About the Authors

The Picture Cookbook is co-authored by a mother-and-son team. Joyce Dassonville is the mother of Dominique, who is 12 years old (at time of printing) and has low-functioning autism.

Joyce Dassonville

Joyce Dassonville, author of
The Picture Cookbook

Prior to receiving the diagnosis of autism for her daughter Dominique, Joyce had a professional career and a diverse and comprehensive professional background. Joyce is a risk-taker and thrives on pushing the envelope, especially when her child is in need. Joyce was determined, persistent, and unwavering in her pursuit of services for her daughter. She litigated, mediated, and collaborated with government and school officials, doing what ever it took to ensure that Dominique was given an opportunity to reach her maximum potential. Creating innovative and unique solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems is a skill that Joyce put into practice on a regular basis.

Early in her career, Joyce worked as a registered nurse in high-risk, fast-moving areas such as the labour and delivery room, intensive care nursery, and operating room, often dealing with stressful and difficult family circumstances.

Subsequently, Joyce worked as a litigation lawyer for eleven years, managing workers' compensation claims, health and disability matters, Canada Pension Plan claims, private disability insurance issues, motor vehicle accident claims and civil litigation, registered nurse's disciplinary hearings, as well as family law litigation, collaborative family law, and family mediation cases. Joyce also has five years experience as a quasi-judicial adjudicator, making final decisions on workers' compensation appeals. Over the course of her professional career, Joyce spent five years of intensive advocacy on behalf of her own daughter and other families with special needs children.

Joyce's professional experiences gave her the background necessary to get the job done and to manage projects. Both skills proved useful in handling all the health, education, and legal issues that come with having a child with autism. Joyce spent many years managing her daughter's home and school behaviour intervention programs, mapping out goals to serve her in the long-term after her parents are no longer able to care for her. Over the last four years, Joyce set up and managed an extensive functional daily-living skills program for her daughter.

In addition to The Picture Cookbook, Joyce is currently writing a non-fiction book entitled, The Other Side of Pandemonium (The Hidden Face of Autism). This book is an autobiography about growing up in a dysfunctional family where her father most likely had undiagnosed Asperger's syndrome and then life parenting a daughter with autism.

Ehren McDow

Ehren McDow, co-author of
The Picture Cookbook

Ehren has had a love of cooking and baking dating back to the time when he was only 2 years old. Ehren was cooking with his mother saying, "I'm stirring Mommy," before any ingredients were even measured into the bowl. As Ehren grew older, he began to do more and more to help his mother in the kitchen.

By the time Ehren was in high school, when given the choice of what he would like as his regular household chores, he chose cooking. For almost five years, Ehren proceeded to make the majority of the family's evening meals. In addition to making dinners, he also made cakes, cookies, pies, bread, and other delicious treats.

Ehren completed courses in culinary arts, baking and pastry arts, as well as a professional practicum at a Vancouver hotel bakery while enrolled in a professional chef program at Dubrulle Culinary Arts Institute in Vancouver, British Columbia. After he graduated, Ehren accepted a full-time position at Terra Breads Bakery in Vancouver and (at the time of printing) has worked there for three years.

When not at work, Ehren can be found making exotic and specialty dishes at home or when visiting his family and friends. In addition to cooking and baking, he is an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy, often reading more than one novel in the same day. He spends a lot of time on his computer surfing the Internet or playing computer games. Ehren always finds the time to enjoy the antics of his two cats, Nala and Tucker.

Working Together on The Picture Cookbook

When Ehren was asked to assist in producing The Picture Cookbook, he readily agreed. He handled the recipe modifications and the actual cooking. Working together, the authors simplified recipes into steps that could be followed by young children and individuals with special needs.

With Ehren's background as a professional baker and Joyce's background as a registered nurse as well as the experience she accumulated with raising a low-functioning, non-verbal daughter with autism, they made the perfect team to author The Picture Cookbook.