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Date: 5/24/2022
HOLYOKE – Paul DiPietro found himself during the summer 2020 thinking of ways to ready students for re-entry into the schools whenever the coronavirus pandemic would allow. He stumbled into something that he never imagined would help students the way it has.
DiPietro, a master’s-level autism specialist in the Holyoke Public Schools, started working on designing his own social skills curriculum to work with students for the preparation of coming back to school and being ready for changes post-COVID-19. He then began reaching out to families to discuss their concerns for their children for going back to school.
DiPietro said many parents echoed similar concerns about their children not putting on their masks or being fearful of children of being out in public during the coronavirus pandemic. The curriculum designed by DiPietro was focused around the topic areas from parents concerns, which led to a colleague of his saying he had asking if he thought about publishing.
“It was probably the furthest thing from my mind to be published and so I said ‘what the heck, let me see,’” DiPietro said.
After sending out some of his work to different publishers, he ended up securing a four-book deal with Author’s Place LLC to write children’s books based from his work. The first three books were all related to the adjustment children had to make during COVID-19.
The books were titled “I Don’t Want to Wear a Mask,” “I’m Afraid to go Outside” and “Why are We Distant?” All three books were out just before the one-year mark of the coronavirus pandemic.
“They were very unique books in that they were a great story,” said DiPietro. “We [illustrator Jennifer Lenox] designed it so that it was a couple pages of a story but then it was questions that would really spark a child to talk about their feelings, talk about their fears and then be able to work with an educator or a parent, overcoming those fears.”
DiPietro said by the time they made it to their fourth book, the publisher suggested he look to go in a different direction as the coronavirus pandemic was at a different point than the first year with vaccines available and life returing to a more pre-coronavirus pandemic lifestyle. DiPietro began to think about where he could go with the latest book, and thought of his own career prior to writing the books.
“I’ve worked in this field with individuals with developmental disabilities, autism, behavioral challenges for the past 24 years. I sat back and I started thinking, ‘what is the struggle that is out there,’” DiPietro said. “One of the big things that I’ve seen a lot of, whether it’s a kid with autism or a neurotypical kid, it’s really that struggle with acceptance and fitting in.”
DiPietro said he decided to go with this theme as it is a topic across the country. He decided to title his next book, “It’s Okay to be You.” The story follows Auggie Otter who realizes that the other sea creatures might see him as a bit different and begins to worry about his own image in others eyes.
DiPietro said the idea for an otter came from a discussion with preschool students and teachers where they made the realization that not many children’s books had otters in them. This made DiPietro start doing research on otters, where he learned they are a close-knit family and they stay together for life. He found this interesting as he looked for ways to make the book stand out.
“It was – here’s an otter who has a lot of traits and characteristics that parents will probably identify as somebody with autism, but I never really put it out there, the otter has autism in the book,”
DiPietro said. “Here’s an otter who is very different from all the other otters. He likes to play by himself, he likes to line up his shells and categorize all his shells and he likes to spin in the water because it helps him to relax.”
With these traits, Auggie Otter finds himself getting bullied by other Otters in school for being different. Auggie then goes home and expresses his emotions to his mom about his struggles at school. His mother draws comparisons – the other otters like to dive in waves or flap their tails – all different activities from Auggie.
“The premise of the book is really everyone is special and unique, and it’s okay to be different and it’s okay to be you,” DiPietro said.
DiPietro said Auggie Otter is his favorite story he has written as the story of acceptance. The ending of the story where Auggie overcomes his bullies and stands up for himself is work he is proud of.
“He sits there and says, 'I’m proud of who I am, I’m proud that I’m different, I’m proud that I’m unique,'” DiPietro said. “He accepts who he is and he’s proud of who he is and I think that moment when he stands up to the bullies at the end is such a powerful story.”
DiPietro says the story is geared for pre-K to Grade 3 but that there is much more that can be done with the source material for students.
He added he has seen such struggles with children in the past few years with behaviors and trying to fit in, and he wants to remind them it is OK to be them. He feels his book goes beyond a child with a disability, and can be applied to so much more in helping children with acceptance of themselves.
“Yes you can draw some conclusions that the spinning or the lining up of the rocks – anybody who works in the field would be able to tell that this otter clearly has autism – but the whole premise of the book is to go much deeper than that,” DiPietro said.
DiPietro has continued doing visits to schools and local bookstores to do readings of his work to children. He said it was a challenge getting the first three books out during the coronavirus pandemic, but is happy to be out and meeting people who are learning of or are familiar with his work.
He said the reaction he has been getting from kids has been remarkable. After his first book reading of Auggie Otter, children asked many different questions that opened up plenty of deep discussion, he explained.
“It led to what my hope is, which is not just doing the book readings to the classrooms, but I have a vision of doing a workshop in classrooms where we read the book but then we focus on what makes them special and unique and create their own book from that, or do a classroom book,” DiPietro said.
The book came out in April and is available in stores as well as on Amazon where interested parties can also find his first three books. The book also received aclaim from the Reading with your Kids podcast, that gave the new book the “Certified Great Read” stamp on copies of the book.
DiPietro is also the founder of Growing Up With Courage LLC that is an independently owned and operated company providing a multitude of resources and services for parents and educators throughout the country. He saidhe works as a home behavioral consultant for his company and the premise for the group is to build a better world one child at a time.