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Finding Lina
A Mother's Journey from Autism to Hope
by Helena Hjalmarsson
Skyhorse Publishing hardcover, also available as an ebook
September 2013
ISBN: 9781620875957
Price: #24.95
This is a very intense book about Helena's journey with her daughter Lina. In some places the intensity is hard for me to read because I connect so strongly with many of the experiences that Helena and her daughter are going through. I recommend this book to anyone trying to understand how living with challenging conditions and situations can be for parents of children on the spectrum. Some of the paths that Helena has taken have proven helpful to her and were not so helpful for my son. Going gluten free was helpful to Lina, and to myself but not to my son. The stress of dealing with the day to day needs of a child who has difficulty communicating what is distressing them wears a parent down and when you add to that the judgmental actions of community members, teachers, nurses, and neighbors, the stress multiplies. It is tempting to buy copies of this book and leave them anonymously in neighbor's mail boxes or give them as gifts to less understanding school staff.
