Fighting Discrimination Against Special Needs, A Conversation

PEP Classic teacher at , Melissa DiGenova has just published her second book, “Jake is Not Stupid: A Story for Young Children About Special Children.”

In the book, the adoptive mother of four and special needs educator candidly explains what inspired her to write and what keeps her writing. Patch recently spoke with DiGenova at Stone Mill Elementary School. An edited and condensed version of that conversation follows.

North Potomac-Darnestown Patch: What is PEP Classic for people who might not know?

Melissa DiGenova: We are a preschool educational program for students with special needs. In my class there are 10 to 12 students and though this class is self-contained we do still have many kids that go on to be in the inclusion program.

Patch: When you wrote this book, who did you intend for it to speak to and why do you feel the message is so important?

DiGenova: “Jake is Not Stupid” is a book that speaks to typical children at the Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten level. It was created out of my love for different kinds of kids who have different kinds of needs. I wanted other children who were around kids with disabilities to not see them as weird or different. I wanted to provide them with a way to explain what it is like for a high functioning autistic child in a way that was understandable to them.

Patch: Beyond your work in the classroom, what else inspired you to want to write this book?

DiGenova: Well, I also teach Sunday school at a Universalist Unitarian church and we have some special needs kids in the class with typical kids. You can just see that it is very hard for kids who don’t have any kind of disability to understand what I call the ‘Invisible Disability’.

Patch: What is an ‘Invisible Disability’?

DiGenova: I have actually written several books on what I call ‘invisible disabilaties' such as speech delays or Mental Retardation. These are essentially disabilities where someone can look just like other people so it’s difficult for the typical outsiders to understand that certain things might be difficult or a little different for them. Like, for example, people see a parent and a child in a store and the parent is struggling with their child. Rather than being understanding, the person is very judgmental because they don’t realize that there is a disability. They just think the child is misbehaving.

Patch: If you could give one piece of advice for kids on how to treat their peers with special needs what would it be?

DiGenova: To look for more of the similarities than the differences and treat them the way you want to be treated.

Patch: What advice would you give to adults to help them relate better to children with special needs?

DiGenova: When I have student teachers that come and work with me I always tell them not to worry about what is going on with the kid or what their delays are. Just look at the child at their emotional level as opposed to their actual age and you will find it much easier to work with the child.

Patch: What does the future hold for you?

DiGenova: Well I plan to continue my career teaching and am currently writing an adult fiction book about a character who was adopted through the foster care system. All of my children were adopted through the foster care system and again, I do not feel like there are many books out there for children or adults to read about that experience.