Very empathic and compassionate outlook towards people with disabilities. Thought provoking and and realistic events will open your eyes and question your own self worth and how we each one can make the difference in the lives of the many who are challenged in different ways but at the same time human being just like you and me who loves to be loved and to love.

Judy McFarlane's honesty, combined with good writing, kicks this up to five stars for me. I have felt that same quandary, unsure how to keep from putting my foot in my mouth when I mean to be friendly and open. When asked to work with Grace, a young woman who aches to become a famous writer and who has Down syndrome, McFarlane faces her own demons.

The result of her decision to say yes is this wonderful book, a memoir that explores the broader issues of not only Down syndrome but also of being a society that truly embraces what everyone brings to the human rainbow. My mind feels larger for having read it.

As the younger sister of a wonderfully made person, thank you! I cannot tell you how much your memoir meant to me. We lost my sister last year at 47 1/2 years. My parents were told she wouldn't live to 2, then she wouldn't go to school, then she wouldn't graduate, then she wouldn't hold a job. She surpassed all of those "won'ts, can'ts, and couldn'ts, wouldn'ts". Just thank you so much for sharing your love and joy.

While the author made some good points, I didn't think this book was particularly well written. The author many times referred to her son as special needs. No child is special needs, the child is a child. It's a hot button for me...

I know an OB/GYN who gives this book to all of his patients who have a Downs baby. His stories (told in generic terms because of confidentiality!) are ones where mom and dad go from sorrow and despair to hope and acceptance; even to sheer joy - and the book is a huge ingredient of moving them to that. If you or someone you know is touched by the beauty of a Downs baby, this is the book you give. This is the window into that world that we would all be so lucky to be touched by.

I just started reading this book today and I am already almost done. I love everything about this book. I found myself crying tears of joy. It also helped me to realize how special I am that God chose me to be Raymond’s (the son of the authors) teacher. I would definitely recommend this book for parents, teachers, siblings, friends, therapists, doctors, etc.

As the grandmother of a beautiful little girl with Down syndrome, I eagerly read this book, assuming I would find some parallels between the author and me. What I found instead was a rekindling of my lapsed faith, and a deep respect for Jeff Gallagher as a writer, a pastor and a father. Those were bonuses, of course, to the exquisitely written account of his and his wife's lives before and after the birth of their precious Jacob.

The journal (blog) excerpts combined with narration make this a work of art. The raw human emotion exuded on every page are akin to a storytelling. I didn't feel like I was reading words. The narration came alive, and I felt like I knew this family and was part of their at-times harrowing ordeals. That's the mark of a brilliant writer.

This is a book for everyone to read. It isn't limited to those with a loved one with Down syndrome or other disability. This book awakens the human spirit and soothes the soul. I hope as Jacob grows this author will keep readers apprised of their lives as a family.

While this book is filled with insights by a pastor who never fails to inspire each Sunday, the following words from page 94 were especially meaningful to me:
'Well for me, prayers do not have to be in words, though they can be; they do not have to be in silence, though they can be that too; they certainly don't have to be well thought out and articulated; they don't even have to be understood by the person doing the praying (in fact, sometimes I think the best aren't). Prayer, really, is a state of mind. It is, as the Jewish authorAbraham Joshua Herschel writes: "an invitation to God to intervene in our lives...the opening of a window to [God] in our will'."
This is a comfort to one whose mind begins buzzing as I sit in church and hear the words, "Let us pray...." I imagine everyone around me being focused and intent as they silently talk to God, while my doubting mind simply wanders or fiercely erupts with questions "Is there a God? What does that mean? What should I say as a prayer?" When I put all the questions aside, I do recognize that unseen, positive interventions have occurred in my life more than a few times. I used to be fond of saying, "Oh I just fell into this [or that]" but now I believe that a guiding force has been, and is still, at work in my life, allowing me to receive what some would call grace. I also recognize that this happens when my state of mind is open like a window allowing a bright breeze to enter. If this, as noted above, can be called prayer, then I guess I'm not such a stranger to giving and receiving prayers.

What an incredible story of a father's love for his child as he has a son with down syndrome and he realized there is nothing wrong with him and it is the world that is backward. The work he does to make things right for his son and others like his son is truly inspiring. I loved this book.

I try to read outside my normal go-to genre fiction categories several times a year just to feel the pulse of what else is out there, including what’s new in nonfiction. Lloyd M. Lewis’s book is definitely nonfiction and definitely outside my comfort zone, but once I started it, it was hard to put down.

It didn’t hurt that one of my favorite authors Corinne Joy Brown, “ghost wrote” the story. (Check out her own Hidden Star, an historically-based fiction about the camouflaged identities of refugee Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the colonial American Southwest.)

The focus of this book is the world of Down syndrome (DS) families and the trend to integrate DS individuals into the mainstream. Author Lewis tells a very personal story, starting with the birth of his own son with DS, also known as Trisomy 21 (so called because the condition is the result of an extra or sometimes partial third copy of chromosome 21), and the transformative journey he takes alongside his son.

It’s not always an easy read, but it’s never maudlin, and the journey reaches an (ongoing) triumph that’s satisfying.
It’s also educational for an era when inclusivity is a growing part of our cultural awareness. For example, I didn’t realize that one in 800 persons are born with the condition. At least passingly, chances are we all know someone from a family with a DS relative. But Lewis is not your average family member.

With a longtime professional background as a corporate financial analyst, Lewis put his skills to work by rising from consultant to CEO of a Colorado-based chain of thrift stores with the mission of providing employment to a high percentage of physically and mentally challenged individuals.

This book follows Lewis’s own journey alongside his son’s, and the father’s growing commitment to mainstream others besides his son into work environments that are holistic.

As a result, the book includes many vignettes on others in the thrift chain – both employees and dedicated managers – and along the way does an impressive job of personalizing this so-often overlooked segment of the population and their struggle to find meaning and purpose in their lives.

I recommend the book. It’s an uplifting read even as it challenges readers to reassess what they thought they knew about those born with DS. Their spirit and their personalities may just surprise you.

Excellent book—Once I started reading it, I couldn’t stop. Sandra McElwee has chronicled the life of her Down syndrome son, Sean, in a way that will guide and give understanding to parents and educators alike. She uses humor, grace, and perseverance to tell this true story of the struggle to have her son educated in a mainstream classroom. Through her experience she helps to educate readers on how to handle situations that can happen every day. It shows that being an advocate for your special needs child is never dull and keeps you on your toes. Also, her record keeping is amazing, and a guide for all parents with children that have IEP’s. I highly recommend this book for everyone. It makes for good reading for anyone. Who's the Slow Learner?, offers stories and accounts that give a much-needed understanding to the special needs child.

This "Down Syndrome Parenting" kind of memoir is more my style than the usual "pity me, why is my child different?" book that is typically written when the child in question is barely 2 years old (f*** those parents, by the way). Sandra McElwee opts to include Sean's IEP information for EVERY year of school from Kindergarten through High School, which is immensely helpful information. There are entirely too many inspirational quotes in this text, and it displays a few self-published elements, but the content is still invaluable to me. Rather than try to memorize the information year-by-year, I'm hoping to have this as a back-up tool as my own son progresses through the public school education system.

Part 2 of the series is just as entertaining and informative as the first book. Sean is a little older than my son, so some parts are fun to read and compare to our journey and some give me a glimpse into the future, as they share a lot of similar interests. Thanks for another winner Sandra!