Lake Zurich Teacher’s ‘Special Friend’ Explains Special Needs to Kids

Laura Matuszewski’s special needs classes at in Lake Zurich often mainstream with regular classes, like music, art, library and, of course, recess.

She realized that there wasn’t any educational material that helped explain to the children why they only saw these special needs children in certain classes. She felt that not talking about the the special needs children left the children in mainstream classes wondering.

“You just have to have a conversation upfront. It makes them more comfortable; then they go off and play together without wondering,” she said.

To open up that conversation, Matuszewski wrote a book, “A Special Friend.” She said she actually wrote the book while waiting in her car, when she took one of her sons to a travel baseball game. Matuszewski, a Hawthorn Woods resident, has two sons, Austin, a seventh-grader at Middle School North, and Kyle, a sophomore at Lake Zurich High School.

Matuszewski said her book is written from the point of view of a child with special needs, but is general in nature. She said discussion guides in the back of the book allow for more specific discussions of particular special needs.

“The message is that the students in my class are more like other kids than different. They like to run and jump and play,” she said.

“Some kids with special needs are very bright, but they may have issues with social cues. Learning is harder for them, but not necessarily academics,” she said.

Matuszewski read the book to friends and colleagues and received positive responses.

“A  dear friend has a child with Downs (syndrome) and when I read the words to the mom, she just absolutely squeezed me and held me so tight. She said ‘You nailed it,’ with tears in her eyes,” she said.

She saw how the words touched people and decided she needed to get it to a larger audience.

Matuzewski self-published the book with the help of a travel baseball dad who is in the printing business.

The illustrations in the book were done by one of her students, Mikayla Crow, who has autism.

“A lot of people are asking how I chose Mikayla.  Aside from the fact that she has beautiful illustrations and loves to draw, if you ask her what she wants to be, she says an artist. What a wonderful way to get started and have her see herself as an artist,” Matuszewski said.

The book would be useful for teachers as well as parents who may want to use the book when they bring their special needs child to activities such as scouting, she said.

Part of the proceeds from the book will be going to Susan & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. The book sells for $11.95 and is available at Learning Express in Lake Zurich, Anderson's Book Shops in Downer's Grove and Naperville, and on the Barnes & Noble web site.

The book is also available as an e-book from Remedia Publications.

Check out the A Special Friend Facebook page.