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.
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/552336
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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