Family History Book

Grandparents and parents frequently share information with their children about themselves, such as events that happened when they grew up, where they were born, went to school and perhaps activities they like to do. In order to provide similar information to our son who has special needs we wrote a family history book which includes family trees with pictures and stories using symbols, text and scanned photographs.

The following describes the physical layout of the book:

• A 3 ring framed view binder contains the pages which are in sheet protectors. We have found using the sheet protectors minimizes damage to pages. Extra wide dividers were used between each person's story. 

• Each sheet protector contains only one page. This meant more sheet protectors were used, but it decreased the clutter that occurred when the stories appeared on both the left and right side as we flipped the pages in the book.

• After a divider, each person's story begins with a title page containing their picture, their common name as they are known to our son and then their real name.

• The cover of the book is a collage of family photos. I used Paint Shop Pro to bring each scanned image into a different layer, so it was easy to position them on the page. Also the page contains the book's title, Mike's Family Stories. Note: I have also used PowerPoint to lay out similar pages.

• Throughout the book (on the cover, for the divider tabs, in the family trees and in the story) the Comic Sans MS font was used. Sometimes our son likes to copy text and this font appears the easiest to copy.

Before the stories, several family trees were included. They were produced using Family Tree Maker, a genealogy program. The trees include head and shoulder photographs. The captions include the person's common name as our son knows the person, such as Oma (Dutch for grandmother). The tree also includes the person's real name, birth year and, if appropriate, the year of death.

• The ancestors tree only includes the generations that are included in the book - our son, us (mother and father) and grandparents. 
• A tree of descendants was created for each set of grandparents. So the trees include the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. 

The stories were written using Writing with Symbols 2000. Each story is 3 to 5 pages long, use symbols, text and where possible scanned photographs. So the stories would be understandable to our son, details were condensed or eliminated, yet they convey highlights. As possible, we included pictures of the person with our son. Also, the stories tell what the person likes to do, such as recreation.

Because of the size of book, we presented the book with the family trees and just our son's story the first day. Then, over several days we added the other people's stories. Our son pointed out pictures of people he knew and found himself in the stories. He also commented as we read the stories to him. 

Our son's support staff appreciates the book. The family trees help them to identify family members who correspond with our son but who do not live in our community. Also it was pointed out that after our deaths this gives our son something about his family. 

Note: Writing with Symbols 2000 is produced by Widgit Software and distributed in the US by Mayer-Johnson. Other ways we use Writing with Symbols 2000 with our son is explained on the Symbols and Computer Technology and the Ideas page.

Revised: January 16, 2008
Copyright © 2008 Johanna Frohm
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