Educating Others About Special Needs Through a Book

From a young age, I was taught that life is full of ups and downs and that sometimes, you would experience all sorts of obstacles that might hinder you from reaching your goal. Regardless, I was told to keep moving forward. Having a special needs little brother, I had my fears and worries. I wasn’t worried that he wouldn’t be able to do what other children could but instead worried about what others would think of him. I knew that my brother was different and I accepted that. Though, I couldn’t help but fear that others wouldn’t be able to do so.

For the most part, my fear hadn’t become a reality. Everyone who had met my brother accepted him and was understanding. Though sometimes, I can’t help but notice how people looked at him differently, even in the slightest. With that in mind, I decided to create a project that would help people learn about special needs. Since I enjoy writing and graphic design, I thought that creating a book was the best way to do so. My goal in this project is to research about special needs children and the fundamentals of writing. Then write an informational book to raise awareness and educate others.

I knew that completing this project would be highly-challenging even with my knowledge of special needs along with skills in design and writing. In order to successfully achieve my goal, I had a lot to learn. I would have to conduct in-depth research to understand developmental special needs and successfully educate others. This project also wouldn’t be possible without knowing how to write a book. I am an inexperienced writer who would need to conduct extra research on how to create a book. Through my book, I aim to guide others who are experiencing the same thing and help others understand special needs children.

Global Context

The global context closely related to my project is Identities and Relationships. My project would focus on the identities of special needs children and the relationships they form with family, friends and others. I would explore society’s views along with the various roles and stereotypes society has placed on special needs children. This global context correlates with my project as this project explores what it means to be a special needs child or what it means to have one as a family member. By focusing on this global context, I should be able to help others understand and learn more about special needs children.

Product

Creating To the Flowers Who Have Yet to Bloom was a challenge that took a lot of time and effort. Nonetheless, I can say that I am satisfied with the outcome of my final product, the content being what I’m most proud of. With it being well over ten thousand words, this book is able to guide readers through developmental special needs. It’s divided into four main parts, introducing special needs, understanding the situation, response and personal experience.

My final product fulfills the goal set out for the project as it is capable of raising awareness and educating readers. It responds to the global context Identities and Relationships as my book explores the identity of a special needs child, presenting what falls under the topic special needs. The book explains relationships that can be formed with families and friends along with communities and societies. I was able to depict my own experiences and how they changed my own way of thinking. I showcased my thought process, illustrating how my experiences impacted myself and my mindset. The book fulfills my expectations as it’s a high-quality product that successfully delivers significant, detailed, and reliable content displayed through a coordinated layout with an eye-catching design, color palette, and theme.

Read my book below!

Reflection

Upon completing my personal project, I realized that there were numerous things that I could take away. Not only did I get an opportunity to write an entire book, this project has been able to expand my knowledge of special needs and improve a range of skills. I was able to expand my knowledge on the global context Identities and Relationships, gaining a deeper understanding of it as I learned how individuals are greatly affected by the relationships they form. By studying special needs, I learned how unique special needs children are, each of them having their own identity and capabilities. Through my book, I was able to study the relationships they have and its importance to each child. In addition, I got to see things through a different perspective, learning about the various individuals who have worked closely with special needs children.

At the start of this project, I didn’t have that much knowledge about developmental special needs save for some knowledge about autism and therapy. By researching the content I needed for the book, I learned about developmental disorders such as ADHD, down syndrome, and cerebral palsy and learned more about the details behind several types of therapy. Through the interviews I conducted, I acquired insight from each of my interviewees, learning from their perspectives and individual experiences. These insights were not only useful for my book’s content but also for my personal learning.

My skills in writing improved because of the research I conducted early on and by referencing several works. Something I learned in particular was that I should emphasize on the book’s purpose and what I want to convey instead of focusing on what people would want to hear. Reading this helped me realize that I should just focus on my original goal in the first place: to raise awareness. Instead of worrying what others would think, I decided to make my book personal and made it my own. Not only did I figure out my writing style, I improved my skills along the way by continuously seeking to improve my work.

Creating my book most certainly improved my design skills as well. I utilized my previous knowledge in design and learned to improve my work by researching and using references. As I was designing, I experimented a lot and that helped give me a better sense of design and learn more about colors. My improvement in design involves digital art as well. I learned how to use krita, a software that I was unfamiliar with and learned how to use its features by watching videos, using it to create several illustrations.

IB Learner Reflection

Throughout the project, I have shown that I am knowledgeable, a communicator, and a risk-taker. I utilized and recalled my past knowledge on special needs children, using it to decide on a fixed goal and purpose for my project. It served as a guide throughout the whole process, specifically when I was researching and creating my outline and interview questions. My skills in design and writing came in useful as I did not have to learn both skills from scratch, simply implementing what I already knew and researching if I had some difficulties.

I was a communicator as I was able to express myself through my book, writing using my own perspective. I used a personal approach as I retold my own experiences and expressed ideas “confidently and creatively”, successfully fulfilling the goal I created. The book’s content also relied on communication as I interviewed people who were knowledgeable about special needs children. As mentioned, I contacted people to ask for feedback for my design and would meet up with my supervisor several times to discuss my project in detail.

I have said before how I was hesitant to write a book. Going through with it has proved that I am a risk-taker. Even after evaluating all its possible risks, I decided to go out of my comfort zone. I knew that by writing this book, I would have to share my personal experiences. That was something I wasn’t very comfortable with doing. Prior to this project, I also had little knowledge of digital art and had to learn how to use a software from scratch. Regardless of the difficulties I knew I would be facing, I pushed through with the idea and moved forward.