Her Three Sons

Patricia Nazario's series about a Los Angeles single mother raising three sons with special needs originally aired on KPCC in 2007 and 2008. For her work on these stories, she received the following awards:

- "Best Radio Series," Los Angeles Press Club, 2009
- Finalist, "Best Radio Story," National Association of Health Care Journalists, 2009
- "Best Radio Story," Council on Contemporary Families (National), 2009

Part 1: Cathy Harvey is a single-mom living in the San Fernando Valley who’s raising three special-needs sons. They have Cerebral Palsy, autism, and attention deficit disorder. During the week, Harvey is up before the sun to get her boys ready for school.

Part 2: In the Los Angeles Unified School District, the approach to special education is two-fold: Provide support and services and mix disabled children with the rest of the students. Cathy Harvey is a single mom who’s banking the system will help prepare her three special-needs sons for life in the real world.

Part 3: Temper tantrums, intense therapy sessions and expensive prescription medications are among the challenges that confront parents with special-needs children. To handle it all, a single mom raising three disabled boys in the San Fernando Valley has tapped several resources. She doesn’t spend one red cent.