By Deborah Knight Snyder

Mansfield - Anyone who thinks one person can’t make a difference hasn’t met Mansfield mom Kim Piro.

Energetic, compassionate, and extremely grateful for all the support she’s gotten from the community, Kim Piro has been a one-woman dynamo in the world of special needs.

Kim is the mother of three daughters and her middle daughter, Jamie, now in sixth grade, is autistic.

Jamie was formally diagnosed with autism when 3 1/4 years old, but Kim, a psychiatric social worker by training, had suspected something was wrong when Jamie was as young as 15 months. After three visits to specialists over the course of two years, Jamie was ultimately diagnosed with Pervasive Development Disorder (PDD), a form of autism.

Different people would handle such distressing news in different ways. Kim rolled up her sleeves and got to work. She joined the special education parent advisory council (SPED PAC) in Mansfield and has served as its head for about the past four years.

But that’s really just the tip of the iceberg.

When Jamie was in kindergarten, Kim, volunteering in Jamie’s class, noticed that the other kids didn’t know how to approach or interact with Jamie.

It was then that Kim had the idea — which was destined to grow into a large special education awareness program — to read a book on autism to the class.

With the teacher’s permission and with Jamie removed from the class, Kim read a story about autism to the kindergartners. After reading the book, when asked if there were any questions, 24 little hands went up.

“They asked me everything about her,” Kim said at the time. “Does she eat the same foods we do? They couldn’t believe that she rode a scooter and ate ice cream.”

“The next time I volunteered, I saw a big difference in the way they treated her. They had learned why she screamed, that she uses her voice differently. They accepted her. They couldn’t wait to tell me that they were doing things with her,” Kim said.

That experience was the beginning of what would become the I CARE — Introducing Children to Acceptance through Reading and Education — program, which Kim founded and which continues to grow.

The I-CARE program essentially mimics Kim’s original experience with Jamie’s kindergarten classmates.

Volunteers go in and read books on a variety of special needs — not only autism but also Down’s Syndrome, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, kids in wheelchairs, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and more.

Kim arranges for the books to be available in the elementary school libraries. She has formed discussion questions, which are stapled into the back of each book, to facilitate the experience. She has recruited dozens of mothers — of both special and regular education children — to head into the classrooms.

I first met Kim shortly after I CARE started. I wrote an article about the program and was so impressed with Kim and I CARE that I wound up being one of her volunteer moms. I can say firsthand that reading to the class and helping them understand the issues of special ed is not only a wonderful experience for the kids, it’s very rewarding for the facilitator as well.

Thanks to Kim, for the past five years, all the elementary school classrooms in Mansfield have benefited from the I CARE program, which continues to get rave reviews from students, teachers, parents, administrators and volunteers alike.

But it turns out that’s just the beginning.

Kim has since expanded the I CARE program not only to St. Mary’s School in Mansfield but also to the elementary schools in the towns of Maynard, Weston and Oxford. Not only that, she is now in varying stages of getting I CARE going in nine more Massachusetts towns. And she plans to continue.

She modestly said that she is spreading the word as best she can. She spoke at a regional special education meeting and got her foot in the door that way. Word is definitely spreading, because Kim has heard from people as far away as Arizona and Virginia.

The I CARE program could be national one day, and it all started with one Mansfield mom.

But that’s not all. Kim oversees a non-profit account, the Jamie Fund, which was started a little over four years ago. Friends of the Piro family have an annual golf fundraiser, and the money goes to the Jamie Fund, to buy books and fund other worthy causes in the world of special ed.

This year, for the first time, the Jamie Fund offered a $500 scholarship to a Mansfield High School graduating senior who was headed to college to study special needs education. The plan is to offer an annual scholarship from now on. Hopefully, if money allows, Kim said they would like to increase the number of Jamie Fund scholarships, and maybe even the amount of the scholarships.

Kim’s oldest daughter, Angela is in eighth grade and is involved in the peer model program at the middle school, which Kim describes as an “incredible program” started by special ed teacher Heidi Egan. The program pairs typical middle school kids with special ed kids, allowing the regular ed kids to compassionately model appropriate behavior.

“I am so proud of her for doing this and I hope that somehow what I have done in Mansfield has guided her in this path,” Kim said of Angela.

I’m sure it has. Let’s hope Angela grows up to be another Kim, as the world could use a few more such innovative, caring pioneers.

To donate to the Jamie Fund or to volunteer as an I CARE reader, visit the website: thejamiefund.org.