Parents Making a Difference: Melanie Rosenbaum

When Hartshorn mom and M-SPEC Building Rep. Melanie Rosenbaum received a box of current books on autism she knew just what to do with it: donate them to the Millburn Public Schools.

This week, Melanie presented the large donation at the Hartshorn library at the faculty meeting. The donation is the culmination of Melanie's resolve to spread autism awareness. 

Last October, Melanie attended the Autism New Jersey Annual Conference in Atlantic City, which is one of the leading autism conferences in the country, drawing an estimated 1,200 parents and educators each year.

As a parent of a special needs child, Melanie wanted to become better educated on the most current philosophies and techniques for dealing with autism. While at the convention, Brooks Publishing provided a box of books detailing the latest trends and most up to date thinking on autism. "I came home with this huge box of books, and I knew I needed to make good use of them," said Melanie. 

Melanie has been working with M-SPEC (Millburn-Short Hills Special Education Committee) for several years. As part of her responsibilities, Melanie hosts a regular coffee at her home for parents seeking support. She decided the coffee would provide a great opportunity to showcase the books and other information she had learned at the conference. She invited Millburn Special Services director Julianna Kusz to attend, and was delighted when Julianna accepted her invitation. At the coffee, Melanie showed the collection of books to Julianna and talked about donating them to the district. With the help of Hartshorn Principal Ron Castaldo, a plan was made to formally present the enhanced library at the next staff meeting, which took place Monday.

The books will be housed at the Hartshorn library, but are designed to be a resource to every school in the district. A list of the books collected will be circulated to invite educators to make use of the new collection.

Autism NJ will host its 30th Annual Conference on Oct. 11-12 of this year.

Caroline Updyke is a co-president of M-SPEC.