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    The Fires of Autism
    The Fires of Autism
    The Fires of Autism
    Ebook42 pages25 minutes

    The Fires of Autism

    By Lynn Messing

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    About this ebook

    Just as fire destroys wood but hardens steel, a child's diagnosis of autism can either rip apart or strengthen a marriage. Calvin and Laura Wygant struggle to come to terms with their son Todd's new diagnosis and to keep their marriage intact.

    This short story, written by the mother of a child with autism, depicts both the heartache experienced by parents of a newly-diagnosed child and the hope that endures. It is the author's goal that the tale should entertain, enlighten, and encourage both people who have family members on the spectrum and those who are simply curious about autism.

    The Fires of Autism includes a bonus story. The Not-So-Great Escape occurs about a year after the events in main story. This humorous vignette demonstrates what happens when one momentarily forgets how literally children with autism might interpret what one says; it is based on an incident that the author had with her own son.

    This is book one in the "Autism Chronicles" series.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLynn Messing
    Release dateJul 24, 2014
    ISBN9781311299697
    The Fires of Autism
    Author

    Lynn Messing

    Lynn Messing has loved language all her life. She studied four foreign languages in high school and went on to earn a doctorate in linguistics. It is therefore ironic that her son Andy, who is extremely severely affected by autism, has minimal expressive language skills.Andy has probably taught Lynn as much about communication as all of her graduate school instructors combined, and he has definitely taught her more about patience and love.In addition to raising Andy, Lynn also teaches computer networking and security at a nearby community college.She can be reached at the following address: [her first initial][her middle initial, which is “S”][her full last name]@verizon.net

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      Book preview

      The Fires of Autism - Lynn Messing

      The Fires of Autism

      By Lynn Messing

      Copyright 2014 Lynn Messing

      Smashwords Edition

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between the events or characters in this story and real events or real people -- living or dead (except the author or her son) -- is purely coincidental.

      This story is lovingly dedicated to my son Andy, who was the inspiration for Todd.

      Table of Contents

      The Sparks Ignite

      Response to the Alarm

      The Fire Rages

      Firefighting

      Afterword

      References

      Also by Lynn S. Messing

      Bonus Story: The Not-So-Great Escape

      Free Sample of Echolalia

      The Sparks Ignite

      I'm sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Wygant. Todd has autism.

      The doctor's pronouncement sounded like a death knell to Calvin. The son he thought he would have did not exist. Todd would never speak. Never get married. Never even have a friend. He wouldn't play baseball or attend a prom. Todd's life would be so much less than Calvin had thought it would. So much less than Calvin wanted for his son.

      Calvin set his jaw and pinched his lips into a tight line, the diagnosis tolling in his mind. Autism. He hadn't wanted to believe it.

      He remembered how that word had first insinuated itself into their family.

      It was his mother-in-law June who had been the first to notice something amiss. The conversation she and Laura had had was burned into Calvin's brain. It had occurred in the kitchen a couple of months after Todd's first birthday while Calvin had been

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