Jolene Philo

Jolene Philo is the daughter of a disabled father and the mother of a child with special needs. After a 25 years as an elementary teacher, she left education in 2003 to pursue writing and speaking. Since then her articles have appeared in regional and national publications including Focus on the Family, Home Cooking, and ParentLife. Her special needs and caregiving books include A Different Dream for My Child , Different Dream Parenting, and The Caregiver’s Notebook: An Organizational Tool to Help You Care for Others. She speaks throughout the United States about parenting children and adults with special needs and post-traumatic stress in children. Her blog, www.DifferentDream.com, provides resources and encouragement for parents of kids with special needs. She also blogs about life on her dusty gravel road  at www.jolenephilo.com. Jolene and her husband are parents to two adult children and grandparents of three of the world’s most beautiful kids.