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A Review by Jean Hall for Readers’ Favorite

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Reviewed by Jean Hall for Readers’ Favorite

Raising a special needs child seems to be like nurturing a rose with many thorns. Holding onto the stem is painful, but the bloom can be spectacular. Michele Gianetti, R.N., writes I Believe In You and she shares her worthwhile, but sometimes painful journey. Michele and her husband John bring Elizabeth into the world, along with their other two children, Emily and Michael. But Elizabeth is different. After a time of denial there is a diagnosis — dyspraxia and sensory processing disorder. There is lack of coordination for dyspraxia. And there is heightened and disordered reaction to sensory input or stimulation. Elizabeth must constantly be calmed and held to soothe her exquisite nerves. There is crying and screaming at the smallest change in physical circumstances, visual cues, or temperature. Michele tries out different types of therapies in a kind of deliberate chess game. Ever so slowly, progress is made.

Michele Gianetti makes a slow introduction to her parenting and medical tale. It seems necessary to explain some of the medical terms and circumstances in order to fully appreciate her family’s life. Then the floodgates are open and the book seems cathartic for this courageous mom. This special story of a mother and daughter’s journey has many practical resources for families in similar situations. But Michele’s insights and care in observing her daughter’s challenges could be applied to more ordinary behavioral challenges. The table of contents is helpful for reference after the book is read. Michele Gianetti’s I Believe In You is a master course in intelligent and spiritually-based parenting.

Review by The European Mama

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Thank you to The European Mama for your review of I Believe in You. Here’s a snippet of the what she had to say:

It describes very well how it feels like to have SPD- imagine you’d put on your scratchiest sweater, put on headphones with the music turned on too loud and look at the sun without sunglasses. Michele can explain perfectly how a normally developing child can watch somebody use scissors and then do the same, but a child with dyspraxia would have to be thought how to use each and every one of her fingers seperately in order to learn the same thing.
I greatly appreciate the way Michele wrote this book: in a very conversational tone- she writes like she speaks. What I also loved about this book is the fact that Michele is always comparing the rather difficult past and the much easier present- Elizabeth is 12 at the time of writing.
Michele writes about how her child was different from her first one, and caused family and friends to be very worried. At the age of 5, Elizabeth was diagnozed with SPD and dyspraxia and before that, she wouldn’t speak, wouldn’t touch sand or grass with her feet and had many more problematic behaviours. She would have frequent ear infections. Healthcare professionals seemed to ignore the problems. Finally, a family member told Michele the truth: that Elizabeth had SPD.
Read the rest of the review on The European Mama.