Sand in My Sandwich (and other motherhood messes I'm learning to love) by Sarah Parshall Perry
I like reading memoir-type books about mothers with autism spectrum kiddos. It's a comfort to know I'm not alone in this jungle of ASD weirdness. "Sand in My Sandwich (and other motherhood messes I'm learning to love)" by Sarah Parshall Perry was right up my alley. She's got two kids on the spectrum (and her gender numbers will be the same as our own: 2 boys, 1 girl).
There were many places in the book where I was shaking my head in agreement. She uses a pretty well-known quote in ASD circles that is: if you know one autistic kid, you know one autistic kid. Which basically means that they are all so different. I know 4 kids around my son's age with autism and not one of them seems to be exactly the same (and really very little overlap of tics & such). However, in "Sand in My Sandwich" I felt like Perry used a lot of blanket statements for autistic kids rather than pinpointing these were specific to her kids. She also said Asperger's is high-functioning autism which (in my knowledge) untrue. Asperger's has both high and low functioning kids; same with autism. They are on the same spectrum but different issues (think a rainbow with different colors). That always bothers me to hear because my son's diagnosis is autism so if Asperger's is "high-functioning" autism, then it correlates that my son is not high functioning - which he is. Maybe just a mincing of words but irritating to me nonetheless.
Beyond that Perry really was open and honest with her journey from controlled perfectionist single woman to mother with children whom she can't control completely. I am on my own journey as such (although my singleness did not contribute to this as it was a short time in my life) and it's HARD. I'm learning to let God take control of SO much of my life; and some parts I fight tooth and nail to control until I'm knocked on my rear.
This really was a good book to read. Not super heavy but something I could relate to. I appreciate books like this a lot.
Disclaimer: I received this book in order to write an honest opinion. Others' opinions may differ from my own.
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| image via amazon.com |
There were many places in the book where I was shaking my head in agreement. She uses a pretty well-known quote in ASD circles that is: if you know one autistic kid, you know one autistic kid. Which basically means that they are all so different. I know 4 kids around my son's age with autism and not one of them seems to be exactly the same (and really very little overlap of tics & such). However, in "Sand in My Sandwich" I felt like Perry used a lot of blanket statements for autistic kids rather than pinpointing these were specific to her kids. She also said Asperger's is high-functioning autism which (in my knowledge) untrue. Asperger's has both high and low functioning kids; same with autism. They are on the same spectrum but different issues (think a rainbow with different colors). That always bothers me to hear because my son's diagnosis is autism so if Asperger's is "high-functioning" autism, then it correlates that my son is not high functioning - which he is. Maybe just a mincing of words but irritating to me nonetheless.
Beyond that Perry really was open and honest with her journey from controlled perfectionist single woman to mother with children whom she can't control completely. I am on my own journey as such (although my singleness did not contribute to this as it was a short time in my life) and it's HARD. I'm learning to let God take control of SO much of my life; and some parts I fight tooth and nail to control until I'm knocked on my rear.
This really was a good book to read. Not super heavy but something I could relate to. I appreciate books like this a lot.
Disclaimer: I received this book in order to write an honest opinion. Others' opinions may differ from my own.
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