Special Needs Children Can Finally Get Personalized Books to Help Find Acceptance

It was an idea, then a business. It became a fundraiser, and now it’s a reality.

A pair of friends, entrepreneurs and Oak Lawn-Hometown Middle School teachers have successfully begun putting customized books in the hands of children with special needs.

Heather McCarthy and Kate Ryan recently began taking and filling online orders for Someone Special Uniquely Personalized Books, which are brightly illustrated custom stories that can help parents and children overcome anxiety about acceptance.

McCarthy made the first book for her daughter, Maya, who has propionic acidemia, and the idea grew into a business and a resource for special needs teachers and families.

• Read more on this story: Local Teachers Won’t Rest Until Special Needs Children Gain Acceptance
• Teachers Fundraise to Bring Personalized Books to Special Needs Children

Customers can choose a template to customize, such as a book for a physical condition, a food allergy, epilepsy, autism and more. Through the website, they can fill the book with information like a child’s name, birthday, photos, hobbies and details about a special need, condition or syndrome

McCarthy and Ryan said teachers and parents of special needs children have given them positive feedback about the books. Most of their first orders came from the Chicago area, but they were excited to see an order from outside Illinois as well.

Robert Maszak contributed to the Someone Special Kickstarter fundraiser in April with his great granddaughter, Tori, in mind. Tori is 4 years old, she’s in preschool, she loves books and she has cerebral palsy.

“The book talks about how when Tori was born, she was someone special,” he said. “Even though she can’t read yet, she has over 150 books. But this book is special. When someone else looks at it, she keeps a close eye on them. And when she sees the picture of the girl in a wheelchair, Tori says, ‘That’s me.’”

Maszak said he was impressed how McCarthy and Ryan have reached beyond their own families to help all children accept one another and understand disabilities.

“We talk about people who are angels in life, and these two ladies are angels,” he said.

Kerry Lynch of Mount Greenwood is also a Someone Special customer, and her 3-year-old daughter, Mary Cate, has a book to help explain her Apert syndrome.

Lynch, who is an old friend of Ryan, said she loves how the last page in each book is left blank so owners can write whatever they like in that space.

“I love the way they wrote it for school-age children,” Lynch said. “Being able to plug in those little details for younger kids, it’s the perfect amount of information that they want to know.”

Lynch said the book is a great way to get the conversation started with other parents and teachers, to open up about Mary Cate’s differences and similarities with an overall theme of treating one another kindly.

She said teachers have asked if they can keep the book in the classroom, and they pull it out and read it again. Even though it has Mary Cate’s name and picture in it, the teachers can change the name and talk about how other children are different but also just like the other kids.

McCarthy and Ryan said also plan to use their startup business to give back through a charity of the month, which would receive a portion of Someone Special’s profits.

Since the business took off, the pair have been asked to attend fundraisers, expos and book talks. Schools have even asked them to read their books to classes, but they still have their teaching jobs to balance.

“It’s very important to us to keep our jobs and the business separate, but luckily as teachers, we were off all summer,” Ryan said. “Now, Heather and I have to get more creative with when we can meet, when husbands can take care of kids, and how we can also incorporate our families in the business. Where there’s a will there’s a way.”

McCarthy and Ryan encourage anyone who has questions about the books, class sets, group packages and even suggestions for the blank page to contact them at info@someonespecialbook.com. Even people who don’t have a child with a special need but still want to raise awareness and teach acceptance can ask them about that, too.

“Overall, the message we’d like to send people is yes, we make personalized books, but that’s not all,” McCarthy said. “We’re a great resource to teach the message of accepting differences, to have your questions answered and how to be kind.”

Photo 1: Kerry and Mary Cate Lynch read their Someone Special book to a class (courtesy of Kerry Lynch)
Photo 2: A page from Maya’s book (courtesy of McCarthy and Ryan)
Photo 3: Heather McCarthy (left) and Kate Ryan (right); (courtesy of McCarthy and Ryan)