This is a great book written by a very impressive woman. Sarah Newman discovered she had an autistic child when her first son was a few months old. Her first reaction was panic and her next thought was to get as much help as she could. She searched for a book on the subject and found that there were none. So Sarah set to and wrote one that made use of her experience parenting her own special needs child. The result is the book - Small Steps Forward.

As you would expect from the circumstances surrounding its creation, the book is down to earth and practical. It is full of the experience that Sarah gained in the day to day problems of managing, entertaining and helping a small child. Sarah is a practical and highly intelligent woman, so there is plenty of sound advice on how to make the best use of professional advice and where to find practicaql help. The book is written with real understanding for the problems involved and comes to the re-assuring conclusion that parents should remember "it is you who know your own child best."

I read this book when my wife was preparing the illustrations and found the experience very moving. It gave me a small insight into the problems and pleasures of parenting a special needs child and struck me as a book that would be a god-send to any parent of such a child. In fact me and my wife have already given it to the parents of one such child. Furthermore I believe that any parents of a child under 5 would find hundreds of good ideas and lots of good advice in the book..

The illustrations are beautiful capturing the "different" charm and beauty that belongs to Downs Syndrome, Autistic, and other special needs children. Parents or young special needs children will find this a beautiful book as well as a supremely useful one. I heartily recommend this book. Nick Mellersh