Friends of Children with Special Needs: Building a Dream Community

＂Friends of Children with Special Needs＂ is a compilation of narratives, speeches, reports, articles, and other firsthand accounts that tells the history, work, and current activities of Friends of Children With Special Needs (FCSN). FCSN is a ground-breaking organization run by many dedicated workers and volunteers who hope to fill the emotional, physical, social, and any other needs of families who have children with special needs. These special needs can run the gamut of topics, the spectrum of severity, and different ages, abilities, and longevity.

By putting forward these firsthand accounts from presidents (past and present), volunteers, workers, and families, the work of FCSN is brought to life on the page for readers to not only understand the immensity of the project, but its importance, and most gratifying, its successes.

Well-written, engaging, and compelling, this book grasps the reader’s interest immediately, and is organized in such a way that the flow of the narratives is smooth and understandable. A reader immediately feels a connection to all the writers as well as those individuals they hope to help.

James Chiao is an Electrical Engineer by profession. He received a BSEE from University of Washington and a MSEE from CWRU. He had spent 35 years working in various high-tech companies in Silicon Valley. Since retirement in 2015, Jim has been staying active by gardening, playing tennis, writing, and taking care of grandkids. He and his wife Linmei live in the Bay Area.

Jim is also interested in Chinese American history, and is a member of CHCP’s advisory board. In the early 1970s, he worked three summers in Alaska salmon canneries. It was only recently that he found out that the salmon canneries were dominated by Chinese workers from the 1870s till early 20th century. Since 2017, He and his brother have been working on a project to preserve this part of Chinese American history through their website, talks, and seminars.

He has been active in the non-profit organization Friends of Children with Special Needs (FCSN), which he and his wife co-founded with others in 1996, and has served as its president/Co-president for 5 years and board member since 1998. He is currently serving his second term as Co-chairman of FCSN.