Marching to a Different Beat: A family's journey with autism - Sarah Jane Ziegel

The poignant, sometimes funny, but ultimately inspirational story that spans twenty years in a family with four, unique, individual boys, not just one child with autism, but four. It shows that with enough determination, a parent's love can win through and transform their children's lives.

Each chapter begins with a real life quote or excerpt which sets the tone of the chapter from either a specialist's report or a quote from one of the boys themselves or a personal quote from the author. There are some samples too within the chapters from specialists' reports as factual evidence so that it does not all read as my own thoughts and adds some weight to the story.

We are not unique in having children with autism but our story differs from many families in the fact that all four are diagnosed with the classic, non verbal type of autism previously known as childhood autism.

There are many recurrent themes within the book, the lack of support available to children with autism, the lack of support for the parents of those children and the lack of awareness and understanding from those who do not live with autism on a daily basis themselves. There are also themes around the positive support and respect for our family which appears in unexpected places, the strength of the boys doing their utmost to show us their true selves and their abilities, the immense ability for change and growth. Above all, our immeasurable love for our children is foremost.