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Expect a Miracle: Understanding and Living with Autism
Co-authored in two voices, this 2-time award-winning revised 2nd edition book makes it possible to experience life from the perspectives of a young autistic adult and his mother, thus enabling an intricate understanding. This work uniquely chronicles the challenges and victories of each developmental stage, including experiences with bullying, college preparation and success, and employment. Inspiring hope and practical ideas, this book would be valuable to those with Autism Spectrum Disorder/Asperger's, their parents and loved ones, and professionals who teach and counsel them. It would also benefit employers, co-workers, and anyone interested in autism.
Paperback
First published November 6, 2014
About the author
Sandy Petrovic
2 books10 followersThis unique book received a GOLD AWARD from the prestigious Mom's Choice Awards honoring excellence. It also received FIRST PLACE in 2 categories in the October 2021 Firebird Book Awards: Parenting & Family AND Inspirational/Motivational.
This revised 2nd edition includes and supersedes the first! It continues our journey and includes chapters on young adult issues, including college success and work place acclimation.
David is an autistic teacher, national speaker, and actor. He graduated cum laude in 2015 with a B.A. in Middle Childhood Education. He teaches social studies, English/Language Arts, and religion and believes he can make a difference in students' lives through his experiences. David earned a masters degree in theology in 2020. For more information, and to read our blog, visit https://petro-autism.com/
Sandy is a BSN-prepared registered nurse with more than 20 years of critical care experience, followed by 10 years in diabetes education. Combining her two passions of nursing and student coaching, Sandy was an instructional advisor in a college academic support center for students with learning differences, and she now tutors nursing.
This revised 2nd edition includes and supersedes the first! It continues our journey and includes chapters on young adult issues, including college success and work place acclimation.
David is an autistic teacher, national speaker, and actor. He graduated cum laude in 2015 with a B.A. in Middle Childhood Education. He teaches social studies, English/Language Arts, and religion and believes he can make a difference in students' lives through his experiences. David earned a masters degree in theology in 2020. For more information, and to read our blog, visit https://petro-autism.com/
Sandy is a BSN-prepared registered nurse with more than 20 years of critical care experience, followed by 10 years in diabetes education. Combining her two passions of nursing and student coaching, Sandy was an instructional advisor in a college academic support center for students with learning differences, and she now tutors nursing.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 17, 2020
I sat down with Expect a Miracle in the morning and didn’t stop reading until I finished it in the late afternoon. This son-mother collaboration is a page-turner filled with lessons on teaching and learning, parenting, collaborating, listening, and true support.
There are many autism stories, autobiographies, biographies, and guides available, but this book is unique because it offers something for everyone. It is a story of diagnosis, growing up, and thriving. It’s a biography and autobiography; the two voices are perfectly integrated and create a wonderful balance of insight and observation. It is also a guide full of tips, ideas, examples, and reflections.
This book will certainly be of interest to autistic teens and adults, advocates, self-advocates, families, and therapists, but I think it will especially interesting to educators as it is organized by school years and even includes a section on college. Teachers will learn a lot from the work samples, anecdotes, social stories, and teaching tools that are highlighted in each section. In addition, they will better understand the power of “embracing differences to make a difference” as it is a central theme of this family’s story.
If you want to understand autism, get this book. If you want to understand autism and create a more inclusive and supportive world, buy one for yourself and another one to share with someone who needs it.
There are many autism stories, autobiographies, biographies, and guides available, but this book is unique because it offers something for everyone. It is a story of diagnosis, growing up, and thriving. It’s a biography and autobiography; the two voices are perfectly integrated and create a wonderful balance of insight and observation. It is also a guide full of tips, ideas, examples, and reflections.
This book will certainly be of interest to autistic teens and adults, advocates, self-advocates, families, and therapists, but I think it will especially interesting to educators as it is organized by school years and even includes a section on college. Teachers will learn a lot from the work samples, anecdotes, social stories, and teaching tools that are highlighted in each section. In addition, they will better understand the power of “embracing differences to make a difference” as it is a central theme of this family’s story.
If you want to understand autism, get this book. If you want to understand autism and create a more inclusive and supportive world, buy one for yourself and another one to share with someone who needs it.
April 12, 2023
DNF with a little over 100 pages left.
This book has great parenting advice, as parents/guardians are vital for the development of children.
But this book was more about understanding and living WITH SOMEONE with autism. David’s perspective was such a small part of this book, even though his name is listed first. Sandy (the mom) covered every little detail that it took away from David’s personal story, and by the time David could say his point of view (which was always very brief) it was just a recounting of what Sandy just said.
It would have been nice if David had the steering wheel for this book, and his mom would add her point of view every so often.
This book has great parenting advice, as parents/guardians are vital for the development of children.
But this book was more about understanding and living WITH SOMEONE with autism. David’s perspective was such a small part of this book, even though his name is listed first. Sandy (the mom) covered every little detail that it took away from David’s personal story, and by the time David could say his point of view (which was always very brief) it was just a recounting of what Sandy just said.
It would have been nice if David had the steering wheel for this book, and his mom would add her point of view every so often.
January 29, 2023
A book about Autism.
This book is about living with autism. And how it is important to get involved with the autistic persons life and learning processes. That includes from being born until after College. The learning never stops. And how we all have to accommodate each other. But to really accommodate the autistic people. They can really thrive. They are just different. But aren't we all?
This book is about living with autism. And how it is important to get involved with the autistic persons life and learning processes. That includes from being born until after College. The learning never stops. And how we all have to accommodate each other. But to really accommodate the autistic people. They can really thrive. They are just different. But aren't we all?
June 26, 2024
I appreciated this mother’s account of raising, accommodating for, teaching, and supporting her son with autism from birth to adulthood. It is expansive in its scope- and both discouraging and hopeful, realistic and inspiring. And also a little overwhelming. I wouldn’t say the writing was particularly engaging and I felt like some of the chapters were long and drawn-out. Still a good resource for anyone interested in understanding autism.
December 30, 2022
Inspirational
Extremely inspirational and personal. Miracles exist, in this case it happened for David and his family. Loved the strategies used to help him succeed and how parental involvement played a huge role in his success. Loved seeing him rise above his trials , not only that but also thriving.
Extremely inspirational and personal. Miracles exist, in this case it happened for David and his family. Loved the strategies used to help him succeed and how parental involvement played a huge role in his success. Loved seeing him rise above his trials , not only that but also thriving.
July 13, 2020
Highly recommend! A great resource for anyone looking to expand their knowledge about autism. Mother and son deliver strategies for success and real life anecdotes in an extremely readable and easy to reference format.
July 29, 2020
I loved it! I found David's story very interesting and he has inspired me to love and accept myself.
August 12, 2020
I sat down with Expect a Miracle in the morning and didn’t stop reading until I finished it in the late afternoon. This son-mother collaboration is a page-turner filled with lessons on teaching and learning, parenting, collaborating, listening, and true support.
There are many autism stories, autobiographies, biographies, and guides available, but this book is unique because it offers something for everyone. It is a story of diagnosis, growing up, and thriving. It’s a biography and autobiography; the two voices are perfectly integrated and create a wonderful balance of insight and observation. It is also a guide full of tips, ideas, examples, and reflections.
This book will certainly be of interest to autistic teens and adults, advocates, self-advocates, families, and therapists, but I think it will especially interesting to educators as it is organized by school years and even includes a section on college. Teachers will learn a lot from the work samples, anecdotes, social stories, and teaching tools that are highlighted in each section. In addition, they will better understand the power of “embracing differences to make a difference” as it is a central theme of this family’s story.
If you want to understand autism, get this book. If you want to understand autism and create a more inclusive and supportive world, buy one for yourself and another one to share with someone who needs it.
There are many autism stories, autobiographies, biographies, and guides available, but this book is unique because it offers something for everyone. It is a story of diagnosis, growing up, and thriving. It’s a biography and autobiography; the two voices are perfectly integrated and create a wonderful balance of insight and observation. It is also a guide full of tips, ideas, examples, and reflections.
This book will certainly be of interest to autistic teens and adults, advocates, self-advocates, families, and therapists, but I think it will especially interesting to educators as it is organized by school years and even includes a section on college. Teachers will learn a lot from the work samples, anecdotes, social stories, and teaching tools that are highlighted in each section. In addition, they will better understand the power of “embracing differences to make a difference” as it is a central theme of this family’s story.
If you want to understand autism, get this book. If you want to understand autism and create a more inclusive and supportive world, buy one for yourself and another one to share with someone who needs it.
October 30, 2022
I gave it two stars because the first 19 pages were the BEST information on autism I've read yet after 5 books on the subject. Sandy's son, David, has autism, and the rest of the book is a story of his life on the spectrum and the help that Sandy gave him, and honestly, it totally depressed me. She must be wealthy, because David was put into top autistic schools throughout his life (which I could not afford for my son), and autistic extra activities not available where I live, and she had a miracle mentor for David throughout most of his life, which I never had the opportunity to have. So here I am with a 20-year-old autistic son who is at the lowest point of his life, failed high school, failed alternative high school, failed at the jobs we tried for him, despite of all my efforts. Now, he won't let me teach him the life skills he needs for adulthood. He has rejected the counselor he had for 10 years. I was hoping for help... and came away feeling like a worthless mom. At the end of each stage of David's life, Sandy does share "Caregiver lessons I learned" and some of those were noteworthy, which were helpful, and I am trying to take hope from those.
February 25, 2016
This book is an excellent resource for any parent with a child with Aspergers, but also a great source of information for all the people who may be part of the support system for that family. I think the writers' style of giving specific stories and a sometimes heartbreakingly honest account of growing up with Asperger's Syndrome showed the hurdles and strategies that this family used with great success. Although every child and family is different, this seems like a very useful adjunct to the more clinical information available and is extremely readable since it is written in the voice of both mom and son.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews