Dragonfly: A Daughter's Emergence from Autism: A Practical Guide for Parents

by Lori Ashley Taylor

A parent's guide to helping children with autism maximize their potential.

Over a decade ago, an autism diagnosis had confined Lori Ashley Taylor's daughter Hannah to an inaccessible world. Lori became a tireless researcher, worker, and advocate, and her dedication showed results. There can be progression and shifting on the spectrum, and Hannah has done just that—she has emerged.

Part narrative and part practical guide, Dragonfly provides anecdotal and practical guidance for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder. The author discusses intervention strategies, therapies such as Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), and different medical tests. She explains Autism terminology like hyperresponsivesness and stimming. A classroom teacher herself, she recommends educational accommodations and supports. Busy parents can find practical tips on everything from making friends to Sensory Processing Disorder in helpful sidebars in the text. Taylor's personal experience is supplemented by wisdom from a series of round table discussions featuring other parents of children with autism.

In the summer of 2013, eight-year-old Hannah wrote "Life of a Dragonfly," a poem with repeated parallel stanzas that used the stages of a dragonfly's life as a mirror for her own physical and cognitive development. Among its wisdom "Hope rises, and I begin to reveal my concealed wings. I begin to understand language and what I am meant to do."

Taylor has helped her daughter find her wings; in Dragonfly , she gives other parents the tools to do the same.

Genres: Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Nonfiction, Parenting

328 pages, Hardcover

Published April 10, 2018

About the author

Lori Ashley Taylor is a nationally recognized speaker on autism, founder of local autism support groups, founder and publisher of the website Emerging from Autism, and tireless advocate offering encouragement to families struggling to know the next steps to take. Taylor’s 24-year career as a classroom teacher includes licensing in special needs, a specialization she brings to the classroom, to leadership and advocacy roles, and to her writing. She lives outside Indianapolis, Indiana, with her two children, Hannah and Connor. She is a public school teacher and enjoys her faith, exercise, travel, and soaking up her children’s younger years.

Reviews

[Jennifer England · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know of children with Autism. Not many. I have always been compelled to read books on this so that I can possibly be able to help others. Years ago I had the book Son Rise: The Miracle Continues by Barry Neil Kaufman for quite a while. Then one day I decided to read it. Was incredible. Feel that God always directs me to people, books, music and many other resources to look into. I go with this feeling I get inside of me that says "you must get this". I am not much of a news watcher. Like to hear and see what the weather may do and that's about it. Gary had the news on and when I came into the room Angie was talking about this book and the local author. I immediately became interested. Jumped on Amazon and had it sent to me. A few days later, my book on the way, I was visiting with a very good friend of mine and she said they had just found out that one of her sons has autism. I met her about 8 years ago when we both worked together and she has always been special to me. There were certain things that she told me about her son that I did recognize that might possible be but I didn't say anything. I am not sure if that is good or bad. When she said this I immediately told her about seeing the news report and my book was on the way. I love to crochet and was in the middle of a baby afghan that I wanted to get done so every spare moment I wasn't working on the afghan I was reading. Highly recommend this book. God gave Hannah to Lori to learn and to teach others about Autism and I am sure thankful that I got the opportunity to read this. The best part was a very special poem somewhere in the book. Just beautiful. I have a mural on my wall and in the corner, as if flying out of the mural, is a dragonfly. Been on my wall for years. Now this will always remind me of Hannah. I still feel emotions build in me that want to hug all the friends, family and people put in their lives to help. Thanks again to all who help bring this important book to the world. Thank you Lori for giving this book to us. God bless you. And my friend lives in Avon Indiana and I am not far from her. I live in Indianapolis. About 10 minutes from the track. To have someone so close is a miracle.

[Pamela Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because I needed an Indiana
Author for my reading group, but I also am interested in autism. I have recommended it to some parents that are struggling to work with the school system to get the needs of their kids met. The author had a lot of success there. I also liked that she shared on going challenges such as dental hygiene. I also liked that the comments from other parents were diverse, their children all had autism but the paths they were on we're different.

[Racheal Paquette · Rating 5 out of 5]

So happy our library for this book! I couldn't put it down! I laughed, cried, okay cried a lot, and was so touched by every chapter. Great insight and tools for parents, caregivers or family members who have been impacted by Autism. Highly recommended!

[Diana Pettis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story well worth the read.

[Mike Little · Rating 4 out of 5]

I live in a three-generation home and the youngest is our daughter's son, age 9, who is a very functional autistic boy. That doesn't mean that his life is easy nor that out lives are easy. This book was recommended and I can see why. It has many nuggets of wisdom and practical advice from a woman who can express herself. I plan to recommend the book to the rest of the house.

A quibble that I have is that it could be edited down quite a lot. I didn't get much from the six mothers who added commentary at the end of each chapter. There was some repetition. There was a lot of heartfelt emotion, which I absolutely understand, but perhaps too much of it in a book said to be practical.

But if you have a person with autism in your life you very well might learn a lot from this book and you are likely to gain some new tools and points of view to help you both.

[Kate]

Scanned for work - would be a good book especially for a parent whose child was newly diagnosed.

[Peggy Sue 33 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even for someone who isn't a parent of a child with autism, this is an inspiring story to read.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was written more for someone whose child has autism, but I found it interesting.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful new voice in autism readings for parents. Great layout of her daughter's diagnosis and emergence from autism. So many new therapy techniques I had not heard about.
Lori does a wonderful job of showing us how to advocate for your child, and even though she has the education background, that is not something that makes her journey easier. Rather it is a tool to make other parents' journeys easier, because of her empathy and understanding of their situations.
This is a very positive book, both in what you can accomplish, and what an autistic child is capable of accomplishing.