Forever Boy

A Mother's Memoir of Autism and Finding Joy

By: Kate Swenson

Narrated by: Kate Swenson

Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

With her popular blog, Finding Cooper's Voice, Kate Swenson has provided hope and comfort for hundreds of thousands of parents of children with Autism. Now, Kate shares her inspiring story in this powerful memoir about motherhood and unconditional love

When Kate Swenson’s son Cooper was diagnosed with severe, nonverbal autism, her world stopped. She had always dreamed of having the perfect family life. She hadn’t signed up for life as a mother raising a child with a disability.

At first, Kate experienced the grief of broken dreams. Then she felt the frustration and exhaustion of having to fight for your child in a world that is stacked against them. But through hard work, resilience and personal growth, she would come to learn that Cooper wasn’t the one who needed to change. She was. And it was this transformation that led Kate to acceptance—and ultimately joy. In Forever Boy, Kate shares her inspiring journey with honesty and compassion, offering solace and hope to others on this path and illuminating the strength and perseverance of mothers.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Kate Swenson (P)2022 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

thank you for sharing

loved it.. it's raw, honest & emotional and open my eyes, the world needs to read this

Absolutely beautiful

Kate eloquently describes her journey to acceptance of a life she never imagined- one with severe, nonverbal Autism. The ups and downs, the battle for services, the toll on her marriage and other relationships...it's all there. This book is sure to help many parents, teachers, therapists, and friends.

Amazing Representation of Moms

This book is profound as it says all the things we go through as moms with non verbal autistic children, or at least most of the things I did and do on a daily basis. Her doubts, frustrations, ambition, wanting, love, compassion, struggles are all something I can relate to. This is what parents should be given when facing a diagnosis. This is something relatable, real, and raw. It’s not filtered for the worldly views and I appreciate it. Thank you Kate for saying things we all want to say but don’t know how too.

Paints a great picture of what it is like to be a special needs parent

As a Mother of an Autistic child, I feel this captioned every emotion that I have felt along our journey. I feel that it paints a beautiful picture that would give friends and family insight to the Autism world - the good, bad, beautiful and ugly, or really any family with a special needs diagnosis. Thank you Kate for being our voice and our children’s voice when we don’t always know how or are not being heard.

Cannot love forever boy more!

Last year our son was diagnosed level 3 autism, he is nonverbal and reminds me so much of Cooper. I spent much of last year manically searching for answers and drowning in feeling overwhelmed as therapies weren't working. Often wondering if I was making the right choices and still to this day as society gets in my head I ask myself over and over am I making the right choices for our son. Reading forever boy I often felt like I was reading bits and pieces of our life in fast forward. Comforting to say the least, we aren't alone. Saying those words out loud, we aren't alone....there's no better word to describe that feeling other than Joy. As I type this I sit watching my son who is 3 right now stand close to the tv, closer than he should and Kate's words echo through my head, he's happy, he has his character friends. There's also several other words of Kate's that echo through my head some parts I hadn't came to realize or even allowed myself to realize. The future is just a hard concept most days, all days. Kate's book exceeded my expectations, some was hard to read as I know one day we will face those same situations, most made me cry and I'm not even an emotional person, but there was so much that just brought me pure joy and happiness. We've reached the level of acceptance, we just haven't mastered the not letting societies intrusive thoughts invade our minds I'm not sure if we'll ever reach that level, but I have hope we will. I can't thank Kate enough for advocating for autism, advocating for kids like our son, advocating for families like ours. I'm not sure if she will read this, I pray she does. I pray she knows the difference she is making, and I'm so thankful she didn't give up even though society tried to knock her down time and time again. We were handed a diagnosis we however wasn't handed a different child, our son is exactly who he is suppose to be. I cannot pray more that this book reaches every soul in America, to shine the much needed light on hidden disabilities.

If you haven't read Forever Boy yet here's your sign to. Thank you again Kate ❤️

A must read

I want to buy this for all my son’s teachers.

I’m extremely grateful for Kate’s courage and kindness to share her journey. It has helped me find my own courage to keep helping my son. I don’t have the right words… but thank you.

Beautiful Story

Heartbreaking and breathtakingly beautiful all at once. Mostly beautiful. Have followed Finding Coopers Voice for many years now and enjoyed this inside look at the journey that Kate has been on as a mom of her babies and navigating the world of Coopers needs. Recommend for all parents.

Loved this memoir! so relatable.

I cried and laughed through this whole book. Kate Swenson is so relatable. Loved this memoir so much!!!

beautiful!

loved this book, I do wish it included a little more of the struggles they faced as a couple. but the book is about Cooper really so that makes sense. overall wonderful book. great job Kate

A brave and empowering book

I am going through similar stages as the author, and I felt every word listening to her audiobook. Kate’s story and breakthroughs help me revalue the focuses on educating my own Autistic son and move forward each day embracing the joy every step of the way. Thank you!