N.S. mother of autistic child releases book about their journey
Five-year-old Emmett Cormier isn’t shy when strangers come to his house.
Instead, he smiles and charms with his big blue eyes as he curiously follows the new person around, talking mostly about trains.
Emmett is autistic, diagnosed when he was 3 1/2. His mother, Alex Cormier, has written a book about her personal journey as a parent with an autistic child.
“Every story is entirely different, this is just one. I think that’s why the spectrum is a spectrum, people are here and (over) here,” said Cormier, a stay-at-home mom with two sons who also cares for her 81-year-old grandfather.
“We (parents of autistic children) are all on our own road and they’re all different but they’re similar. Some of the feelings we all feel are the same. And for me it wasn’t about selling a book, it was about that.”
“Jump with Both Feet: The Encouraging Autism Journey of a Little Boy Named Em” was released in January.
Alex self-published the book through Amazon.com, where the
book can be bought.
It took her about eight months to finish the book, something she was able to do with the support of her husband.
Easy to read, it’s a larger size and looks like a workbook, a choice Alex made because her elderly grandparents had trouble reading the novel form of the book.
“My reasons for doing the book was it was important for me to let fellow parents and family know
that there is no such thing as false hope. And to always have hope and do not let it go.”
“Jump with Both Feet” goes through the Cormiers’ early years with Emmett as they realize something was different when, at playgroups, he didn’t seem to do the same things the other kids were doing.
Emmett started speech therapy at 14 months of age. The therapist was the first to tell Alex and her husband that Emmett was showing signs of autism. A year-and-ahalf later, Emmett was officially diagnosed.
“I wasn’t extremely educated in autism … I knew people who had children who had it, but it wasn’t there, it wasn’t on my radar,” Alex said. “My biggest dream is when he’s an adult … he’ll be able to read (the book), when he’s 25, and think, ‘Wow — that’s about me.’”
Inside the book, which costs $10 plus shipping and handling (roughly $22, Kindle version is $8), are tips on how to keep your marriage healthy while raising an autistic child, the importance of self-care for the parent and why birthday parties are difficult for someone on the autism spectrum.
“I would hope (the book) will encourage people to talk about it and help them… to feel they are less alone…. I am fortunate… I have support… but there are people who are single parents and people who have family that don’t quite understand.”
Alex is writing a followup that continues to detail her personal experiences as a parent of a child with autism.
“He has taught me the biggest lesson in my life and that is to live outside the box. Colour outside the lines,” she said. “And that extraordinary is better than ordinary.”