Dena Jaroszewski's Reviews > Raising Will

As a mother of a child with Autism and possibly ADHD as well, this book really resonated with me. I loved the author's honesty about the hardships of raising a child with a behavioral disorder. What impacted me the most was her battles with William's teachers over the years. My son was fortunate enough to attend a high needs preschool for the past two years, where his teachers followed his IEP to the letter and gave him as much support in the classroom as possible. However, next year he'll be attending a brand new school and starting Kindergarten and, to be perfectly honest, I'm scared sh*tless. I hope and pray that they work with him to the best of their abilities so that he can perform to the best of his abilities.

Throughout William's story, I could picture my son doing the exact same things as him - the fear of food, being particular about clothing, rambling on for hours about a subject I know next to nothing about it (in our house Star Wars is life), and the hyperactivity and inability to sit for extended periods. I think that every parent of a child with ADHD should read this book. I learned so much about ADHD and the treatments and therapies available for it, and I highly recommend others read William's story as well.

My one con was that I felt like the ending was a little rushed, and I kind of wanted a little "this is where William is now" blurb at the end too. I hope that Katherine writes a follow up book and talks about William's experiences in College since that's such a massive step for all kids in general, but especially for kids with behavioral disorders.