NEW LIFE:Having devised a scheduling board for her son Stephen, Avril Webster began working on books for schools and then for a wider audience
AVRIL WEBSTER never envisaged herself in the children’s book business, taking on large publishers like Usborne or Dorling Kindersley. However, a simple sequence of drawings which she devised to put her eldest son at ease led to a life-changing experience when she least anticipated it.
The catalyst was her oldest son, Stephen (11), who has no formal diagnosis for his complex learning needs and is classified as having a learning disability.
“I had been at home in Annacotty, Limerick, with the kids for 10 years, having worked in the computer industry before that,” Webster says.
“Preparing Stephen for any changes in routine was always essential,” Webster, a mother of three, recalls.
“So I suppose it all dates back to when I began using a scheduling board at home to show Stephen what was ahead of him each day.”
She incorporated a mixture of symbols and images from a digital camera for the series of storyboards. “Stephen has what is called sensory integration dysfunction, which means that the senses don’t all react together,” she says.
“So while those of us known as able-bodied or ‘neurotypical’ – a phrase I heard recently – can screen out certain things around us to focus, Stephen cannot do that.”
“Sounds fly at him, and he sees, feels and hears the world very differently to us,” she explains. “It is very common in people with an intellectual disability. So can you imagine how it must be to go to a noisy swimming pool, with lots of different echoes, with artificial light and the sound of showers, and chlorinated water . . .”
It was when Stephen was due to go on his first swimming trip with his school in Lisnagry, Co Limerick, that the issue came into sharp focus. “I was talking to his teachers and asking how I could support him, and they mentioned that they knew how well the scheduling board worked.
“So I put together a 12-step sequence for him, explaining what happens in terms of going to the pool, changing, having a shower beforehand, getting into the water, listening to the instructor, showering afterwards and using shampoo, drying with a towel, changing again . . . all that sort of detail.”
She was aware, like most parents, of preparatory texts like that published by Usborne. “They are lovely books, but they are very busy. They might have a story and a sub-story, and then there’s that game of finding the little yellow duck . . .”
“Sometimes children with complex learning needs find it difficult to relate to something imaginary, running in tandem with another story,” she explains.
“I knew Stephen needed the sort of book that explains in sequence what is likely to happen, and which focuses on just that.”
She developed her scheduling board further, using cuttings from newspapers and magazines, and receiving “terrific” help from Stephen’s teachers and speech therapist.
Through a fellow school parent, she met artist David Ryley, who had a specific interest in children with special needs. The pair began working together on books for the school.
“David is super at keeping the images clear and simple,” she says. “We did several books together, and as far as I was concerned it was a local project.” Before she knew it, however, another contact had put her in touch with a British publisher.
She signed a contract, and in November 2007 she and Ryley marked the release of six books, focusing on first trips to the doctor, dentist, to the hairdresser and swimming.
The first print run sold out, and her publisher was then taken over. At this point, her company, Off We Go publishing, took wings. Webster approached the enterprise acceleration programme attached to Limerick Institute of Technology, and was offered a place among 11 start-ups selected as emerging companies requiring support.
“I had no business experience, but some experience in project management from my former career with the computer sector,” she says. Six more books, focusing on the first cinema outing, an appointment with an optician, and on making the most of a first birthday party among other themes, were released this autumn.
She plans to “move down the multimedia route also”, as a next stage. She has researched the software already available on the market for children with learning disabilities.
“We plan to develop the books to ensure that there is sound and visuals, which gives an extra dimension to preparing for a situation. It allows children to interact, and is all aimed at reducing stress,” she says.
The books are already being used by the British National Health Service. “Dentists have been given five of David’s images on a Velcro strip which the child in the chair can watch. As each procedure is completed, the child can lift the strip off. It gives the child support, and a measure of control,” she says.
The Off We Go series has received positive reviews from parents and professionals in the sector.
During the summer, the business received an award for best emerging company from Limerick IT’s enterprise acceleration programme.
Details of Off We Go book stockists are available on www.offwego.ie or by contacting the company at tel: 061-332682
