Maria Dillon

Maria earned her degree in special education before ultimately landing a job authoring behavior support plans for adults with developmental delays. While she thoroughly enjoyed the writing aspect of her job, her dream job began in 2008 when her first of 5 children was born. As a stay at home mom she began blogging her journey with motherhood, recurrent miscarriages, and infertility. In 2015 she learned that her 4th child, and only daughter, was going to have down syndrome. Maria then started a blog about her journey with her daughter, Lucie. When a 5th child arrived her writing took a back seat to motherhood until 2022 when she was inspired to write a poem to share with her daughter’s kindergarten class to teach a little about Down Syndrome. That poem turned into a slide show and then a week later, it was published as a book. The book had a tremendous reception from teachers and parents looking to explain what Down Syndrome is in an age appropriate way while also promoting acceptance and embracing differences. A few months later she created a companion book with worksheets and activities that are perfect for the classroom setting complete with teacher pages that guide adults through some challenging questions and opportunities to dive a little deeper into the world of Down Syndrome.

Maria continues to muddle through motherhood with her 4 boys and daughter, Lucie. She can be found driving all around Tuscarawas county keeping up with her 3 homeschooled children’s activities and the extracurriculars of all 5 of her healthy and active kids!