MY WORD
Hal’s Books, Our Story By Jane Hawkes THE TRUTH IS, WE NEVER INTENDED TO WRITE A BOOK, LET ALONE TWO! IT KIND OF CAME ABOUT BY ACCIDENT, BUT BOY, AM I GLAD THAT WE DID. OUR BOOKS HAVE TOUCHED SO MANY PEOPLE, AND WILL AND I CONTINUE TO REACH OUT TO SCHOOLS AND ORGANIZATIONS TO TELL THE STORY OF HOW WE OVERCAME SO MUCH TO PUBLISH OUR BOOKS.
T
he opportunity came quite by chance when I met children’s author Jude Lennon at a business networking event. I told Jude about my son Will, who was 16 at the time, and how he was diagnosed with autism at a young age. He was attending a special school and constantly anxious about what he was going to do when he graduated. After chatting for a while, half-jokingly I said to Jude, “We should write a book.” I didn’t expect an established children’s author such as Jude to take me seriously, but two weeks later, Jude called, and a meeting was set up to discuss the project further.
56 | Exceptional Needs Today | Issue 3
Will first entered the special needs system at age two when he struggled to speak. He went on to attend a pre-school with additional support and then a mainstream primary school, again with teaching assistant support. He was diagnosed with autism at age six and later also diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia. All throughout his primary and secondary education, Will continued to receive speech and language therapy to develop his speech and communication skills. Now, as a 19-year-old young man, it is hard to tell he ever had any issues with his speech at all. Because of his dyslexia, Will struggled to read. The books he had access to at school for his reading age were childish,
