A heart­warm­ing, inti­mate and amus­ing mem­oir of a father’s expe­ri­ence rais­ing his autis­tic son.

When Tom Fields-Mey­er’s son Ezra was three and show­ing ear­ly signs of autism, a ther­a­pist sug­gest­ed that the father need­ed to grieve.

“For what?” he asked.
The answer: ​“For the child he did­n’t turn out to be.”

That moment helped strength­en the author’s resolve to do just the oppo­site: to love the child Ezra was, a quirky boy with a fas­ci­nat­ing and com­plex mind. Full of ten­der moments and unex­pect­ed humor, Fol­low­ing Ezra is the sto­ry of a father and son on a ten-year jour­ney from Ezra’s diag­no­sis to the dawn of his ado­les­cence. It cel­e­brates his growth from a remote tod­dler to an extra­or­di­nary young man, con­nect­ed in his own remark­able ways to the world around him.

Read Tom Fields-Mey­er’s Posts for the Vis­it­ing Scribe

Autism and God

Read­ing and Think­ing about Books

The Jew­ish Message

Video