About The Author

 Ann Callon lives in Kitchener, Ontario, with her husband, Shawn, and their youngest daughter, Erin, who has Down Syndrome. Her eldest daughter, Meghan, lives in Montreal.

A retired secondary school history teacher, Ann has devoted much of her life to education — promoting critical thinking, problem-solving, and thoughtful communication. Beyond the classroom, she has mentored teachers, re-vamped graduation ceremonies, organized mock Federal-Provincial conferences, and written curriculum materials with particular focus on experience-based learning and citizenship education.

A former competitive Highland dancer and head Highland dancer at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ann also played the bagpipes with several Ontario pipe bands, including the Metropolitan Toronto police band (Grade 1). She continues to explore and enjoy music today by taking Irish whistle lessons with a tutor in Belfast, Ireland. Life’s experiences such as these inspired Ann to always put forward her best effort and to continually look for improvement. She carried this over from dance and music, into teaching, and now to this resource for parents/caregivers.

Her roots in Algoma District (Sault Ste Marie, Ontario), complemented by the Scottish heritage of her immigrant parents, Donald and Helen MacLeod, gave her a strong sense of community. Erin’s birth introduced Ann and her family to a brand new community.

After spending almost 3 decades participating in workshops, lectures, and meetings (too numerous to count), all dedicated to the improvement of the lives of our loved ones,  Ann found an opportunity to give back by writing Caring to Care. Realizing that she ‘could’ offer an approach to tackling the very difficult task of writing a guide for the caregiving of adults with disabilities, meant that she ‘had to’ do so.

She is a graduate of Queen’s University (B.A. 1983, B.Ed. 1984).