Worth Keeping: Life With My Extraordinary Daughter

In this memoir, Jean Sigler chronicles the three decades she has spent with her daughter who has mental retardation or learning disabilities or a language disorder or Asperger syndrome or Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified or Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder or all of the above. Having a child with a disability has brought years of frustration, heartbreak, and inspiration and joy into her life. What she hadn’t bargained for was the laughter. For Sigler, Elizabeth has been the source of countless hours of amusement – not to mention run-ins with the police, the Chancellor of a University, the public school system, and the Catholic Church. In this frequently comical account of her journey through the maze of medical professionals, evaluations and labels, special education policy and adult services, Sigler shares insights from her perspectives as a parent, a teacher, and a professional in the disability field. Elizabeth also shares her experiences as a person on the autism spectrum, an advocate and a daughter.