This is one of those books that you feel like the rating of the book is a reflection of the story or people so you throw in an extra star. The book is a memoir of a well-to-do white woman in coastal America raising her children. She even mentions in one chapter about how self-centered she feels writing this memoir since "some people have real problems." This is her side of the story of trying to get treatment and support and help for her family. While there are some PTA grievances and some large personalities at play, the scenario is really fairly ideal and non-typical! Kids are at private schools, 1 parent works a steady job, 1 parent stays home and has time to devote to full time research and care of the children.
There were nearly entire chapters focused on the back and forth between her and her partner discussing revisions to a letter to the school and if they should send the letter. Ugh.

Kayla Taylor's daughter is a canary. She learns differently than her peers. But her school and several peers insist on treating her the same. The bullied girl begins to withdraw and expresses severe symptoms of anxiety. This book tells the mom's story of understanding her daughter and seeking help.
The author's disclosure at the beginning turned me off and made me question much of the content. To protect the children and adults involved, she states, "I’ve taken great lengths to change names, identities, and locations. I’ve altered facts, and I’ve created composites, all in an effort to protect both the innocent and the guilty. I also took the liberty of adjusting the timeline to connect dots and convey meaning more coherently." However, even if the story is fictionalized, the family's experiences are all to real, unfortunately.
Also, I skimmed the research-heavy chapters. As a mom to neurodiverse children, I've seen and read it all before. However, I did appreciate several teaching points. For examples:
*When somebody shares a painful experience with you, sit with it, resist all temptation to prescribe, resist relating your story, resist asking "why," and use strong words to validate feelings.
*What if, instead of pulling away , denying one another’s unique experiences, and justifying the status quo, we leaned in and asked, “That sounds so difficult. Can you tell me more about it? How can I support you best right now?”
*Sometimes our role is to till the soil, sometimes to plant the seed, sometimes to nurture the sprig, and, in a few circumstances , to witness a harvest. I hope you honor the role you have played [as you advocate].
*Maybe the practice of releasing is not just about letting go but also about becoming more integrated within myself— allowing my feelings and my beliefs and my understandings to unite so that my foundation can stand firm.
*DARVO - Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender - can happen when we're confronted with our mistakes or faults. Learn to recognize when we do and when we receive it, and commit to change.
Raising a child who is undervalued by a community is heartbreaking and also filled with joy. While I wasn't super impressed with this book, my hope is that it gives other parents hope and a reminder that they're not alone. And for parents of neurotyical children, may you learn how to better support your friends and teach oyur children to be kind.
Note: the author states that she's donating her profits to organizations promoting mental health, neurodiversity, and bullying prevention. This sentence shouls include "profites from the book's first edition sales."

“No matter the site I visit, research confirms learning differences and attention challenges do not equate to a lack of intelligence. In fact, clinicians underscore that children with learning differences are more intelligent than their classroom performance suggests.”

Part memoir and part resource, Canaries Among Us is one mom’s story about confronting the school that allowed her neurodiverse child to be bullied and then played an extraordinarily cruel game of CYA. There was so much to this book, too much to explain in a short review. Suffice to say if you or your kids are “sensitive,” you should give this a read. It is absolutely infuriating that when disabled people ask for accommodations, rather than striving to understand the person, the first instinct usually is to doubt the diagnosis and decide the person wants special treatment. Hard not to want this unnamed school to get a new principal and Board yesterday.

A common thread in my recent conversations is the idea of being seen. The author and her daughter were not once acknowledged during the awful year of bullying. While it is hard to read about it, this book made me fell less alone.

“Canaries Among Us” should be required reading for every school administrator and teacher, as well as part of the curriculum for any education major. Nobody should have to experience what Hannah and her family experienced, especially all the ways that school officials failed them and other students who were similarly mistreated. Unfortunately, the institutional stonewalling and gaslighting is all too common, in educational settings and many other institutional settings. Think how much better things could be for everyone if we were more accepting of people’s differences and looked for ways to highlight their strengths and aid them in their struggles.

This is a well-written book, offering both deep personal insight and research to back it up. As someone who has already read quite a bit on institutional failure (particularly education) and neurodivergence, some of the research parts seemed repetitive to me, but this may be a good entry for people who are newer to these waters or figuring out advocacy at an earlier stage.

Taylor comes from a place of privilege, which she understands -- she writes in her book about feeling jealousy regarding other people getting support in the ways she craves for her child and family; perhaps ironically, I felt similarly about her ability to swap schools readily without tuition pressures, to take the time needed to help her child without it impacting a career or her ability to provide for that child materially, to hire a fantastic neuropsychologist and other supports for her child without a second thought. It doesn't change the subject matter of the book, but I think it's important to understand that this is someone who was able to move their child through and out of a terrible system quickly, with a privilege that others reading the book might not have.

Taylor also seems to draw some lines around disability and diagnoses that, as someone reading from a disability justice standpoint, don't connect with what I have heard from many other advocates. She understands that for many, 'disabled' is an identity that matters, and she delves into the social model of disability, but seems to want to hold her daughter separate from disability.

There are little pieces of helpful information and philosophies sprinkled throughout the book. I appreciate any time people stand up to power to advocate for marginalized students, so even though this book is not ideal for me, it's a good book.

Review: This is a very well written book about raising kids who don’t “fit in”. Although long winded in section overall the book is excellent at telling the story of how a mother fought for her child to be seen and heard. Sadly, she failed more than she succeeded, but her child is the winner for having a parent who cares enough to try this hard.
Recommended For: Those who want a parenting book that is helpful if your child has a learning disability. And want to read about how a school as well as other parents truly lack empathy and the ability to see they are hurting others, especially children.

This book was one mother’s story of her struggle to help her young daughter, overcome bullying in a school setting. She and her husband felt they had made the right choice sending their child to a small Christian school, but I believe this shows that bullying behavior can happen anywhere. At times I think the word bully can be thrown around to quickly. It’s important for remember that the behavior should be repetitive and intentional and the relationship also involves a imbalance of power. It was hard to read how the school stuck their heads in the sand even when faced with evidence and other families leaving the school because of similar situations.
I did feel at times the mom was over the top and that may have hurt her credibility with the administration of the school. Towards the end the mother struggled and waited too long to get help with medication and counseling for herself.
Regardless, what their child went through was unfair and I found this book eye opening. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Not what I expected. Was hoping for a dive into neurodivergence, societal pressure, HSP, etc.

Got an upper middle-class mom’s experience with her daughter being bullied and gaslit, while she hosts parties with help from her babysitters that work with her exclusive-private-school-attending children.

Not necessarily horrible, but pretentious and relatively vapid. You could probably get the same effect on a Facebook mom’s group. TBH, this is the first ARC ever that I didn’t finish, so I suppose it could’ve gotten better at the end. Two stars just for that. Re-market.

This is an amazing resource for parents, caregivers, teachers, anyone that interacts with neurodiverse children and has the opportunity to celebrate their uniqueness. I'm a special needs school bus driver with ADHD and I have a son with ADHD. The story is sadly very relatable, but the information shared is hopeful and I wish everyone would have a chance to read it. It's always good to know that others are fighting to stop the stigmas and bullying associated with neurodiversity too.

Oof. The premise of this book was intriguing. Bullying exists, Neurodivergent people exist, and they need support. However, the author was writing from such a place of privilege that I could not take her points seriously.

The words about an I Hate xxx Club were haunting to read and immediately took me back to being bullied in third grade. Taylor has crafted an excellent book about navigating life when people express unkind words, etc. towards you. It was difficult to read at some points because the subject matter saddens me. It is important though. Thanks to NetGalley for the e-copy for the purpose of this review.