Based on the success of her popular and moving blog, 'Grace Under Pressure' (www.courage-is.blogspot.com), Sophie Walker writes brilliantly about the highs and lows of parenting a child with Aspergers and how she took up running to help her cope.
'I sometimes wonder if Grace's fragility is inherited from me rather than her diagnosis: whether I am the culprit for the blue vein of vulnerability she displays so clearly beneath her skin. I am running and running now, three or four times a week . . . letting me work off my worries instead of numbing them with pharmaceuticals. But still, there are days when emotional overload hits . . . I find it so hard to bear the travails of my daughter. I love my daughter so much that it can render me incapable and thick-headed.'
When Sophie Walker's daughter Grace was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, her world unravelled. Watching her daughter struggle to navigate a world she didn't fit into left Sophie teary, sleepless and depressed. One day she decided to start running, in order to get better, and set herself the challenge of completing the London Marathon to raise awareness of Asperger Syndrome and make herself physically strong enough to support her beloved, courageous child.
With extraordinary frankness, Sophie Walker shares the daily highs and lows of raising a child with Asperger's and the challenge of becoming a long distance runner.Moving and hugely inspirational, Grace Under Pressure shows that strength can be found and in unexpected places.
London-based Walker, a Reuters reporter, marathon runner, and popular Asperger's and parenting blogger, offers an honest and inspiring portrait of parenting a child with the disorder . . . In the midst of her struggles, the author begins running for her own health and sanity as well to raise money for the U.K.'s National Autistic Society. As she trains, Walker's setbacks and triumphs are mirrored by Grace's parallel journey. Parents of children with Asperger's or other spectrum disorders will find information, validation, and hope in Walker's detailed and moving portrait of a mother/ "Aspie" daughter relationship
