A new partnership between nonPareil Institute (nP) and InteractBooks is making it possible for students with Asperger’s Syndrome and High Functioning Autism to help create and enhance illustrations for picture book manuscripts written by children’s authors to deliver state-of-the art picture books to the exploding digital marketplace. Books created with InteractBuilder are available via iPhone and iPad currently, but plans are underway to make books available via Android devices in the future.

The seed for the partnership grew from two strangers seated next to one another on a flight; one the parent of a student at nP – the other, Ezra Weinstein – CEO of InteractBooks. According to Gary Moore, President of nP, “It was a God-thing.”

Following the flight, when the founders of nP and InteractBooks put their heads together, Dan Selec, Founder and CEO of nP realized, “It is a relationship that really makes sense for both of us.” Richard Johnson, Vice President of Business Development at InteractBooks recalls his first visit to nonPareil with Weinstein, “We got such a good feeling to see what the kids are doing; finding ways to be productive in society.” With the new partnership, Johnson adds, “Students can leverage their gifts and abilities to help earn an income. It maximizes what they’re good at and helps them mature.”

Selec adds, “Having a partnership like the one with InteractBooks is a great way to take a step forward for another set of [nP] students.” One of the founding principles of nP is that in addition to training students to be successful in technology businesses, they also want to “put paychecks in pockets” of the students and also find revenue sources to maintain a self-sustaining model for the institute.

While the partnership is in its infancy, Johnson feels that the results thus far in Phase 1 are tremendous. Selec shared his excitement over the partnership by detailing how Ryan Mandell, a student who started early on with nP, has embraced the new work. According to Selec, “Ryan started from ground zero and in just over a year has become a pretty accomplished artist and is working on the InteractBooks project.” In the future, nP students will deliver art, audio/visual and other creative expertise plus various technical skill sets for use with the InteractBooks publishing platform (called InteractBuilder) to deliver final digital products authors will be proud to share with the world.

nP is growing by leaps and bounds and just hit 50 students a couple weeks back. With more than 40 students on the waiting list, 150+ on an interest list and 2-3 tours taking place daily, Moore shared that nP is thrilled to be expanding on the SMU Plano campus later in the summer. In the meanwhile even as they’re bursting at the seams, nP is grateful to Dr. Raad at the Guildhall Institute for graciously sharing some space with nP to handle the overflow until the new space becomes available.

For more information, please visit the websites for nonPareil Institute and InteractBooks. Also, click HERE to read a piece I wrote about nP last October.

Here at AutismSpot, we’re going to be eagerly watching as this partnership flourishes!

What do you think? Please leave us a comment below.

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Leigh Attaway Wilcox is a writer and editor for the projectLD family of companies. Leigh is Assistant Editor of the internationally acclaimed AutismSpot.com and her work can be found on many of the pLDNetworks sites. Leigh is the author of ALL BETTER: A Touch-and-Heal Book published by Piggy Toes Press in 2007. Leigh lives in North Texas with her husband and young son who loves reading, LEGOs, Mario Bros. and also happens to live with Asperger's Syndrome, an Autism Spectrum Disorder.