On a cold December night in 2010 our son tried to kill himself. He left my husband and I a terrifying suicide note that left us searching for answers ourselves and for our son. I share this story because I learned something about Autism and Asperger's Syndrome that day that I did not know before. Before that day when I found my son crying in his room with a knife to his neck I thought I was doing all the right things as a parent. I took my son to mental health doctors and counselors. I read all the books by the Autism professionals. My husband and I even took time off of work to attend conference to hear professional presentations about Autism. The one thing that we learned we were not doing was listening to our son Sam. We were so obsessed with listening to what the professionals were telling us that we were not listening to what Sam was trying to tell us. We also learned that the doctors and professionals were not listening to what Sam was telling them either. It took a suicide attempt with a suicide note that would break your heart to get me as a mom to start listening to my son. It is my hope that this book is eye opening and helps other moms and dads start listening to what their child with Autism is telling them before it gets to this point of seriousness. Sam has taught my husband and I a lot. He does not just teach us about Autism but he teaches us about life in general. Sam is a fighter and I will fight for him until the day I die. In this book I'll share some steps we took to help improve our son's social life that in return decreased the amount of depression and anxiety he was dealing with on a daily basis. In this book you will learn that as a society we are obsessed with treating the symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders more so than we are worried about treating the root cause of the symptoms which is the disorder itself. In this book you will learn how both high functioning and low functioning social skills are related and work together to help a person connect with others. You will learn that the high functioning social skills sometimes build upon the lower functioning skills. You will also learn how sometimes we must start with the higher functioning social skills before progressing to worrying about the lower functioning skills. If your child has trouble connecting and forming friendships at school chances are worrying about making sure your child completes their homework on time is not going to help unless you work on the social connection piece before moving onto worrying about the adaptive skill of helping your child complete homework assignments on time. In this book I hope to give you a unique perspective of Autism not through my own eyes but through my son Sam's eyes. With Sam's guidance, teaching, and permission I share this story with you. Throughout this book series you will read parts of the suicide letter that Sam left for us that day in December that changed our entire family's lives. That same note changed my understanding of Asperger's Syndrome and made me trust the doctors and counselors much less. Through Sam, I hope to help you and your child learn social skills and learn to live happily with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
About the Author: Teresa is the mother of 4 children. Teresa, her husband, and her children reside in Olympia, Washington. Teresa likes to read and write. She enjoys traveling on family vacations with her family and raising her children. Her oldest who is 17 year old has Autism. Her other three children are 14, 12, and 8.