Dance of Joy
By Melissa
Campbell Rowe
Genre: Adult
Fiction
Meltdowns.
Rejection. Bullying. All of these words are associated with autism. As the
story opens, Jeff Howard races to the emergency room to find his wife battered
by their autistic son. Jeff’s plans for his success and family start falling
apart and the reality is that life is hard. But It’s harder when you have a
child with autism. And you can’t run from it. Jeff’s journey from denial to
acceptance is poignant and honest. Jeff must let go of his ambitions and
embrace a different way to live. To find peace the family must be able to pull
together and work as a team to make a better life for them all. Through the
process, the family learns some new words to associate with autism: courage,
acceptance, and joy.
Author
Bio
Melissa has seen the story of special needs
from several angles. She has been a public school special education teacher, a
private school educator, a cousin, and a parent. In her first book, Dance of
Joy, readers get a glimpse into a family's life and concerns as they deal with
autism through the characters of Jeff and Meredith. She hopes this book brings
understanding to families with a child with autism and enlightenment to the
grandparents, aunts and uncles, and friends.
Originally from Indiana, Melissa moved to
Arkansas and graduated from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. After
spending 14 years in Texas attending graduate school and teaching, she moved to
Fort Smith in 1997. Melissa has published articles
in national magazines, was an editor and writer for a local magazine, and was
an English teacher for 10 years.
She has two grown sons who were both home
educated. She now divides her time between her sons and working
at Grace Academy, an academy serving homeschooled students. She is a board
member for a new nonprofit focused on bringing community and social
opportunities to adults with disabilities. You can connect with this
organization and their outreach at - http://www.theartswithgrace.org orhttps://www.facebook.com/The-Arts-With-Grace-445306178984966/
EXCERPT
Meredith opened the door to start
loading the car with backpacks and lesson plans. The chilled air instantly
raised goose bumps on her skin. She called back into the house, “Be sure and
get a jacket.” The ride to school was unusually quiet. The cool temperature had
calmed down the sentiments of settling into the school year.
The light sweater Meredith had chosen
didn’t keep her from feeling chilled in her classroom. She decided to button it
up to try and get warm as she graded papers while eating her lunch at her desk.
Mrs. Riley peeked her head in the door. "Mrs. Howard, you have a phone
call in the office."
Meredith hurried to the office. It
had to be Jeff or Tucker since the girls were with her at school.
"Mrs. Howard, we need you to
pick up Tucker from school. There has been an incident with another student,
and we have Tucker in the office."
"Is he hurt?" Meredith
asked.
"No, he's fine, but you need to
pick him up. Tucker attacked another student so effective immediately he will
be suspended for three days. We have a no tolerance policy for aggressive
behavior."
Aggressive behavior— not again,
Meredith said aloud to herself as a wave of nausea hit her. She took several
deep breaths to steady herself. Not again, she thought. Well, he is impulsive but
aggressive implies the desire to hurt someone else. Tucker didn't have the
desire to hurt anyone but . . . sometimes people got hurt anyway. She thought
of her black eye and felt a wave of nausea hit again. Meredith knew the world
would classify Tucker as aggressive or violent. Her emergency room record would
even validate that classification, but she knew there was no malice. Aggression
implies intent. But for Tucker, damage to things and people were simply
collateral damage to meltdowns, frustrations, and sensory overload.
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