SPECIAL NEEDS

About the Book

There is no way to describe the terror that stabs a parent’s heart when he or she is told there is something “not quite right” with their child. There is denial, grief and ultimately acceptance. The people you’ll meet in this book have turned their “acceptance” into action. Whether it is a developmental issue, a health threat or a genetic disorder, these families have turned their struggles into triumphs. With each of these families, the diagnosis brought them closer together, made them stronger and made them look beyond their own situation to try to help others. There is a new term we all hope will take root in our language and our hearts. It is “different ability” rather than “disability.” These parents want others to know their child may not be able to do everything that another child can do, but they can do a lot and they can do many things exceptionally well. The author, Avis Blackmon Coleman, hopes you are inspired, touched and maybe even motivated to help change the world and the way it sees these “differently-abled children.” Meet the families of Special Needs/Special Families.

About the Author

Avis Blackmon Coleman is the mother of five children (aged 10 – 14). She and her husband, John, have been married 18 years. In addition to the obvious duties of motherhood, she is a freelance writer. The University of South Carolina Broadcast Journalism major spent 17 years in television as a reporter and anchor before retiring to care for her growing family. But she didn’t stop working. She wrote her first book, Manic Mom’s Survival Manual, a few years ago while feature writing for a new quarterly called Something Special Magazine. Some of the early articles she wrote for the magazine are featured in her second book called Special Needs/Special Families.