Disabled Books

This is an excellent resource for clinicians working in early intervention. Good diagnostic and treatment information with this population in mind. I was able to put the ideas into practice easily with a great response from the families. I recommend this to anyone working in Early Intervention or thinking about starting.

I have found this book very useful in establising, through assessment, what the child needs to learn to improve their reading skills and in providing user friendly steps to implement a programme based on the assessment findings. I did however, find that I prefered to use my own informal reading inventory rather than the one pubalished in this text.

In this book Amelia and John describe loads of different musical activities and games that are easy to use and fun for all involved. The games are aimed at children, but it's possible to adapt them to suit the needs of different groups. There is a clear guide to useful musical resources, but many of the activities do not require lots of musical instruments.

The great thing about the activities described is that as well as encouraging musical creativity, Amelia and John also describe developmental goals associated with the games. These include developing social, communication and motor skills. Don't worry - the book is not a theoretical therapy manual and the activities are presented clearly in an easy-to-follow format that allows you to get straight to the practicalities and purpose of each game. There are also plenty of nice illustrations.

This book could be useful and inspirational to all sorts of people working with children or people with developmental disabilties - nursery teachers, school teachers, occupational therapists, activity group leaders, parents and carers.

As a music therapist working with children with special needs I frequently refer to the book for ideas - so far all the activities I've tried have worked well in practice!

Much of the formative research on the diagnosis and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder was based on work with Vietnam veterans. Recently, however, the professional literature, and treatment itself, have expanded to encompass other survivor groups--rape and assult victims, those who survived major natural and man-made disasters (earthquakes, plane crashes), and those who witnessed or were part of traumatic industrial or highway accidents. We are also beginning to recognize the importance of dealing with the psychological impacts of trauma for those whose work involves daily trauma--police and firefighters, rescue workers, and health care teams.

Indeed, my own work with police officers and with the victims of personal crime has reinforced my convictions that the situational context has singular importance in determining the nature of post-traumatic response. Those who have studied PTSD have acknowledged the effect of contextual variables in the event, but usually only as they apply to the direct trauma itself. Situational factors after the event have been less systemtically considered--that is, the socio-environmental factors that follow the direct trauma. For example, we have learned that we must pay attention, in our cinical dealings, to the homecoming for the Vietnam soldiers, or to the type of interrogation and follow-up care a rape or crime victim received. The chapters by Agosta and McHugh and by Shovar in this book provide particular insight into the ways in which the socio-environmental situation after a trauma can protract or ameliorate the severity of the PTSD response itself. In my estimation, the emphasis on these stressors has been the exceptional contribution of those who have treated and studied the Vietnam veterans population. It has alerted the entire field to the critical importance of context, and in many ways, has helped to demystify the nature of the therapeutic process.

Certainly different survivor groups require carefully tailored therapeutic techniques, but we increasingly find striking simularities across all groups. I am, therefore, especially glad to find that the first edition of this book--Traumatic Stress Disorder among Vietnam Veterans, published by the Diabled American Veterans in 1980--has been substantially expanded to consider other trauma victims as well. This enlarged second edition, written for clinicians and volunteers providing direct services to survivors, reflects a combination of mental health professionalism and "grass roots" experience in dealing with survivors.

The DAV, a nonprofit and nongovernmental organization must be commended for their sponsorship of this volume. As with the earlier edition, they are making it available to practioners at no cost. I sincerely appreciate their dedication to disseminating the knowledge that they have gained in working with Vietnam veterans, and thank them for allowing Tom Williams and his colleagues to share their experience of working with other survivor groups.

Tom Williams, himself a Vietnam veteran, is now a member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Traumatic Stress Disorders and a consultant to the National Organization for Victim Assistance. The authors he has selected are frontline clinicians, not academicians, theoriticians, or administrators. These people, including Tom, deal with trauma victims on a daily basis, and their writing reflects their clinical experience. They talk about survivors from an experiential as well as theoretical base. They tell you what to do and how to do it.

This book is particularly timely now that society is beginning to recognize the effect of traumatic stresses on individuals. The victim advocacy movement and the mental health profession are giving serious attention to PTSD. International terriorism, workers' compensation decisions, and attention to stresses in protective services have all added to the growing interest in preventing the development of chronic PTSD and of effectively treating the disorder when it does appear.

Morton Bard, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Psychology
The Graduate School
The City University of New York

I never knew that LD issues could be so interesting. I was entranced by the literary stylings of Dr.Brinckerhoff, as he not only assesses but also breaks down the intricies and effects upon college students with LD. The collaberation of McGuire, Shaw, and Brinckerhoff results in one of the most informative books of my lifetime.

Complete history and philosophy of a unique school in Washington, DC The Lab School of Washington, dedicated to the creative education of intelligent disabled students. Most likely a model for all schools in the future. Smith started using the arts to teach difficult students long before the research was there to back her up, then built a living educational laboratory to test her concepts. Should be a useful first-step book for anxious partents of "different" learners, and beginning special education teachers. Also contains some useful and simple lesson plans designed by the artist-teachers of the Lab School, that address particular manifestations of common learning disabilites.

I found this to be an extremely valuable book. The chapters provided quantitative information on the effectiveness of various interventions at different grade levels. For example, several articles showed that intervention at the lowest grade levels, i.e., kindergarten and first grade, in otherwords, prevention, was far less costly than remediation at higher grades. Another chapter showed that at these grade levels, working with 2 or 3 kids was almost as effective as one-on-one intervention. For someone without an education background trying to help with reading in an elementary school with limited resources, this book allowed me to make decisions on a rational basis.

The chapters are technical and not easy reading. I had to read them several times to fully appreciate them. In addition, expect to purchase additional books and materials to be able to apply the ideas in the classroom.

I'm glad to see this book come back in print. I will use it in teaching beginning sign language.

This book is written for you as the teacher, with guidelines for helping a special needs kid become a true member of the classroom, and using the resources of parents, the paraprofessional and resource specialists to help you teach to all students in your class, including those with specail needs. This is an excellent book for parents to read and share during IEP's and full inclusion discussions. The focus is finding ways for the classroom teacher to directly teach the student, rather than isolating the student off in the corner with a paraprofessional who tries to be his teacher. We're using these ideas with our middle school son.

Should be mandatory reading for all parents even if they don't have children with disabilities. Life is hard enough when you know what you're doing. When you feel like the first person on the moon it is next to impossible. Both Dr. Thompson's books are practical guides to get us parents over the hard times. The advice is down to earth without all that doctor talk that no one really understands.