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Hopenstone: A family's journey with autism: From hope to open—unlocking Luke
A family’s journey with autism.
After seven years of infertility, Dave and Sandra Verhoeff welcomed their first-born son, Luke. Soon after, their family was thrown into a journey navigating epilepsy, autism, medications, therapies (speech, occupational, physio, hearing, horseback riding, vision, oxygen, massage/craniosacral/reiki, feldenkrais, neurotherapy), diet changes, and more. After 19 years of love, research, hope, prayers, and turning over many, many stones, they finally found the “gold stone” that unlocked Luke’s spelling on a letterboard for communication. What happened next was the “Great Awakening” as Luke—misdiagnosed as being cognitively delayed—began to speak out with a profoundly poetic kindness, intelligence, and grace.
After seven years of infertility, Dave and Sandra Verhoeff welcomed their first-born son, Luke. Soon after, their family was thrown into a journey navigating epilepsy, autism, medications, therapies (speech, occupational, physio, hearing, horseback riding, vision, oxygen, massage/craniosacral/reiki, feldenkrais, neurotherapy), diet changes, and more. After 19 years of love, research, hope, prayers, and turning over many, many stones, they finally found the “gold stone” that unlocked Luke’s spelling on a letterboard for communication. What happened next was the “Great Awakening” as Luke—misdiagnosed as being cognitively delayed—began to speak out with a profoundly poetic kindness, intelligence, and grace.
118 pages, Paperback
Published December 31, 2024
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May 1, 2025
A must-read for anyone who has an autistic person in their lives; for teachers, parents, or anyone who works with autistic kids. This is a fascinating story of a family's trials and triumphs, told with brutal honesty. You will experience the full gamut of emotions as this mother recounts the ups and downs of her son Luke's journey with autism and how the family has navigated that journey with love and grace, from the time of his birth, diagnosis, therapies, dietary changes, school, and finally, a breakthrough method that allowed Luke to finally communicate with the world. It is a story of strength and hope.
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November 20, 2025Heart warming story of a true friend and her family. Wow what an inspiration! Sandra is Beautiful person and awesome mom and a trooper!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews