Someone I love relies on me in ways you will never understand.

Someone I love endures pain and challenges that break my heart and renew my spirit at the same time.

Someone I love is unable to advocate for themselves for things that most of us take for granted.

Someone I love will never have the opportunities that every child should have.

Someone I love will need unconditional love and support after I am gone-this frightens me to the core.

Someone I love encounters pity, stereotyping responses, and prejudice at every turn, because they look, act, and/or learn differently than others.

Someone I love has needs that require me to allow "outsiders" to have power and input in areas that should be mine alone to meet.

Someone I love will continue to look to me for everything in life long after other children are able to assume a place as part of the world.

Someone I love has needs that require more time and energy than I have to give.

Someone I love has needs that mean I am not able to meet basic needs of my own.

Someone I love has needs that have become the driving force behind major decisions my family makes.

Someone I love has changed me in ways I will never be able to describe.

Someone I love has taught me about love and about the really important things in life. . . .

Living in My Skin: The Insider's View of Life With a Special Needs Child offers you a unique opportunity-a "day in the life" view of what families of children with special needs experience. From diagnosis to adulthood, you will see how children and parents can overcome challenges and preconceptions to create their own successes and triumphs.

But there is something else happening within these pages. Living in My Skin affords parents of children with special needs something vital to us all: the chance to reach out to others. Although the stereotype is that these parents are the ones who need support, one parent reminds us, "they also need to have the opportunity to give to others besides their child...there is something very healthy and balancing in the giving...it does make a difference to all of us." With this book, author Lori Hickman provides one such opportunity.

Whether you are looking for a useful resource for your practice or simply want to increase your understanding of the families with children with special needs, Living in My Skin will give you what you came for and much, much more.