Special Thanks to Our Guest Speaker

For our March meeting of the book club, we were excited to have a guest speaker come and talk about assistive technology. Judie Schoonover, an occupational therapist and assistive technology specialist with the Loudoun County Public Schools, spoke to the book club kids about her job and the many different types of technology she uses to help children overcome their learning disabilities so they can participate fully in a school setting. She brought along many examples of technology--from the very simple to the highly technical--which she passed around and allowed the children to try. She was a wonderful guest speaker and we all enjoyed her presentation. It was a perfect tie-in for the book, Rules by Cynthia Lord.

March Book Club: "Rules" by Cynthia Lord

Our book club for March will meet on Thursday, March 5, and we will be discussing the book, Rules by Cynthia Lord. This Newbery Honor Medal book is one of the books nominated for the Virginia Readers Choice award for 2008-2009. It has also received many other awards--too many to list them all here. The story is about a 12-year-old girl named Catherine who has a younger autistic brother, David. The title of the book comes from all the rules Catherine establishes to help David understand and interact with his world. For example, one rule is: No toys in the fish tank. I'll bet you can guess why she has this rule! Catherine loves her brother and is sensitive to his needs but she is also growing impatient with the responsibilities and embarrassment he brings. Catherine often accompanies her brother to his therapy sessions at a clinic. One day at the clinic Catherine befriends a wheel-chair bound boy, Jason, who can only communicate by pointing to small word cards. Catherine uses her drawing skills to make additional word cards for him and their friendship gradually grows. Catherine experiences some of the same discomfort with Jason that others do in the presence of her brother David. This gives Catherine the opportunity to explore her own thoughts and feelings and begin to look at her world differently. This is a tender and heart-warming book which the author says is loosely based on her own experience raising a son with autism.