Education teacher launches Spanish edition of new autism awareness book

Lena McCalla Njee, a special education teacher of children with autism, today launches the Spanish edition of her book, "El Autismo Inspira! La esperanza como salvacion para los padres," to kick off National Autism Awareness Month. The book was translated to offer the Hispanic community a variety of resources, stories and case studies that will resonate with parents.

Author McCalla Njee cites that Hispanics are the nation's largest minority group, and "among the 30 million young people, 20% are Hispanics." (Pew Research Hispanic Center). As a result of this tremendous growth, she says: "I see increasing numbers of Hispanic parents of children with autism who need to learn more about this condition and find the support they need for these special children."

Recent studies confirm the need for readily accessible and better resources to reach parents. "Compared with White children, Latino children with autism and other developmental disabilities had a consistent pattern of worse health care access, utilization, and quality." (The American Association on Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities Journal, July 2012).

The author advocates the dissemination of information to bridge the language gap and make resources accessible to Hispanic parents on a wider scale.

To learn more about autism, meet the author at the following events:

• Book Expo America (BEA), Booth #: W 576, Jacob Javitz Center, NYC on May 30, May 31 and June 1, 2013.
• Harlem Book Fair, 6 West 135th Street & Malcolm X Boulevard, Harlem, NYC on Saturday, July 20, 2013 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.