On Grandma’s Box of Memories – interview with the creators
Jean Demetris was a primary school teacher for 22 years. 8 years ago her husband was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia. She dealt with many aspects of…
Jean Demetris was a primary school teacher for 22 years. 8 years ago her husband was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia. She dealt with many aspects of…
In this Q&A, MI29: Mouseweb International to the Rescue! author S. J. Tozer discusses how her daughter’s recovery from a chronic illness inspired her to write…
Final Chapters: Writings About the End of Life is a moving collection of short stories and poetry pieces originally written for a competition run by the…
Bring the benefits of yoga and yogic breathing techniques into the classroom and the home with this game from Frog’s Breathtaking Speech author Michael Chissick.…
Laura Vickers‘ fun new picture book, Flying with Janet, prepares children with ASDs for the unfamiliar sights and sounds of the airport experience – from packing and…
By Michael Chissick, primary school teacher and qualified yoga instructor, and specialist in teaching yoga to children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and author of Frog’s Breathtaking…
“I think it’s really important to stay in communication with us, as human being to human being – because we are still human beings with a spirit. And it’s spirit to spirit that we can really stay in touch.”
“Looking back I think that one of the main factors that inspired me to turn the yoga play into a book was the feedback from the children. I have lost count of the amount of times that children would tell me how they had used the techniques to deal with incidents in their lives. Problems ranging from being angry at siblings who stole their sweets or broke their toys, to being the calming influence in big family arguments. My two favourites will always be: the nine-year old boy who was terrified of the dentist and who quietly sat in the waiting room, and ultimately the dentist’s chair, practising his Crocodile Breath to calm himself; and the ten year old girl, who was angry with her parents, who would go to her room and practice Woodchopper Breath every day for three weeks, who eventually came and told the class teacher and me that that she had Haaaa’d out her anger.”
“First and foremost, I wrote the novel for my brother. I wanted to accomplish two things that would make the world a safer place for him and everyone with AS. Firstly, to educate those without AS… Secondly, I wanted to give people with AS something. I wanted to provide a verification of what many of them already know. I wanted to give them a voice and a hero which would contradict those who are always telling them they are “disabled”. I wanted to tell them that AS is not a disability, it is a different way of thinking. And in spite of what others may be telling them, it is not a “wrong” way of thinking.”
JKP’s The One and Only Sam by Aileen Stalker has won a Silver Medal in the Health Issues category at the 2010 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards!…