This is so cool, This book was given to you from Tell!!! The women who wrote this book is from Cobourg which is the next town over, she wrote this book for her lil boy who also has Down Syndrome. It is a great book about inclusion. It is also so wonderful because as far as mommy has found there are not alot of children's books about Down Syndrome.A few but not enough, I wish there were more. This book is a new addition to our nightly reads and will continue to be for a long time!!!!
Here's the article from our local paper:
COBOURG - Bryar Rogers had one purpose for writing a book about her son Tanner, who has Down Syndrome.
"Just because they're different doesn't mean they don't have something positive to share," Rogers says.
"In our own little way, we're all different."
Rogers, who grew up in Cobourg, is a first-time author who has written a children's book called A Special Bug Indeed about five-year-old son Tanner.
Rogers and her husband Jason live in Oceanside, California with their son.
She and Tanner have been waiting to return to California, but spoke last week withNorthumberland Todayabout her book, which came out in January.
During her pregnancy, Rogers was given a test for Down Syndrome which came back positive. But because there are often false positives, further tests were done which came back negative.
The couple refused to have one final test which would either confirm or deny the child's health. During that test a needle is injected into the womb, and is a potential threat to the baby's health.
"There was a one-in-200 chance something could happen to him with the needle and one in 300 chance that he had Down Syndrome," Rogers says.
Tanner was born at 4 a.m. on January 23, 2005 and shortly after, it was confirmed he had Down Syndrome.
Though Rogers knew a little about Down Syndrome from working special needs children during her co-op placement as a Cobourg District Collegiate Institute West student years ago, it was a life-changing experience for the couple.
"There are many levels of severity," she says. "There are huge health risks, and, in certain cases, the child has a hole in their heart."
From the moment Tanner was born, the couple's biggest fear was that other children would make fun of their son.
"We're going to give him as much confidence as we can, but are kids going to tease him or bully him because he's different?" she recalls thinking.
Rogers says she started putting her thought about the book to paper when her son was two years old.
"If there was something I could do to show children that everybody is different on a certain level... and maybe you're missing something if you don't give them a chance," she says.
The name of the book was simple, she says.
"When Tanner was born he looked like a little bug to me and I always called him my bug.
"I didn't want it to be a person," she says of the main character in the book. "I wanted it to be something fun and creative."
The 41-page colour book is about a family of bugs and their discovery that the mother bug is pregnant. When TJ is born they learn he's "different from the rest."
The book chronicles the adventures of TJ in school and how he is a little behind in learning at school, but how one day when he hears a song on the radio he starts dancing.
Although he can't join the school band, TJ helps out by setting up the equipment every time they play.
"Valued by these musicians TJ's confidence soon grew," the story goes. "He was acknowledged and admired as a member of their crew."
When a saxophone player in the band comes down with chicken pox, TJ steps in and amazes the audience and his family.
"TJ's talents weren't expected as others had judged his special needs," the book concludes. "But once he had the chance he proved he was a special bug indeed."
Rogers says she hopes people enjoy reading the book, adding it was fun for her to write.
A Special Bug Indeed was illustrated by Craig Twigg, who works in Toronto but is from Cobourg.
"I want kids to be aware of kids with special needs and not pre-judge them and not give them a hard time because you don't know them," Rogers says. " You have no idea what skills and qualities they can share."
The books costs $20 and to order a copy of the book, go to www.publishamerica.comand go to Online bookstore and search for the title.
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