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No. 13 Vol. 14
www.mypaperonline.com
August 8, 2017
Local Author Publishes Second Book To Help Special Needs Families
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By Jennifer Walkup ayne resident Eileen Newman Rubin has published a second book to help families and caregivers of special needs children. This book, “From Birth through Adulthood: A Handbook for Parents of Children with Special Needs,” 2017, is an expansion on her first book which was released in 2014. Rubin, who works as a full-time engineer, decided to write this book after years of experience advocating for her own children, and the subsequent 18 years of helping other parents in similar situations with pro bono advocacy advice. Because Rubin had learned so much about the laws, she found herself drawn to families who needed similar advice. She began helping many other parents learn the law and advocate for their children and says it is her “personal mission” to help families in situations similar to those she has been through. “I learned the hard way by figuring it out as I went along,” she said. “I want to make life easier for others. Pay it forward,” Rubin said. She continued, “I have helped so many
parents over the years and answered the same questions over and over. I don’t want anyone to think they are alone or the only ones going through this. I wrote this book to provide answers to what they are going through, but also so people know there are many others in similar situations.” Rubin explains how she had to learn as she went over the years when advocating for her own children, who were diagnosed with special needs in 1994 and 1995. In the time since, she has done an incredible amount of research and work advocating and learning various things that helped her children and the children of families she has worked with. “I’ve learned so much and want to help share the knowledge,” she said. “Things like how to know when the child has a problem that needs addressing, how to advocate for the child, how to get proper services in schools, when and how to find an out of district school when a school district can’t meet the child’s needs, how to find help with guardianships, what the future holds, how to understand the language of the special needs com-
munity, and many other aspects of raising a special needs child. These are just a few of the topics I cover in my new book.” She considers her new book to act as a ‘step by step handbook’ to deal with many of the challenges and realities faced by special needs families. According to Rubin, “When you factor in all the students with special needs according to the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of chil-
dren and youth ages 3-21 receiving special education services was 6.5 million, or about 13 percent of all public school students. That is a huge percentage of our population. I have found in my 18 years of advocacy that in most cases parents do not know what resources are available to them, how to advocate for their child, or how to address many of the situations they face. This is very disturbing to me as this translates into continued on page 2