My Life Beyond Autism

"Tracy likes to draw, make movies and play, just like other kids. She also has autism spectrum disorder. This means she processes many everyday situations differently, such as making friends. Over time, she's learned tricks for communicationg and coping when things are hard for her. Follow along as Tracy gives a peek at what life is really like for someone living with autism and how she discovered life beyond this common disorder."--Provided by publisher.

The “My Life Beyond” graphic book series tells the true stories of Mayo Clinic patients. Featuring 36 beautiful, fully illustrated pages, this graphic novel shares the inspiring story of Rae Burremo’s experience with leukemia. After going through treatment for leukemia, Amy is used to visiting the hospital. As she falls asleep for another medical test, she suddenly finds herself on an adventure. With the help of a shrinking potion, other magic tools and some friends, she’s on a mission to help other kids face leukemia and its treatment. What is it really like to have this childhood cancer? Find out how Amy beats leukemia and discovers life beyond her illness. Children’s voices are rarely heard amid the complexity of modern medicine. That's why every story in the My Life Beyond series stems from the imagination and experience of a Mayo Clinic patient. The books were developed through collaboration between these patients, Mayo Clinic physicians and author-illustrator Hey Gee. Through this unique lens of inspiring real-life experiences, the series explores how children view illness, challenges and recovery. Leukemia is estimated to affect 1 in every 1000 children, but children’s voices and their experiences with this disease are rarely heard. Created through collaboration between pediatric patients, their doctors, and children’s author and illustrator Hey Gee, My Life Beyond Leukemia dives into the minds and imaginations of child patients at Mayo Clinic to explain how children experience illness, challenges, and recovery. The “My Life Beyond” graphic novel book series is published in collaboration with Fondation Ipsen.

Inspired by the memoirs of Ralph M.’s experience with bullying, My Life Beyond Bullying: Stories from Mayo Clinic Patients uses 36 pages of full illustrations to tell the true story of how kids view friendships, bullying, and challenging social situations. When some kids at Alex’s new school start bullying him, he just wants to escape. He feels guilty and stressed about what’s happening. But what can he do? The challenges Alex experienced are common. Still, there are important steps you can take when you or someone you know is being bullied. Find out how Alex gets help and discovers his life beyond bullying. Children’s voices are rarely heard amid the complexity of modern medicine. That's why every story in the My Life Beyond series stems from the imagination and experience of a Mayo Clinic patient. The books were developed through collaboration between these patients, Mayo Clinic physicians and author-illustrator Hey Gee. Through this unique lens of inspiring real-life experiences, the series explores how children view illness, challenges and recovery. As kids go through adolescence, they’re likely to experience some form of bullying. Inspired by Ralph M.’s experience with bullying, Bullying: True Stories from Mayo Clinic Patients uses 40 pages of full illustrations to provide an approachable look at improving mental health and emotional happiness when facing childhood bullies. The “My Life Beyond” graphic novel book series is published in collaboration with Fondation Ipsen.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER With her popular blog, Finding Cooper's Voice, Kate Swenson has provided hope and comfort for hundreds of thousands of parents of children with Autism. Now, Kate shares her inspiring story in this powerful memoir about motherhood and unconditional love When Kate Swenson’s son Cooper was diagnosed with severe, nonverbal autism, her world stopped. She had always dreamed of having the perfect family life. She hadn’t signed up for life as a mother raising a child with a disability. At first, Kate experienced the grief of broken dreams. Then she felt the frustration and exhaustion of having to fight for your child in a world that is stacked against them. But through hard work, resilience and personal growth, she would come to learn that Cooper wasn’t the one who needed to change. She was. And it was this transformation that led Kate to acceptance—and ultimately joy. In Forever Boy, Kate shares her inspiring journey with honesty and compassion, offering solace and hope to others on this path and illuminating the strength and perseverance of mothers.

This project is committed to portraying autism and, more profoundly, individuals with autism, from the inside out. Through the media of photography and writing, this book hopes to educate and inspire by breaking apart stereotypes associated with autism while showing vividly that love is omnipotent in our trials and triumphs. It is the ultimate lesson, weapon and savior as we struggle to understand and overcome life’s challenges each day.The writing describes a journey, taking readers through hope, despair, pain and resurrection. It touches on the collective human experience of suffering and redemption while showing a pathway to a profoundly higher ground of understanding and acceptance. The story is written from a collective heart, formed by countless intimate exchanges with families struggling and triumphing, again and again as they live and love in the autistic world. The greater purpose, beyond the story of autism, is the universal message that from the depths of darkness, often we find the greatest enlightenment. The autistic individual is a beautiful metaphor for this belief. In a culture that bombards with messages that perfection is the key to happiness, the autistic individuals and their families dare to challenge this notion while drawing others to look beneath and beyond the superficial. With startling beauty, the images prove what in words alone might be denied: that beneath and beyond autism there is a reality often missed: a will, a soul, an identity that achieves the full measure of its creation; to connect with others in ways not seen or appreciated by surface observation. This combination of narrative and image becomes a powerful parable that reaches and teaches far beyond autism itself, touching on spiritual truths often lost in the cultural mainstream. Hardcover version available: 0-07-288170-4 Paperback version available: 0-07-296784-6

A Passionate Memoir about Life with a Teenage Daughter with Severe Autism, Following the Progress of Acclaimed Book, Finding Lina. Like her passionate first book, Finding Lina, about her daughter with severe autism, Helena Hjalmarsson brings an intensity of purpose and love to her second memoir about Lina, Beyond Autism. Lina’s world is one of excruciating challenges. Helena’s world is the same, but with her own insights, indominable spirit, and amazing clarity she sheds light and hope for other parents, siblings and caretakers of children with autism, as well as the children with autism themselves. She unflinchingly examines “the paradoxical nature of autism, the never-ending mystery of who our children are and how they got here, in the middle of this unfathomable hurricane of leaky guts, inflammation, yeast, autoimmune disorders, seizures, sensory breakdown, loss of words, physical freedom, sleep, friends, normal life as we are used to refer to it.” Beyond Autism is one of an increasing number of “you are not alone” literary statements from parents of children with autism forwarded to the people whose lives, similarly, often blocks the view of the larger community. Beyond Autism is intended to be a meeting place, of sorts. A smile of recognition. A reason for a little dark joke amongst parents. What Helena recognizes is that whenever Lina is not in mayhem, she is in heaven. “In those times she seems so free of the burdens of a past and a future, so deeply present and accepting of the moment …Whenever she is not suffering, it seems to me that she is at that enlightened, awakened place that most people struggle for a whole life time to catch a glimpse of.” It’s that glimpse that Helene explores, and shares for all those who want, too, to catch and gain insight into the lives of those with autism and those who love them.

As a boy, Raun Kaufman was diagnosed by multiple experts as severely autistic, with an IQ below 30, and destined to spend his life in an institution. Years later, Raun graduated with a degree in Biomedical Ethics from Brown University and has become a passionate and articulate autism expert and educator with no trace of his former condition. So what happened? Thanks to The Son-Rise Program, a revolutionary method created by his parents, Raun experienced a full recovery from autism. (His story was recounted in the best-selling book Son-Rise: The Miracle Continues and in the award-winning NBC television movie Son-Rise: A Miracle of Love.) In Autism Breakthrough, Raun presents the ground-breaking principles behind the program that helped him and thousands of other families with special children. Autism, he explains, is frequently misunderstood as a behavioral disorder when, in fact, it is a social relational disorder. Raun explains what it feels like to be autistic and shows how and why The Son-Rise Program works. A step-by-step guide with clear, practical strategies that readers can apply immediately—in some cases, parents see changes in their children in as little as one day—Autism Breakthrough makes it possible for these special children to defy their original often-very-limited prognoses. Parents and educators learn how to enable their children to create meaningful, caring relationships, vastly expand their communications, and to participate successfully in the world. An important work of hope, science, and progress, Autism Breakthrough presents the powerful ideas and practical applications that have already changed the lives of families all over the world.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “As sweet and funny and sad and true and heartfelt a memoir as one could find.” —from the foreword by Augusten Burroughs Ever since he was young, John Robison longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits—an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother, Augusten Burroughs, in them)—had earned him the label “social deviant.” It was not until he was forty that he was diagnosed with a form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome. That understanding transformed the way he saw himself—and the world. A born storyteller, Robison has written a moving, darkly funny memoir about a life that has taken him from developing exploding guitars for KISS to building a family of his own. It’s a strange, sly, indelible account—sometimes alien yet always deeply human.

Includes a chapter entitled Getting Ready for College. This book offers information on common sensory reactions in an easy to read chart format. It also contains a chapter on the author's public involvement with autism spectrum related issues, including speaking at conferences and advocating for services for those on the spectrum.