Joanna Keating-Velasco, an adult transition special education aide at George Key School, has worked for PYLUSD for 16 years. She grew up in Placentia, attending Brookhaven Elementary School, Tuffree Middle School and El Dorado High School, continuing on to California State University, Fullerton.
Working with students with autism, Joanna has been able to spread autism acceptance and awareness to our community and beyond. She’s also written two books on the subject.
Her books, “A Is for Autism, F Is for Friend” and “In His Shoes, A Short Journey Through Autism,” have been used all over the United States to help teach typical peers about autism. For the past eight years, she has also written for the website www.special-ism.com.
To kick off April’s Autism Awareness Month, Special-Ism highlighted her as one of their cherished contributors. Click here to read more.
It was nice to read about you and how you are helping to educate others about autism. My son, a middle schooler, frequently interacts with another middle schooler who has autism. My son expresses his frustration in working with him. I try to educate him the best I can based on my own experiences in my classroom working with students with autism. I am purchasing “In HIs Shoes” and plan on reading it with my son. Not only is tolerance important, but understanding others who are different from us is vital to our community.