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Shut Up About Your Perfect Kid!Powerful Patient, 2009 Week 1Host: Joyce Graff, http://powerfulpatient.org, editor@vhl.org 800-767-4845
Beginning December 31, 2008
Joyce talks with two sisters from Massachusetts who each have a child with special needs. They have written a book that has helped them find the humor and joy in their children and in the difficult situations they confront each day. There are lessons here for all parents, and for anyone with special needs.
About ShutUp Industries
When Patricia Konjoian and Gina Gallagher began writing Shut Up About Your Perfect Kid! they were feeling some anger toward those parents who brag about their kids and ignore children who are less than perfect. They were feeling hurt that no one asked about their children. In the course of writing the book, however, they gained a greater understanding of their own and other people’s feelings.
Patty and Gina are sisters who each have a child with special needs, and a total of three other “typical” children. Their book, Shut Up About Your Perfect Kid! takes an irreverent look at their lives and challenges, and asks all parents to understand them better, and help to include all children in school activities and play dates.
As they have shared this book with other parents through 2008 they have been pleasantly surprised at the extent to which all parents relate to parts of the book. It has helped them and their children generate conversation with others about their special needs, and the accommodations that make it easier for their to be comfortable in the mainstream.
See their website, which they describe as a happy place for parents of children with special needs, at http://www.shutupabout.com
Welcome to Holland
The essay “Welcome to Holland” referenced in the interview, can be found at
Last Year’s Interview
We spoke with Gina and Patty last year. See the interview in the Powerful Patient archive, http://www.powerfulpatient.org/archive/2007/07d_special_needs.php
A sample chapter from their book can be found in the program guide
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