S1 E3: The Big Surprise - Taniesha Pascoe Mathews (Her Book Her Story)

Taneisha is a Jamaican-born thought leader in the field of SEND education. She is a mother of two children diagnosed with autism, and a school leader still pursuing further education,  yet for her there is more to do. During the pandemic, she made the decision to venture into the world of writing and successfully published her  first book. This book tells the story of her son Jadon who was non-verbal up to age 8. The Big  Surprise is a feel good story about how one day her son spoke while playing with his trains. 

Despite not being an accomplished writer or illustrator, Taneisha harnessed the power of the internet and her friends' editing prowess to produce her book. Through her success, we learn that a vision is the only thing needed in order to make your book a reality. 

Follow me on Twitter @mathter.

Transcript

Hello, and welcome. This is your book your story, the podcast dedicated to helping young authors promote their books and grow their audience rapidly. Join your hosts Dr. Barker along with special guests as they share their personal stories on how they learned their craft, and how they got to where they are today. Now, let's get into today's episode.

Megel R Barker  00:27

Good day listeners. Today we have with us another author who is here to tell us their story. And tell us a little bit about how they created their their book. Author today's Tanisha Pascoe Matthews, who is an accomplished educator, who has specialized with working with students with special educational needs. She is here today to tell us her story. Tanisha Welcome to yearbook your story.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  00:57

Thank you, Mr. Barker. Thanks for Thanks for having me. I'm really excited. And thank you for asking me to join your program. And it's with pleasure, that I'm joining your program today.

Megel R Barker  01:11

Thank you, you will not know this, but you're an inspiration to me. When I saw that you put the time together, and then publish the book in something that was passionate to you. I really felt like it was really important that I brought you on the program. So I hope we have a great conversation. And I hope you're ready to share. Are you ready to share some information with our listeners?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  01:33

Yes, thank you and is much appreciated, because I must put on record as well. But you are also an inspiration to me. Not just because you're a maths teacher. So I'm a maths teacher originally trained in Jamaica, about because of COVID and all the distance learning and all the distance presentation. I am so grateful to you for inviting me to speak to other conferences and so on. But in terms of the terms of the book, and how I got my inspiration to start, and that inspiration came from my oldest son, Jadon, who is now 12 years old. who is autistic?

Megel R Barker  02:16

Yeah, yeah. So Taneisha. Before you get into the book, let us find a little bit more about you. You mentioned Jamaica, tell us a little bit about your life growing up in Jamaica and all that a little bit about you.

02:30

Well, I'm from the best parish in Jamaica. And you might want to guess, but you might get it wrong, because it might call you when I say sent me. I'm from Manchester. Growing up, I went to a small Primary School in South Manchester. And then I went on to an all girls school in Mandeville.. And while that be shaky, so High School for Girls, I was known as an athlete, so I did distance running. And I quite like we didn't have football and official netball. And so but I was an athlete, house captain, and some of my passion when I was in high school for girls, I wanted to become an accountant, ultimately, or to work in the bank. So I moved on from from Bishop Gibson and work for a bit because I did not get English language when I left high school. But I have a funny story about I got grade three when I did English language, and it was 1999. And at that point is grade three wasn't a pass grade. Yeah, extra lessons. And I got a Grade three

Megel R Barker  03:50

Extra lessons to increase the number in the wrong direction...

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  03:55

Did and I had to continue. So I worked between 1997 and 1999. In the summer, I got a grade three. And that's when I progressed to Church Teachers College. And when I applied to Church Teachers College, I applied to do accounting, because I have a Grade one. I love numbers. But that of course was full. So then I was asked, let's look at your report. And they said no, you have a good grade in math and you also have a good grade in computer science. So therefore, what about you sign up for maths and computer science so Maths and Computer Science are my specialty subjects.

Megel R Barker  04:39

So you went to Teachers College and you got you did your teacher training in Mathematics and Computer Science. And so you left started to teach in Jamaica. Did you teach in Jamaica?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  04:52

I started teaching in Jamaica and my first job was at Lennon in Mocho. Yeah. I'm very And I went to Central High in Clarendon, in Macon. And then I went away to Canada to live for two years. And then I went back to Jamaica. And I went back to Jamaica went back to Central and from Central I migrated to the, to the United Kingdom in 2008.

Megel R Barker  05:21

Okay, so you came here in 2008? To be a teacher as well, right?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  05:26

Yes, I did a telephone interview. It was a pleasant like February was quite cold. Because I remember the head teacher from the school in Norfolk, he was telling me that it's actually something like five degrees, and he was laughing to say, why would you want to come to such a colder place? Yeah. And you know, we all have a story about thinking we're moving here for a better life that we can help ourselves and possibly help families. So I thought no, husband and I were young, got married in 2006. Didn't have any children at the time. Was there to lose, we could come for the experience. And if it didn't work, we always could just return.

Megel R Barker  06:12

Yeah, yeah. Your husband is a teacher as well.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  06:15

He's a teacher. He's a science and computer science teacher and we were classmates.

Megel R Barker  06:23

Yeah, yeah. So you came to the UK? So you said you mentioned Norfolk? Is that what you said you went to?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  06:28

Well, that's where I went for my first teaching job in a village. Honestly, one of the best experiences I've had in the UK because they took care of me. It says school majority, white students in terms of the area and staff. In fact, when I went to the school, I was the only black teacher there. And in fact, they didn't have any black students at all. But honestly, they took care of me. So when we had parents evening, and you know, in terms of winter in this country, when when we get to November, December, it gets dark at final. Yeah, yeah. So here are some events finishing at seven o'clock, my head of department would give me a lift home. And at the time his wife also work at the school. And if he wasn't available to drop me home, it would be her. Yeah, yesterday, they took care of me. They were the parents, they were quite supportive. My department, my head of department, I was treated really well. And that's the reason I stayed there for five years.

Megel R Barker  07:39

Yeah. But at some point, you decided to leave and move to London?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  07:43

Yes. So in 2013, I decided I'm going to move to London. And the reason I moved to London again, it goes back to my oldest son. So in 2013, my oldest son as part of my story, he was diagnosed with autism. And so in Norfolk, I did have family members, and some of the other Jamaican teachers have moved away to London and other areas. And so I decided that I really needed support from family, or more Jamaican people. And my aunt and my cousin. They were living in North London at the time. So I moved to London to be closer to family. Because when you're raising an autistic child, it's 24 hours, depending on where in terms of their needs, so where they are, and what are the level of support that they needed. And I thought, You know what, I needed to be closer to family?

Megel R Barker  08:39

Yeah, yeah. So when you say you realize you had an autistic child, how did you find out that your child was autistic? How is that how does that help? Or do you find out?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  08:50

This is what they say about autism that the first year is quite corral in the sense that you are your child is doing everything, almost like other children. But if you are, if you won't know that the child is autistic, until you get a certain amount of stones, so they're not following instructions, probably about one, they're not responding necessarily, to their name. They're not using their first word. And then if I think, okay, you know, you hear from other people, they'll tell you Don't worry, Mike, I know someone who didn't agree. I know somebody who didn't speak until there were two and there's nothing to worry about. But then as a parent, you will have that hunch and that instinct that maybe something isn't right, because sometimes you don't share everything with people and I don't think I was sharing everything. I was sharing the main thing, so he's not talking. He's not sleeping through the night. He doesn't like eating certain foods. And then that's how you start Googling everything. Yeah, yeah. not sleeping, not all of that. And then autism started coming up. So I spoke to my health visitor who again reassured me. And then I went to my GP who said, I'm signed in to speak until a certain age. But by the time we got to 18 months, it was when we started having a meltdowns when my son was becoming afraid, or much frightened when he was in crowded areas. And he then developed obsessive behavior. So you would have to have the telephone I would have to go out the house with a water bottle. And it was those the earthing, I think, okay, something is not right here. So I started the process of having him my son was born in 2010. Yeah, so before we turned three, he was actually diagnosed with autism.

Megel R Barker  10:53

Okay. And as a young couple. How did you take that news? How did that?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  11:01

I think, for me, I've always been different. And I've done the question here, recently, the Cambridge questionnaire and it came back to say, I am autistic, I have many autistic traits, stuck in my own words, I am someone who don't necessarily need approval from people. I think if people follow me on social media, I can find my own bottles of magic, I'm the only one having a certain opinion. I am quite comfortable in knowing that I'm different. My brain works differently. So for me, it was okay, my son is different. And then when I got the diagnosis that he's autistic, and I thought, for a moment you experience a little bit of a, as if you've lost something. So what is losing the hope and the plans that you have? Because in terms of, you know, my son is going to become x, y and ference, we plan ahead. And then you start reading online, and you realize that having a child with a disability can be draining. People lose their relationship with document my husband is a Christian as well. So for us, our fate was one.

Megel R Barker  12:27

Keep your stick? No, yeah.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  12:30

Within the first week, and understand that this is something that's affecting our son. So we can't make it about us. Because this is a difficult when people make stuff about them, then we don't have to worry about what other people think about. My concern is this is happening to my child. Now, what do we need to do for him? What are our next steps because people will have their own opinions? I I mean, I welcome people with their opinions. We just have to know that opinions are not facts. Carried Away. Other people's opinion, because they think opinions are facts, and they're not.

Megel R Barker  13:10

Yeah, I can attest to you and your willingness to fight your battle is zero. And certainly on apologetically, so as well, on Twitter, I see you, you know the way how you express yourself, but just to let our listeners know that Tanisha has quite a healthy following. On Twitter. A lot of people do take inspiration from the way that you have lived your story and how you have owned and decided to make what you have experienced your truth. You know, a lot of people have lived through that and as use that as an inspiration to go through the same journey that you're going through. So I think that's really powerful. 

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  14:20

So So in terms of Yeah, so in the lockdown and as you said, I like telling our story, I like to tell my son story, because my son has been such an inspiration to the information that I present on Twitter especially. And Twitter more so than Facebook, because my audience and Twitter like they're more global. And then Facebook, I have mostly my Jamaican friends and family and I and I think they've come such a long way in terms of autism in Jamaica. and the support and the understanding and the awareness. So I'm able to put more information on Facebook and so on. The tricky thing about Facebook, where you put stuff, people expect that this is tissue the private, while when you put stuff on on Twitter, people think this is education. And this is inspiration and oh, I could try this. So there isn't the idea that is so but in terms of writing the books, I like telling Jadon stories. And I thought during the lockdown, I was sitting there, but I think it was around April. And I thought, you know, I've told so many aspects of his story. And I've been to conferences, why don't I pick a particular time period? And write a book about? So I thought, what was his, like his big companion? When did he had the big shift in terms of his autism? When did he start speaking and so on? And I thought, Okay, I'm gonna write about the fact that he didn't speak. And, we bought a set of trains chugging countries are active trains, and so they would interact with each other, and how he then interacted with them. And it was during that period, be it that it triggered his speaking he was almost eight, or is it that them speaking? I can't yet pinpoint to say that the trains when he started speaking, I don't know. But I thought it was either coming to them. Or it was part of the story and part of his journey. So I decided to write a book about that little period of time. Yeah, him get with the trains. And him started speaking. So it has just captured a small Yeah, a small period. I think maybe I should tell your viewers, listeners, that my son Jaden, he didn't speak until he was almost eight. Like other people were best friends. His best friends. They were trains, and trains on TV trains on YouTube. Yes.

Megel R Barker  17:16

So the book Jadon and the Talking Trains? Yes, so The Biggest Surprise, biggest surprise, right? The biggest surprise, Jadon and The Talking Trains. But you make a point you you say that Jadon didn't speak until he was ages. I mean, I'm a parent, and I'm trying to fathom, I mean, how that works. But obviously you found out that he was autistic. And perhaps part of the autism that he had the this was said that this was a potential diagnosis of it as well. Right. But how, how did you interact with a child that did not speak? How did you manage to do that?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  17:58

So 18 months where you would expect them to be pointing so he wasn't pointing. So he had therapy on his speech therapist, from a peer therapy, to learn to point as simple communication skill as going over to the fridge and pointing that was something that he could not do. So what he would do is pull me towards food items. If he needed to take his shirt pulled me towards items that he needed me to have. So he wasn't able to point. And then he started using a picture exchange communication system, and it's called pecs. Okay, and so what you would do is to take photographs of about 10 items that he would interact with daily. So for Jada, he likes his Jamaican banana chips. He likes orange juice, he would have to brush his teeth. At the end of the day, he would like his toys, and you would put them in a book like Velcro. And if he wanted orange juice, he would go to the book, remove that orange juice, and then he would hand it over. So you know that I need orange juice, I need to sleep and so there were items, they are in picture form. And then he started learning sign language because he went to a special school at the beginning. So he went to a specialist school nursery reception and year one. So he was learning what they call a microphone. So it's a form of sign language. So he was in using that and watching a program called Mr. Tumble.

Megel R Barker  19:35

Yeah, notice that?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  19:37

Yes, so he learned quite a bit from Mr. Tumble. So he would show me friends, pizza, sit down all of those key terms in his world. So he was using a mix of the picture exchange system and also sign language. And then he moved on from that using a software. Yeah, And that software, I paid about 299 pounds, and it was the electronic version of the picture exchange. Okay. So he would select pictures on his pod. And it would then say to us and I want banana chips. So he again like an American accent, so he had a voice. So he would

Megel R Barker  20:24

talk for him.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  20:25

It would talk for him. Yeah. So let the pictures, put them in order and then press play. And so it presented to me said, I want to go to Legoland. Yeah, I want to chocolate I want. I want PJ max. So we would put things in and he would put the sentences together in otters. And then we moved on to him learning to type because he's a good he can spell really well. Because even though he wasn't talking, I still have to keep teaching

Megel R Barker  20:58

him to be Yeah. Yeah. So

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  21:01

reading was a challenge in that. I would read to him every week. So his primary school really good or even able to take home weekly. I would read it to him and I would point to the woods. So even though he couldn't read it back, I would test him in that I would say Jaden, show me the word book, and your pointable center. Okay, so he knows the words, show me the word we and he piloted? I said, Okay, this is encouraging sounds, and we're gonna read every week. So every week, he would get a book to come home. And we would read it, I would highlight the letters, I would have my own strips of words, I would lay them on the floor. And then I just asked him to pick specific words. And I realized, Oh, he's good. And then we want those spelling's? Yeah. And he did that as well. And we even use Google because you know, you can type your word, and then Google will play. Yeah. So we use that. So we were trying?

Megel R Barker  22:03

Yeah. Like when you go around friends and kids his age? What was that interaction? Like? Are you kind of making sure that how did you manage that?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  22:15

Well, that's a key thing there, I went around friends. And I would have to get to a point where I know that these people, their friends, and they were autistic friendly, in terms of the calling out for us in the early days was very difficult. Because Jaden, like climbing on sofas, tables, and so on. And you know, when you visit other people, you want to make sure that you're in your bed.

Megel R Barker  22:42

We come from Jamaica, yes.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  22:45

Um, so leaving the house, sometimes I was more worried it was more relaxing, just to stay home, than to go out because I'm trying to calm down, chill, and please don't stand on that. And what my friends would say, Leave him. Leave him. And it was then reassuring me that it's just a safe space. Yes. Just that. There were more be concerned about his safety. Yeah. So for me, they were like, easy, safe, if they did. So if it was comforting to know that it wasn't the autism side. And it wasn't that these are material things. And why. And they saw that I wouldn't just leave that to say, Oh, he has these autistic, and therefore let him have his free will and claim. There's so much effort in saying no, you can't do that, oh, let's go for a walk. So at times, I would visit friends. And I'll be in the house for half an hour. And then I take him out for a walk for another 20 minutes, and he will come back and sometimes we'll we'll go together. So they're very understanding. So we have friends that's understanding that know that you're not just going to allow your child be having autism on efforts. And they want him to reassure us that things okay. Yeah. Broken glass will be fine.

Megel R Barker  24:11

So make sure you get back to your little book. The big surprise. Yeah, what went into the naming of your book?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  24:20

I think so. I knew I was gonna write about trains. Yeah, so I've been talking trains. But then because of the how the book ended up speaking, I thought that's the big surprise.

Megel R Barker  24:34

Or the big surprise was, so here is a partner where I know every author has creative license right to write a book in any format and tell the story in any way. So did the way the book is written is this how a He manifested that first speech or is this just a story written in a shortened form?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  24:56

Well, that's a bit I think, in terms of the time appeared, this is how it happened. Yeah, it happened during a period of him having those trains, because we bought those trains in April and I still can't. I still haven't told my husband fully if he lives is a mother like you're going to listen to them quite close. I told him that I want the beat. And I probably I paid 60 pounds for those trades that may have paid about 80. Yeah. To get those talking. Yes, yes.

Megel R Barker  25:27

Yes.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  25:29

So he interacted with them. A pro me. And then I think he trusted them. And all this we're not living in fairy tale. None. Yeah, we're talking about the kids and toys. And they believe in these now. Yeah. And he got close enough to last train. But then possibly, from that light

Megel R Barker  25:52

switch almost Yeah, to come on.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  25:55

Come on. For him to to start

Megel R Barker  25:59

when he started to speak. And I know that the story is also telling his story. Yeah. So in order for, you know, just the book and and I'm encouraging people to go and get this book because it does tell the story. But we don't want to tell all of the story. So people said no. But the book in itself, the story is about him and interacting with this train, and then learning how and when not. Would you say that he learned how to speak? Or did he gain the confidence to speak? Which where do you put it as a person who has experienced this?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  26:39

I think he had because there's this YouTube video, and I've used it with some of my friends, the Chinese Bamboo. I don't know if you've seen Les Brown,

Megel R Barker  26:49

and I don't know they are Chinese.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  26:53

So within the Chinese bamboo, you plant the seed. And then after seven years, that's when you start seeing the tree coming through the earth, then within a few hours, you get a really tall tree. And I think in his presentation is does it take one day for this tree to grow? You know, you see it and start going out? Does it take seven years? So I think for Jay and I it took eight years. So with all the background work went on. I think in terms of him starting to speak, I can only see the train being a trigger. In terms of the groundwork sheets, therapists, yeah, therapy, the interaction, everything. Yeah, everything. But it literally within that moment, something, something

Megel R Barker  27:48

something click as I say something clicked.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  27:51

And he was able to start expressing himself. But when he started speaking, he was speaking in phonetic. He felt like he wasn't anyone to just say a baby, he would say but it'd be and that again came from schooling and the way they teach phonics here. So because he learned phonics that way, he could almost pronounce all the words if you visit Jamaica, he will say we look at the letters at Jack, CA. And then after lunch, I went oh, Jamaica. So because of the way he learned phonics, no matter the word, he could easily call them out in terms of that phonetic

Megel R Barker  28:32

alphabet. So he knew what the word sounded like phonetically, but he had not yet gotten used to saying it.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  28:41

And that's why I really value that way of learning. So because I don't remember call learning the alphabet night.

Megel R Barker  28:49

No, no, we learned the alphabet in ABCDEFG and not the actual phonetic sound.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  28:56

Yeah, but that's how he learned it. So because of that, that was able to help him to whatever word he was seeing. He had enough background information in terms of learning phonics, that way to put

Megel R Barker  29:11

a reason you said that you were trained as a math teacher, and a computer science teacher. So how would you as a math teacher becomes an author?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  29:24

It's very simple. You know, how all these celebrities have a

Megel R Barker  29:28

book out? Yes, yes.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  29:29

They are not necessarily the writers what I would say. And I said this at the start, I need English three times. Yes. Yes. So I am not the most eloquent, and I am not the most articulate, and I am not the person that's going to write an essay and I'm gonna get a start. Yeah, but I have always gotten feedback to say, I have great ideas. Yeah, I accuracy was good. My knowledge was good. My skills. But in terms of my writing skills, I was getting C grades. So you just need to have friends. Yeah. Who are English teachers? Who are great at editing? Yes. So we all have our stories. Yes, yes, write the stories. And then we can ask friends with the, with the skills or knowledge, the grammar.

Megel R Barker  30:26

So you're saying that even if English and writing is a skill that you think you don't have, that should not stop you from getting written because you're most know someone whom you reach out to who can do the editing. But you can still tell your story.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  30:43

Yes, because I wrote my first story. I shared it with my friend, Julian. I said to them, I've read this story. And I'm making sure Ryan's because I think I'm mature people like me think that children books should run. Yeah. And then I sent it to her. She said, It's not rhyming. I can't. It's not rhyming. I'm like, okay, so I sent it to three English teachers. Yeah. And two of them trained in Jamaica, they're all teaching here. And also an English teacher from my first school in Norfolk. So I sent it to three English teachers. I said, this is my script. Please have a look. So they did their first editing. Yeah. And then they sent back and I looked at the similarities. And then I narrowed it down to one person, being the main editor, to other people being the contributors that helped me commerce somewhere, yeah, change your word, somewhere. So those people have been listed in my book. But I have Jenny's Jenny some time Thomas as my editor, because she wrote, yeah, but my friend Sherry has spent Ashley, I know, I will use this word, I would, I wouldn't say this phrase like this, I would turn in and out. And I would say, so you just need to have a story. And you create the frame. And you will have friends who you will pay or not pay, depending on the arrangement. And you can get your book

Megel R Barker  32:17

out. Yeah.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  32:19

Yeah. 100% get your book out.

Megel R Barker  32:22

Yeah, yeah. So you know, what you're sharing here is that there shouldn't be any barriers?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  32:28

No, no, we all have a story. We all have a chapter. And what I've learned is a book within all of us. I've taken my son's story a small bit, and I sat down a few weeks to say, let me outline the story. And then I sent the outline to I think we will get on to that better word illustrate, you

Megel R Barker  32:52

know, tell us about that. Because obviously your book is an illustrated book, because your your target market is a certain age book, right? Yes, yes.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  33:00

So I, so I went online. And I said, I'm not an awesome artist. I'm not I can. I did art, but I did craft. So I have CFC craft. Great tool. So the leather craft and the timeline, but not the joy. So I went online and said, if I want to write a children's book, what do I need to do? An online there's so many articles, write your story. And I then I Googled What if I need to illustrate my story. And then Fiverr came up as their website and then I went on Fiverr registered. And they started giving me prices to say for one page that will be extra on two pages gonna be I don't think you know, I'm gonna need about 20 pictures. And if I pay five pounds per picture, look, so I use the website Fiverr. But then for the person to illustrate the story without me giving away my book, because I didn't send my script to them.

Megel R Barker  34:04

Because they could maybe take the world thing, right?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  34:06

Well, they could just take the book and publish it. So I send our clients so on page one, I would like us to be at a shopping center.

Megel R Barker  34:15

So the guidelines for the pictures you provide the kinda like an outline of what those pictures would need to say.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  34:24

I'm I'm the illustrator. He was on point. So we've arrived at the mall. I was when we were leaving the house and we're entering a blue car. And we have a driveway. So it did that first picture. And so the next picture should indicate when we arrive at the shopping center. We're still in the parking lot. And we're right in front of the bookstore, the toy store and then the next picture should be us at the counter speaking to an attendee iPod in

Megel R Barker  35:00

Yeah, you don't have to give away your poem. Yeah, you give the D. In a sense. Even though you're not an artist, you still have a vision about what the book should look like. So in a sense, you didn't say to someone read my story and write dry, you're like, I want a picture that does this. I want a picture that does this. And as long as you're clear in your head, what you want, you can guide an illustrator to say yes to what you wanted. Yeah,

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  35:32

I literally, and I said, I needed a picture where someone turn apart the door with a tray, and I needed a picture for a seat in our living room, boys are going to bed. And I needed to show us on trying to find this train, and it was spot on.

Megel R Barker  35:55

Graphic, it's quite high quality graphics. So what the key thing here is that you didn't have to draw it yourself, you didn't have to give away your story, you were just giving an idea of the vision of the book, and you just needed someone to make that a reality. So you had your book published? So how did you when you gonna say publish your book? So you got the book, the illustration, you got the story started, and friends up the author and illustrated that put it together? Publishing? Is that a painful experience?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  36:30

No, it's not, it's quite easy. So after getting the illustration after having a story, then I need it to get someone to format the story. So my book was illustrated in India via fiber. And my book was formatted in Mexico, via Fiverr. So I at that point, now I sent the story. And I sent the illustration via file,

Megel R Barker  36:58

is I go by the book

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  37:03

to make sure that the pictures are seen on on the pages. And so someone put it together for the book?

Megel R Barker  37:14

No, so there's a lot. It's all like you have developed the skills of a publishing agent, like, like, you could literally do what I say like if someone comes to you right now and said, Tanisha, I have an idea, you could say, Alright, I'm going to charge you this amount of money. And I'll get you a book done in this. Do you feel like you have an understanding of the process in that sense?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  37:38

Yes, yes, I do. And then I'm just reading. It's all in reading. I know, I know what it means when people say I'm reading for a degree I'm really just involves a lot of reading. So I googled again, after I've done that. I'm going to be a self publisher. My publishing house, and Amazon offers that

Megel R Barker  38:00

solution. Yeah. on

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  38:02

Amazon, they will provide you with a little bit on a training and it doesn't take time it tells you exactly upload the book and he asked you want to be glossy, do you want? Yeah, what size do you want the book to be? You need to know that before you illustrate is it gonna be a tiny book is going to be a four by six, it's going to be the thing about the type of they with and so on. So having done that I uploaded to Amazon. And Amazon can print the book for you and have some water. So the next step was to upload to Amazon and Amazon will give you the option of printing the books and selling you at wholesale. Or you can then sell them on Amazon and because Amazon is open to the world. Yeah, I thought I'm just gonna sell them on.

Megel R Barker  38:57

Amazon for instance book and I think the

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  38:59

first time books they were printed in Poland. Yeah. So they were printed in Poland. And then my friends in the US started buying my friends in Canada. They started buying I was selling books in Cayman. I was I sold books in Spain, because Amazon is everywhere.

Megel R Barker  39:15

Yeah, of course. And you don't have to just after people have to just know about it through your Twitter. So how do you market your book then?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  39:23

So Twitter's and friends so again, I relied on people who are buying the books and they were tweeting about what people will cheer on Facebook to say, oh, Tanisha you know, lovely boy, thank you. I use. I use Instagram to market the book. So I've had people reaching out to me to say okay, I'm gonna buy five books, but I've used Twitter quite a bit. So

Megel R Barker  39:48

do you have like schools taking up like a set of books for the school and stuff like that?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  39:54

Not Not at the moment. I had a book company in the lockdown who said we're going to stop Aren't they stuck in like 10? But then COVID happened to get back to getting the book out there. But I had quite a few influential people on Twitter.

Megel R Barker  40:13

Yeah, sharing. So you see one of the reasons why we have these conversations. And these are also reflective conversations, right? Because I think you're thinking, oh, you know what, maybe I need to get back the energy. And get out here again, isn't it? So in that way,

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  40:32

100%, I need to be going out there marketing the book. And I do by the fact that I've published my book, I've had publishing houses, sending me books. So if you're noticed on Twitter, I'll put out books I've had popular ones. Would you like a copy of this book?

Megel R Barker  40:51

Wow, wow. Yeah. No, no, it's truly inspiring story. And I'm sure our listeners who are in the middle of processes in their life and going through different type situations would see how you found the strength to turn something that would maybe be a negative into a positive. And also using your own experience to be a teaching moment for other people, you know, to say, there is a way in which we can get through this, and even today, just how you tell your story and the patients that you had to, to have in order to ensure that there was going to be a moment like there was a belief that there would be a moment, you don't know what's going to be that Touch Paper moment. But one day, something would happen. And for something, you know, I think it's really a really powerful story. Now, before we close, because, um, you know, one of the things I want to do is that a big shout out to the book itself, the big surprise, the big surprise is still available on Amazon, you can order it on Amazon, and you'd be able to get those books delivered to you within a day. If you have a school, you need a set of these books. If you're running a school and you want to get we're talking about diversity, equity and inclusion. This is a story that doesn't speak so much about making spaces for people, but tells a story of a child who is in that space. And so students can live in that kind of work. So you know, some it's really a powerful, powerful story. But Tanisha tell us if you were going to give some advice to someone who's looking at writing a book, what are two key things you'd like to share with them?

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  42:42

In terms of, and coming from someone who, five years ago, I didn't think that there was a book in me. And no, I think that there are several books. Yes. So I would definitely say we all have a story. So let's start thinking about your ideas. And then really cut it down to about three. Yeah, and then further, probably share it with close friends. And people who you generally get really good advice from, and then narrow it down to one. And once you start writing, you will finish don't stop. So don't stop, think about the book that you want to write, I'm going to write 300 Pages for cars are going to be at 32 pages, it's going to be with photographs, just telling the story about your market. Who is it? Who are you aiming for this will because I've been asked so many times, why don't you write a book about autism? And I'm thinking I'm gonna have to do a lot of research I'm gonna have to within my own life, I'm not ready yet. But there are many other books that in me and so

Megel R Barker  43:48

to say the book you have written is a book about autism.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  43:52

It depicts the story of a young person with autism, because autism is such a wide

Megel R Barker  43:59

Oh, you mean in terms of our research? Kinda? Yes. But we do. You know, I think we do need more stories where people who are having I mean, these disabilities are written about as the stars in the stories. We do need more of those, you know, rather than even the textbook or the the, you know, when we read the stories, it normalizes and allows students and people to say, hey, you know, this superstar is or this favorite character is. So I think a book like yours is actually a niche.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  44:36

Oh, thank you. And that was part of I was telling, as you said, earlier in the interview, I was telling the stories I spoke about the parents coming from the Caribbean, born in Jamaica, and I spoke about his journey and different communication tools. And also then him being in the story and what was happening happening within that moment. Now As you know, Megel, I have a second son who is autistic. He's still nonverbal. And he's six. And I'm waiting to write his book. Because yeah, I should have just wrote about Jadon and Ethan. Yeah, headline, now I have no choice. But to write another book. Anyone that wants to embark on writing a book, it's in you. And you don't have to know how to do everything. When you start. When I started, I went from Okay, I want to write a book. And as I went along, I was researching, okay, how do I publish? How do I illustrate? I need someone to edit? Do I ask one person? Or do I ask too much ideas? Am I going to be a self publisher? Shall I try to get an agent is a book of the appeal where a big publishing house will take on the book, I do want to I want to try to self publish, where I go. So that at this point, almost everybody can write a book.

Megel R Barker  46:06

Yeah. So it's maybe with perseverance and resilience and stick to it. Those kinds of things more than English language and illustration skills.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  46:17

Yeah. So you don't need those skills. Because there are people who are trained to do those things. It's just like, when I want to get my hair done, sometimes I do it myself. But if I'm a Caucasian, and I find myself as an expert, who can get it done, when you get a lot of compliments, so it all depends on what your things that you can do by yourself. But there are people trained, and it's their job. And there are people who wants to illustrate books they want to read, write, you have your idea. They can write your books, many celebrities, they don't write their own books, they tell the story they recorded on a audio device, and someone is typing it again. So there are different methods.

Megel R Barker  47:02

Yeah. Well, there you have it, listeners that was Tanisha Pascoe, Matthews, or author today who has been through a lot, still going through a lot, still not giving up still solving problems still being a mom still being a parent, being a teacher and an educational leader. She's also studying as well. And looking at writing her own book, how she finds the time, we don't know. But what she's saying is, writing a book has very little to do with having the skills of being an author. It's more to having a vision of a story that you want to tell and finding the people who have the skills to get you to tell it. So I want to say a big thanks to Tanisha. And just a final piece Tanisha. If so, just one final piece for people to get the book, just your final word to them. Where can they get the book and what what they'll get when they get the book.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  47:56

So you can find the book on Amazon and it's on Amazon, UK, Australia, USA, Canada, your name is there, or you can follow me on Twitter and there's a link on my Twitter account is Miller underscore Pasco. E. LL. O W underscore Pasco, pa s e. O E. There's a link to the book on my my Twitter page. So you can kind of go there just type in Amazon, the biggest surprise Jaden and the talking train. We'll have it there. And my second book will be out some at some point in 2023.

Megel R Barker  48:34

Yes, yes, I might come back. Looking forward to that. And we'd love to be part of that story as well. Our Thank you, Tanisha. Thank you for your time. Thank you for being on the show. It was a pleasure talking with you. And I'm certainly inspired by your story.

Taneisha Pascoe Mathews  48:52

Thank you, Mr. Parker.