[2] In 2009 it also won the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award.

The next time Catherine goes to OT, she agrees to help Jason by making more of his speech cards.

While making the cards, David needs her to get a toy out of the fish tank, and she sees Kristi talking to Ryan, a very rude boy that bullies.

One day, Catherine's mom is making hamburger patties, as she intends to invite Kristi and her family over for a picnic.

While making the cards, Kristi is invited to her house by Catherine's mom, and they finally meet for the first time.

They talk for a very long time and play basketball, which means that Catherine has to miss OT.

The next time at OT, she brings the cards and a surprise for Jason, which is one of her own guinea pigs.

While they go home, Catherine gets card stock and a paper cutter to make Jason more words.

Lord has two children, a son, and a daughter, and was inspired by them while writing Rules.

Most of the characters and incidents come from a very personal place in Lord's life, including the character of Jason, who was very loosely inspired by an experience she had as a kid while watching a child in a wheelchair communicating with his mother.

One day when my daughter was about ten years old, she asked me, "Mom, how come I never see families like mine in books and on TV?"

I didn't know how to answer her, so I went looking for children's books that included characters with severe special needs.