This book was on my radar because I heard Ron Fournier talk about it on Morning Joe and as the parent of a child on the spectrum I was interested. Then it was a book of the month selection so I grabbed a copy.
I cried more than once reading this book. I learned not to read book that makes you cry when waiting in an exam room for a checkup.
Something Love That Boy really drives home is that part of loving our children is accepting them for who and what they are. He learned that from his son Tyler after Ty's Aspergers diagnosis. His wife pushed him to take the time to bond and get to know their son on this new footing and it was really lovely.
It isn't easy as I know all too well. I have to remind my husband, who I know loves our son J very much, when he tries to reason our son out of a repetitive string of speech. Just recently I door knocked for a political candidate and J loves this kind of thing and was ranting that it would have been better to do than to be in school. He was saying it in varied ways over and over and my husband tried to tell him that he needed to be in school because that's important. He missed the point. J knows he needs to go to school, in fact he is a very, very good student. He was just expressing how cool this activity was and how much he wanted to go. But until his differently wired brain was done with the thought he needed to say it. I have learned to allow this stream while my husband was trying to reason it away. We too are differently wired and I have spent more time in this special needs world and my husband is still using his regular way of parenting. It is a learning processes.
Fournier learned this from his road trips with Tyler, talking to experts, and hearing from other parents. He stops looking at Tyler through the eyes of his expectations and learns so much about not only Tyler but about himself.
Love That Boy is moving, interesting, honest, and a love letter.
(Finished September 12, 2016)
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