Product Description

Raising a child with a disability can often be more isolating and frustrating than any parent ever imagines. Finally, here is a book that honestly describes the inner needs and range of issues parents with disabled children face. Changed by a Child invites parents to take a moment for themselves. Each of the brief readings offers comfort and hope as they capture the unique challenges and joys of raising a disabled child.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #415018 in Books
• Published on: 1998-08-17
• Released on: 1998-08-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780385482431
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
Parenting is always tough, but parenting a child with disabilities, serious injuries, or chronic illness can be a life-changing, profoundly disrupting experience. In Changed by a Child, Barbara Gill provides brief meditations and passages about the challenges, grief, faith, hope, and other feelings and experiences of parents who have a disabled child. Gill's son has Down syndrome, and she writes with the authority and credibility of a parent who has been through it herself. The brief pieces in this small, handsome book are divided into three sections: "In the Beginning," "Rounding the Curves," and "Transformed." It's a credit to Gill's experienced wisdom and her skills as a writer that this material never becomes sentimental or sugary. Temple Grandin, a woman with autism and the author of Thinking in Pictures, writes, "I wish my own mother had had this book when I was a child. If she had read this book she would have realized that she was not alone." For those parents who do feel alone, this book may serve as a kind and compassionate companion. --Ericka Lutz

Review
"I wish my mother had this book when I was a child. If she had read this book she would have realized that she was not alone." --Temple Grandin, author of Thinking in Pictures

"Changed by a Child is a book for all parents, not just parents of children with disabilities. It is comprehensive, literate, inspiring, and deeply healing." --Annabel Stehli, author of The Sound of a Miracle

"An outstanding achievement. Profound, absorbing, and a great joy to read. I recommend it enthusiastically." --Dr. Bernard Rimland, founder of the Autism Society of America -- Review

Review
"I wish my mother had this book when I was a child. If she had read this book she would have realized that she was not alone." --Temple Grandin, author of Thinking in Pictures

"Changed by a Child is a book for all parents, not just parents of children with disabilities. It is comprehensive, literate, inspiring, and deeply healing." --Annabel Stehli, author of The Sound of a Miracle

"An outstanding achievement. Profound, absorbing, and a great joy to read. I recommend it enthusiastically." --Dr. Bernard Rimland, founder of the Autism Society of America

Customer Reviews

A wonderful book
I only wish I had found this book a year ago, when I was first struggling with the facts of my child's disability. This is a book they should hand out to parents in hospitals and clinics. It is honest, heartbreaking, sweet and hopeful all at the same time. Not every one of the little notes will match your mood at any given time, but the book is structured so that you can pick and choose among them at random. Barbara Gill has managed to put into words the complex emotions of having a child that challenges every facet of your life in previously unimaginable ways, yet for whom you feel a deep and ferocious love. I keep it on my desk at work and pick it up when I feel myself flagging -- it never fails to help me pick up and go on.

Fantastic
This book was given to me by a friend and I have given it to countless others including my school district and my daughter's teachers through the years. This book means different things to me each time that I read it. I can pick it up after not reading it for several months and find something new and inspiring in it. I belong to a book club for moms who have kids with special needs and although we've read several books, we keep coming back to this one and each meeting we each read an exerpt and it can result in an entire night of sharing. This book can make you laugh, cry, reflect and give you strength to face another day. This is my favorite book of all times.

A Companion...
I bought this shortly after finding out my baby had severe cerebral palsy, blindess, and mental disabilities from brain damage. It was helpful to read the words of other parents whose children were didabled in various ways, because they knew what they were talking about. I did not feel the same as all of the contributors, but I could see their point of view. Reading some of the contributions, I felt so good knowing that some of these parents felt the same and had the same thoughts I did. At the time, I was deluged with advice and attempts at wisdom from people with healthy normal children. But this book offered me the shared wisdom and strength of parents who really know what it is like.