilities. As we learned last time, Danyelle’s son was diagnosed with autism when he was two.
Danyelle, as you were learning about autism, what were some of the resources that were the most helpful to you – books, support groups, studies, etc?
During the first four to six months after our son was diagnosed, I couldn’t handle reading anything about autism. I was so overwhelmed, wondering what kind of future my son would have. Instead I dived into training sessions with our Early Intervention therapist. I attended a parent/child group therapy class twice a week. The parents in the class were incredible, helped me through those rough beginning months, and are still some of my closest friends today.
There’s one book about autism that stood out above all the others: Facing Autism: Giving Parents Reasons for Hope and Guidance for Help by Lynn M. Hamilton. When I started reading Facing Autism, Lynn expressed her feelings about being a parent and for some reason, I completely connected with her. I got out a highlighter and throughout the book, I marked passages that just absolutely hit me between the eyes. “I feel just like this!” statements that made me feel like I wasn’t so alone. Her son had severe behaviors and other issues, just like my son . . . and at the time she wrote the book, he had made so much progress. It gave me hope for my son.
One other book that has made a significant impact on me was Guilt-Free Motherhood by Joni Hilton. My sister actually bought this book and sent it to me. Joni shares a lot of very funny motherhood stories – but she also doles out some very sage advice every mother should hear. The one that has stayed with me and still makes me teary-eyed is when she stated that each one of us is the exact mother our child needs, we were divinely matched together. This is another book I brought out my highlighter for. Every year I go through it and read those highlighted passages to find strength in my role as mother to my munchkins.
Thank you so much for sharing these resources, Danyelle! I think a lot of mothers will resonate with your feelings of being overwhelmed and will appreciate what you’ve shared with us.
We’ll conclude our interview with Danyelle tomorrow. In the meantime, check out these links.
The Best Places for People with Autism to Live
Autism and Epilepsy Have Genetic Mutation in Common
Half of All Children with Autism Wander