Living and Loving With Asperger Syndrome: Family Viewpoints

146 Pages·2003·0.39 MB·English

by  Patrick McCabe, Estelle McCabe, Jared McCabe

Living and Loving with Asperger Syndrome
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Living and Loving
with Asperger Syndrome
Family Viewpoints
Patrick, Estelle and Jared McCabe
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any
material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by
electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other
use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner
except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright
Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England W1T
4LP. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce
any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.
Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work
may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.
The right of the contributors to be identified as authors of this work has been
asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
First published in the United Kingdom in 2003
by Jessica Kingsley Publishers
116 Pentonville Road
London N1 9JB, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
www.jkp.com
Copyright © Patrick, Estelle and Jared McCabe 2003
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN-13: 978 1 84310 744 6
ISBN-10: 1 84310 744 9
ISBN pdf eBook: 1 84642 202 7
Printed and Bound in Great Britain by
Athenaeum Press, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear
Contents
Biographical Note 6
Acknowledgements 7
Introduction 9
1. A Bird’s Eye View 11
2. Living with an Asperger Husband 23
3. Staying Married and Enjoying it! 33
4. The Basics of Living with an Asperger Dad 47
5. The Three Stages
of Growth with an Asperger Parent 61
6. An Even Closer Look at the Asperger Parent 69
7. Raising a Child While Enjoying Each Other 89
8. Professional and Personal Relationships
as Seen by Friends and Co-workers 95
9. Some Differences between Asperger People
and Others: How to Understand “Normal” People 127
10. A Look at Positive Aspects
of Having Asperger Syndrome 137
Biographical Note
Having Asperger Syndrome for forty-four years makes
Patrick well qualified to write on this topic. He has a
varied background in the field of writing. Patrick has
created manuals for his work with the Denver Rescue
Mission and currently writes articles for organizational
newsletters. While in university, he wrote a seven-chapter
thesis. Patrick has taken college level composition courses
as well as attending a nationally recognized writer’s
seminar.
Estelle has taught writing and has edited for ten years
while home schooling her son Jared. Presently, she uses
her writing skills in her position as the PASS Coordinator
at the local junior high school in her hometown of
Wellington, CO. (PASS is an acronym for Parallel
Advocate Support System, a program which has been set
up to help “at risk” students who need extra help with
their schoolwork, as well as emotional support.)
Jared has developed his writing abilities during his
school years. He has taken numerous writing courses
through correspondence during this time period, graded
by professional writers and editors. Now in college, he
continues to hone his writing skills.
Acknowledgements
As a family, we’d like to thank our God, who loves all
people equally. Clearly, He has created us all differently,
but sees the value that each of us retain. We’d like to thank
all of our friends who have encouraged us through life,
through the writing of this book, including those who
have been willing to be interviewed as part of it. Our lives
are much richer because of you.
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