|
|
Buncrana woman signs book deal
18.06.08
A BUNCRANA-based mother
of three has inked a publishing contract with
Poolbeg Press.
Aileen McCallan's book about her struggle to come to
terms with her son Cian’s autism and her fight to
get him the best education and medical support, will
be published early next year. Poolbeg Press first
published the works of Marian Keyes, Maeve Binchy
and Patricia Scanlan. All proceeds from the new book
will go towards Cian’s future needs.
“I started writing as a hobby and joined a writing
group a couple of years ago and I’ve been working on
and off on the book ever since. Nobody has a clue
what living with an autistic child is like and I’ve
written a birds eye view of that,” McCallan says,
emphasising that each individual case is different. |
McCallan has an August
deadline to send the final manuscript to the
publisher and is currently busy rewriting and
redrafting. “I do a few hours when the kids are at
school and a couple of hours after they go to bed at
night,” she says. “It’s quite exciting as I get near
the end, not only because the book is nearly
finished but because I’m covering the period when I
came to Buncrana and Cian was accepted to school for
the first time at the age of eight.”
Cian attends Scoil Íosagáin in Buncrana and Aileen
pays fulsome tribute to the staff and parents at the
school, and iCARE, for their work with her son. |
 |
“Moving to Buncrana and
finding a school was like lifting a massive weight
off my shoulders,” she said. “Sinead Mac Lochlainn,
the principal at Scoil Íosagáin, has been brilliant.
She has treated me and Cian very, very well.”
“Cian has made small gains ever since he got a
place,” Aileen continued. “He has more language now
and he just loves school. His teacher Mrs Giri and
special needs assistant Geraldine and all the SNAs
really connect with him and he loves going to
school.”
The book doesn’t have a title as yet, but will be
published in February next year.
For more information on autism see
www.treatingautism.com . (Story: Inishowen
Independent) |
|
