Specific Disabilities Books

This book is an excellent resource for anyone planning to use drama with students or clients with disabilitites. Many disabilitites are accounted for and the author has tips and encouraging words for all. Told with a sense of humour and from real experience, this book combines practical advise with a belief in human dignity.

Sally Bailey's book was truly magnificent. it is up to date and well researched. She has a deep understanding of children's needs especially in the world of theatre. I work every day with children with disabilities, I also run theatre and workshops for these great kids and Sally Bailey's book is a must for us all. Her information is also brilliant in that she has obtained her information from her many years experience of running her own theatre classes. I would also recommend it for parents and teachers with children with Special needs/disabilities, she has found ways to make our children laugh and have fun. She writes with such easy clarity for us all to understand. Well done, Sally on a truly marvellous book! Is there another to come??

This book is informative and contains lots of creative ideas for working with Special needs students. Many of the games and techniques I have used in my non-special education drama classes and rehearsals as well. I read "Wings to Fly" over and over and it continues to inspire me. I recommed it to anyone who is interested in working in the Dramatic Arts.

This seminal work by Sally Bailey includes a clear understanding of the practical aspects of facilitating drama therapy for children and young adults with special needs. Ms. Bailey's experience at the Bethesda Academy Special Needs program adds depth to her understanding of both physical and cognitive difficulties faced when working with these clients. Her fine background as a playwright, director, and drama therapist permeate the entire book. She offers many practical theatre games that can be used by a variety of populations, as well. Few books in this field address the needs as clearly and articulately as Ms. Bailey.

This exceptional book is a MUST for anyone who shares the creative arts with students from elementary through high school, those with and without special needs! Sally Bailey not only includes an overview of developmental and physical disabilities, but goes on to cover pertinent issues for any drama or creative arts class; e.g., using drama as a tool to teach other subjects, mainstreaming, behavior management, class composition, working with other personnel, and other basic adaptations for classroom use. She goes on to cover creative drama and improvisational acting classes, puppetry, developing original scripts for performance and specific lesson plans and activities that work educationally and recreationally.

In addition, Sally includes excellent sources of information from books to national organizations on disability, drama, and theatre; as well as a complete checklist for making your facility, staff attitudes, and program barrier-free.

WINGS TO FLY "will teach you how to approach adapting activities and programming to specific situations and individuals, so that you can begin to problem-solve on your own."

I thought this book was very funny when Johnnie ran into the CD pirates. When Robin threw a big log at Travis was also a good part. I liked when Travis was in the barn and the CD pirate was about to find him but Johnnie drove the men's boat to the other side of Gun Lake.

I like this book because it is really funny. My favorite part was when one of the bad men shot his own partner in the leg. Then the police came and said I guess we know were that bullet went.

I thought this book was very funny nere the end of the book and I thought it was that you rote it about your self. I mostly liked the part when Jhonnie lunged at the bad CD pirit and when katy thougth a log and it hit travis rite in the hed.

The Barn At Gun Lake is very good because they arrest the bad guys. I recomend you read the series because you don't want stop reading.

I am 17 and have cerebral palsy. I've known Johnnie Tuitel for many years, so I was pleased to see his books. I was even more pleased to see how his sense of humor and adventure shines through in his writing. It's very refreshing to find someone who can express the frustrations and triumphs everyone with CP (or any disability, for that matter) runs into, and Johnnie and Sharon do it in such a way that Johnnie Jacobson (the main character) still seems like just one of the gang at Gun Lake. I recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery and adventure, able-bodied and disabled alike. :)

Educating Children with V.C.F.S is a book I wish I had had from the begining. It covers ALL aspects of teaching a child with a 22q deletion and throws light on a lot of the often perplexing conundrum of problems associated with the syndrome. Highly recommended for parents an educators alike and although maybe a bit pricey, worth every cent.

First of its kind, very useful information. It gets 4 stars simply because of the price of $55.00 which I think is outrageous for a soft bound book of its kind

This book is amazing! It is a "must have" for parents, educators and physicians dealing with children who have been diagnosed with velocardiofacial syndrome. I wish that someone would have handed me this book when our son was diagnosed with 22Q11.2 (velocardiofacial syndrome). Educators especially can glean helpful information from it's pages to better understand the cognitive defecits presented by the syndrome. It is worth every penny of the price. Thank You Donna Cutler-Landsman for taking to time to compile such a comprehensive and concise book.
-Holle McRae

What makes this book so special is that it deals exclusively with the educational needs of children with VCFS - from preschool forward throughout the educational system. It addresses complex topics in a straightforward, easily understandable way and is helpful to parents *and* educators.



The only reason I downgraded it to a 4 is the astronomical price. $55 is a LOT to pay for the 'privilege' of owning this book. Take at least $25 off the price and then this would be a 5 star rating.



I'd recommend visiting the VCFS Educational Foundation website for additional info: www.vcfsef.org

I found the book to be very thorough and helpful. It first gives an overview of different areas affected by VCFS (22q) written by well-respected researchers and clinicians. The second half is the real gem, though. It has clear and readable information on how kids with VCFS typically learn, and then good recommendations on how to help them learn. The second half is divided into sections based on grade/age, but there are valuable nuggets in all of them, regardless of the age of the child you're trying to help.

For teachers, it is an invaluable tool in setting up accommodations to help kids with 22q learn more effectively. For parents, it provides a way to easily share information with schools - information that previously was either not available or scattered in various papers and books. The fact that the book is written and edited by respected professionals gives it more credence than just the word of a parent.

I had to read this book for a report for school. Otherwise, I would have never picked it up. It took me a long time to get through the book, because I found it to be quite technical. However, it was fascinating to find out what these people went through. It's scary to think that there actually was a comittee that was set up in 1914 with the sole purpose of irradicating the mentally retarded from this world!!

After working in this field for ten years, I finally found something that gives me a history of what has happened to those that came before me and I am making it required reading for my staff.

I have been teaching classes on the history of residential facilities in America for several years. This book brings a new light to me, and to all of us who work for people with disabilities.

James Trent has written an excellent comprehensive history of mental retardation in the U.S. Readers will also find pertinent photographs, and a full bibiography. This volume is a resource for students, human-services professionals, and historians. I highly recommend it.

I spent a good deal of time in libraries looking for information that was ALL CONTAINED IN THIS BOOK. Trent does an amazing job of piecing together a social/medical history of mental retardation. No medical book, no first person type accounts, no histories of institutionalization touched this book. This book draws from all the different disciplines to present a complete picture (as good history books do). It is highly readable and engaging. It's academic and rigorous yet entertaining. I recommend this book wholeheartedly.

How to adequately praise an amazing memoir that is by turns comic, tragic, brave, immensely kind (never cloying) and seemingly photographically rendered? Davis presents the reader with how his young life looked, smelled, sounded - and most importantly, how it felt. It's a remarkable story of growing up in the now-lost world of the working-class Bronx (Tremont Avenue) of the 1950's, the much younger of two sons of smart, devoted, hard-working Jewish British immigrant parents, who are also "stone deaf," in his father's words. His mother lost her hearing in childhood, and so can speak and be understood by the hearing world; his father lost his as a baby. The circumstances surrounding these events are examined, too. Their shared disability both constricted and greatly enlarged his life.

Young Davis was deeply loved by his parents, but hyper-responsible and desperate for contact and life in the outside world. Readers are given the terrific minutiae of his life as a child - the weekly dinner menu at home, the interior of his family's apartment, life at school, the kindesses of teachers and his parents' friends in the deaf community, (lower case "d," , then) the neighbors, and the sights, sounds, smells of family life, including what he describes as a nearly religious object (because of course his father couldn't hear baseball on the radio): an Emerson Console TV. A very personal iconography of Television -- he develops a superhero alterego he calls "The Zenth" -- is part of the immense charm and humor of Davis' story. (Years later, he finds the exact same Emerson Console in a junk shop in upstate New York, another great scene in this book.) In the chapter "Honeymoon with Mom," he goes to England to visit relatives. The cozy domesticity and accepting, familial love - the music in every house, English candy - that he finds there is movingly described.

From the confines and immense security of his family's one-bedroom apartment Davis learns difficulty and differentness of being the hypervigilant hearing child - conscientious, smart, and emotionally desperate, sometimes - of Deaf parents. There are two brothers in this family, and their interesting but troubled relationship is examined with compassion and intelligence.

Davis is a careful writer with a wonderful and loving sense of the world. Not a word has been wasted. By the way, "Zenth" becomes a Professor of English. His generosity in revealing his life to us is immeasurable. The full picture of the old neighborhood is in itself an excellent historical narrative. You can smell the food - and hear the voices. It's also very funny at times. One of the best autobiographies I've ever read.

Davis writes extremely well and the images of his youth are quite powerful. He also does an excellent job conveying the difficulties of relating to his parents.

However, he can never seem to escape from a level of self pity. Though he ascribes this to his parent's deafness, often one wonders if his feelings are not rooted in his own deep classism. Much of what he describes as his youthful dificulties are not uncommon to find in the writtings of other children of working class immigrant jews. The embarassment he feels seems far more driven by this than his parents inability to hear.

I grew a bit tired of his deep self pity, perpetually describing himself as the victim of almost every circumstance.

In one poinient passage, he describes how his mother had once been courted by a wealthy english suitor whom she rejected. He wonders why she chose not marry this "catch." I myself wonder if davis would not have much prefered for this to be the case. It seems he would rather have been the child of the wealthy deaf than of the hearing poor.

While it is worth the read, other worthy texts by children of the deaf are far less self involved.

This could become a classic. I really felt everything he wrote about. I felt badly for him - his childhood was rather bleak. However, his intelligence and good humor won the day and he has become a successful person, as a writer, in academia and his personal, family life. To me this shows that unique situations often produce unique people, and in this there is hopefulness for those of us who feel we grew up as "outsiders." Frankly, I think everyone fits into that category one way or another, so I recommend this book to...everyone.

It was very enlightening to learn of a hearing individual's experience being raised by deaf parents...the author's first awareness of his parents' deafness, his alertness and response to nighttime sounds, his role as interpreter even as a small child, his excitement at attending school surrounded by those who could hear, his need as a young adult to escape his limiting home environment, etc. However, there were times during my reading when I felt the author strayed from what I perceived as the main intent of the writing, that is, to understand or empathize with the difficulties and problems of growing up in a somewhat restricted household (at least, in his mind). These were the parts of his story that were not as interesting, and I wanted to hurry through them to get to the portions where I learned something about the deaf experience. Otherwise, it was a very good book and well done. I did notice that the author at times used sentence structure reminiscent of his descriptions of "deaf speak". I wondered whether this was intentional or just a slip to his past.

I have read several books of this gen-re, growing up with deaf parents. This one has its own, unique slant. I loved it, and I'm sure you will, too. It's fascinating when a person with parents of any particular group can look back at their childhood and explain things as they saw them through the eyes of their childhood. Mr. Davis describes his young feelings with insight and clarity and makes you understand exactly where he's coming from. It's a wonderful book, made even more special by the rainbow of seldom-heard, but easy to read, descriptive vocabulary used throughout.

This book rambled, stumbled over itself, and was filled with grammatical errors. It was hard to determine where the authors were trying to go, and it seemed that once they got there, they offered little, if any, information that was actually useful. I learned perhaps two new things from this book, and they really aren't things that will help me to help my Aspergian son.

If you have a child with ADHD, an Autism spectrum disorder/Pervasive Development Disorder, or sensory integrative issues then this book will be an excellent read!! I love that it has entire chapters/sections devoted to the interaction between a specific disorder/diagnosis/cluster, and sensory response/reactions...the book is well-written, is readily understandable to lay-persons, yet it is as useful to therapists as many other books on the market...my son's therapist copied almost the entire book when she borrowed it from me!!!
In a nutshell, this book gives you certain behaviors that may manifest, gives ideas on how to resolve...yet is never preachy...love this book

This book has important wisdom for parents and teachers. The authors write very compassionately and very professionally about the process of helping kids with a number of disorders that can interfere with learning. They are very helpful, and always respectful of the children whose learning patterns they are describing. This is a great book!! LO in New York

An easy to read comprehensive look at sensory dysfunction covering symptoms, definitions, diagnosis as well as assessments, curriculum strategies and modifications in the environment. A must have resource for parents, caregivers, educators and therapists.

Authors Emmons and Anderson are both special education teachers, as well as moms of children with sensory integration difficulties, and it shows. Their insightful book offers excellent strategies for helping children with SI dysfunction, especially when it occurs concurrently with autism, Asperger's, ADHD or bi-polar disorder.

As I read this story, I realized Seb with Asperger syndrome(AS) has learned to express themselves to get rid of his social clumsiness.

Miss Adonia tried to back up Seb by seeing right through Seb's AS. Since then Seb could be more objective about himself and he could enhance his computer skill which has been one of his pros. And Jen, Kristie, and Madeline helped him cope with his social cues especially by telling him how to ask somebody out. Of course, changing Seb must have demanded a lot of hard work; Seb was a loner and he didn't know how to cope with his social life. In short, he was very keen at computers and math, while he didn't know the reality. However, he couldn't get away from his haze for the rest of his life without Jen, Kristie, Madeline, and Miss Adonia.

After all, I would say people with AS need a lot of support from those who deal with them. And this will encourage Aspies to get out of their hazy world!

This book makes me think of the 1968 Jimi Hendrix classic, "Purple Haze." "Purple haze, all through my brain, lately things don't seem the same." People with Asperger's Syndrome (AS) can relate to that sentiment - what seems so straightforward to neurotypicals is hazy and confusing to people with AS.

Seb, 17 has Asperger's Syndrome (AS) which is the spectrum partner to autism. He is brilliant; math, science and computers are his forte. His social questions and quirks are recognizable to those familiar with AS. His attention to detail; rigid adherence to routine sometimes serve him poorly. Three bullies lie in wait for him each morning and beat him up. Seb just cannot shift over to taking a different route nor can he deviate from having his meals at a set given time every evening.

Seb's friend Guzzle helps him navigate tricky social grounds. Guzzle lives in a chaotic household; his stepfather is an abusive man whom Guzzle has given a very appropriate nickname. Two girls also help Seb; Kristie, who has a crush on him and Madeline, who lives with a psychotic mother and is desperate to escape. The mental cruelty and emotional abuse the woman inflicts on her only child is just as if not more damaging than the physical cruelty that is part of Guzzle's home life. Madeline's mother keeps other relatives from seeing her; she destroys Madeline's things; takes everything away from her and even tells Madeline when she was little that Santa wasn't coming that year. (That is the kind of thing that makes me truly regret having ever fallen for Santa. I truly wish I'd never believed in Santa in the first place).

The girls teach Seb how to date; what the expectations are and what people talk about and where they go. Seb has trouble seeing the rationale for doing things he doesn't enjoy, such as going to a movie or exchanging pleasantries that he doesn't really mean. The girls have to explain these things to him; they are horrified when Seb says, "I never hug my mum." They explain to him why it is important to tolerate hugs to appease others, even though he doesn't like them. This is a concession that makes others happy and is a way of teaching him how to see from the standpoint of other people.

Angels are part of the story as well; a new computer teacher who goes to bat for Seb when an Internet Security breach has been discovered; the girls; Guzzle and a mysterious man known as "Mr. Minty." The banding of these angels and the delightful Mr. Minty make for a sweet story indeed.

I thought this book depicted how life is for a teen with asperger's very well. I work with young adults with asperger's and it helped me see things better from their perspective. I liked it so well I passed it along to another colleague to read.

As the mother of a teen with Aspergers, I am well-versed in the clinical diagnosis and behavioral descriptions. Instead of describing symptoms, Kathy Hoopmann introduces a human being with feelings and hopes. This is a must read for anyone who wants to better understand Aspergers as well as the uniqueness and value of all people.

This book serves as a reminder to all, not to allow full control of so called authorities. This story is a very sad account about a family that has fallen for a better way. Their results were hellish and above all a true nightmare. The book is written by one of the parties that tried to help a problem that did not exist in the first place.

This was required reading in college. I am glad I picked it up again and read it after two years of teaching in an inner city school. It has helped me to refocus my attentions on my students and their learning, not their test scores. The state I live and teach in, Florida, is a state that is very focused on standardized test scores. The A+ plan is really shifting teachers to teach for test results. It is frustrating. I see the coding and labeling of a child's learning from a parent's standpoint of view when reading this book. It reads fast and rings true. Teachers need to read this book every so often throughout their careers to help remind them what we chose this career for in the first place: TO TEACH!

This is a must for all teachers, special educators and administrators to read! When we say we are in the field of education to help the child do we mean it? Read this powerful exposé and see what happens when "we educators" follow the rules of special education legislation, the rules of the referral process, and then some very mixed up messages. This book is powerful for anyone who writes anything about a child. Our words can and should identify the best that the child can be, while at the same time identifying what needs the child has and how we can support the child on their path of life long learning. This book demonstrates what happens when people with good intentions get stuck in the process of identifying what doesn't work "in" a particular child rather than what is not working in the school system and teacher instruction and how the instruction should be "fixed".This is a book to read again and again.

This book is a page turner. It really made me think about the ramifications of testing and labeling kids. In this case, the school tested this kid endlessly, couldn't find anything wrong, but insisted on labeling him learning disabled, in spite of substantial documentation of his intellectual growth and literacy. It's great for teachers to read, because it can really make you think about our testing practices and their effects on kids. It would also be good reading for a parent of a tested and labeled kid.

I think this book, an update of the original which I have also read, gives clear and precise instructions for creating prosocial behavior groups and interventions. The principles behind the model espoused in this book are sound and effective. In the short time I have used this model in my groups, I have seen some slight but noticeable behavior changes in the students.

This is a very nice guide for teaching a large variety of social skills to elementary children. There is a bunch of information that I didn't really need, and I wish more of the book was dedicated to the "lessons", but overall it was very useful. The lessons are mainly short descriptions of each skill with ideas for instructing the skill. This cannot be used as a full lesson planner, but as a guide for developing classes/group sessions. Sold seperately, there are cards that go along with this guide, as well as a guide for younger children, both of which I would strongly recommend.

Skillstreaming is a wonderful resource for any mental health professional who works with young children. The book addresses practical problems that professionals encounter in schools, clinics, and residential settings. I especially like the authors' emphasis on behaviorally-based intervention. I also like the fact that the authors encourage professionals to assess and monitor their interventions to determine their effectiveness. In short, I highly recommend this book as a resource for child psychologists, school psychologists, counselors, teachers, and others who work with children.

Very good book...A good balance with respect to MAINstreaming...

Timely delivery, as described. Book is packed with a ton of information, very useful in my graduate class. Not the easiest read but very accurate.

I don't think that anyone will buy this book unless they have to. It has good up-to-date info on special education and how to do great things for these students, but I don't think many of the authors have worked in a real school in the last couple of years.

Teaching Students with Severe Disabilities is almost the best introduction a student can have to this field of education.

Drs Westling and Fox outline in each chapter another area you will encounter in educating students with severe disabilities.

Unlike some textbooks this book is not overly weighted with jargon,or written to a level that requires expert knowledge of the field to decipher it.Yet it can stand by itself as an introduction to your student population.

Until you actually student teach, such as I have, this will be your best source for understanding your students and their needs.

As books intended to be textbooks go, this book by Westling and Fox covers the material without subjecting the reader to terminology which it does not explain.

It is broken up into well organized chapters, and reads well (meaning even a working professional can cover a chapter at a time without the book making them tired). It is not written in technical venacular, but in common sense terms most people interested in the subject can understand.

Unlike other books written in the field of special education it does not presume experience working with the children in question nor insult your intelligence if you are.

Most students should read this book before attempting any real fieldwork in the area of students with severe disabilities ( instead of as a textbook for a final class before student teaching as was my situation). It will give you a clearer view of the types of students you will be working with, and some of the ways to deal with them.