Authors and Charities

In the spring of 2008, the autism journey began for author Teresa DeMars and her family when doctors diagnosed her son, Donnie, with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Like all families who face this diagnosis, DeMars and her husband, Jon, worked to find early interventions to help their son. Donnie first spent six months in a special education classroom at a local public school. He then attended Partners in Excellence, an autism therapy center in Burnsville, Minnesota that provides ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) therapy to children with autism. Donnie received 40 hours of therapy per week up until August of 2009, when he "graduated" from the program. Today he is a first grader at a local charter school, where he is mainstreamed in a classroom with typical children. This past year he played organized hockey and baseball.

Like other parents with children on the spectrum, DeMars wondered about how she would explain autism to her son. This prompted her to write ASD and Me. DeMars has always had a crafty and creative spirit, which propelled her to illustrate ASD and Me.

Inspired by her son and other children

"Mama, when will Anna go to PIE School?" Donnie wondered as he thought about when his little sister would go to the autism therapy center he attended. This simple question got DeMars thinking about the inevitable discussion she would one day have with her son regarding his autism. After researching online to find a children’s book about high functioning ASD, DeMars realized that the books on the market basically fell into two categories. They either dealt with low functioning autism or the story was told from a sibling or friend’s point of view. These books just didn’t seem right for Donnie. "Even though he has ASD, he is able to talk and express his thoughts and ideas. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that most of the school aged children I know with high functioning ASD can talk and express themselves, especially after early interventions. Why couldn’t a book’s character reflect this?" DeMars thought. She felt that children with high functioning ASD deserved a character that could share his or her own thoughts…a character that children with ASD could relate to and even look up to. Inspired by this realization, DeMars wrote ASD and ME.

Check out her blog:  The Chronicles of ASD and Me


DeMars has selected Faribault Area Schools Special Education Programs to receive the donation from the sale of her book.