Thank you Nicholas Sparks.

My Dad had given me a book a while back and had suggested i read it. He has the same love for reading as I and we often trade books back and forth. Dad had mentioned that there was a storyline in this book that described a situation very similar to the one that I have gone through with Spencer. It took me a few weeks to get to it, but i started it yesterday and needless to say, I am finished it today. Nicholas Sparks.....such a gifted writer. Typically he writes the amazing love story. Has authored such books as "A walk to remember" and "the Notebook". The one that i fell in love with however, was "The Rescue".


While it did cover the growth and development of a wonderful love between a man and a woman, there was a much bigger plot line that captured my absolute attention. The female character in the book was a single mother of a child with a severe receptive and expressive language disorder. More specifically, her son had an auditory processing disorder. Much of this story detailed her struggles over the years around all the appointments, her own home teachings with him, and leaving her teaching career behind in order to help him. I cried like a baby several times throughout this story. This author articulated this characters feeling with such sincerity and honesty. I was quite baffled, seeing myself in much of this story. Without a doubt, I am certain that Mr. Sparks has had some encounter with a child who has had these struggles. Whether it be his own child or that of a loved one, he had intimate knowledge about the fears and struggles a parent goes through when you have a child who has no understanding of language. He understands that these children don't have the ability to always sort and categorize the words that they learn. He knows that its often like being in France, when the only language you have learned was taught to you as you grew up in Spain. Its all foreign and none of it makes sense. Mr. Sparks describes with clarity, the absolute fear a parent can face when they know they aren't able to teach your child about everyday dangers, strangers and all the other unsafe things that pop up in day to day life. How exasperating it can be to know that your child doesn't understand these words, and ultimately you can't give them the tools they need to keep them safe in the world. He poetically writes about this Mother's love for her child, and the lengths she will go to help him. He gets that a Mother sometimes judges others solely on the way that they treat her child. I cannot even express how much i loved this book. For all of these reasons and more. I love when i encounter a book that makes me think about things long after the last page is over. This was one of those written adventures.

This book made me realize just how little public knowledge there is out there on the topic of speech and language disorders. Thankfully a lot more attention is being drawn the the Autism Spectrum Disorder, but when it comes to the awareness of language, we have a long way to go. Its not something that people understand. These children rely on those that love them, to educate all those that they encounter in order to make people understand. I recall on more than one occasion, people saying such ignorant comments as " He doesn't look like anything is wrong with him", or "I just never would have guessed something was wrong. He looks so normal" Are people really this stupid? How is it that they can have their head so firmly planted in their ass? I wonder what its like to be that completely insensitive and harsh when dealing with an innocent child. Yeah, i sit in judgement. I have earned the right to judge all the jerks of the world that have been less than kind to my boy. I try not to get angry, as I know that its due to a lack of information and not an attempt to be blatantly cruel. Honestly though, it gets old when people don't have the most basic of social skills necessary to be thoughtful before opening those giant and gaping holes in their faces. Think before you speak.....a simple concept. But one that many people are not able to live their life by. So sad....so very sad. As you can tell, I have some baggage related to all the fools I have encountered through this journey.

If Nicholas Sparks does not have a child that has these struggles, I would be very very surprised. I want to thank him for two reasons. For writing such a fabulous story and describing these struggles with such sensitivity as well as from a very educated stand point. As people read this book, and believe that they are going the get the usual amazing love story, they are in fact getting something much more. Without realizing it, they may discover that they have received some tools that will help them to be gentle and caring should they ever encounter one of these "special ones". It truly is a wonderful thing, that you can learn something so great just from flipping the pages of a book. Lastly, I am grateful to Nicholas Sparks for making it just a little bit easier for us Mom's out there. The more people know, the easier it will be for my little boy. For that I am thankful.