Specific Disabilities Books

I bought this a long time ago for a class I was taking to complete my credential as I recall and it was a decent read.

One book of the order did not have all accessories and the other book of the order was never received.

Pearson Prentice Hall is like Luther Vandross, U2, and Stevie Wonder. They produce excellence so consistently so often that it gets kinda boring...lol.

I've run out of cliches for Pearson. Just know that you need any other Special Education book if you just want the overall basics. Everyone, this book is super dense for about 600 pages!

The most resiliant reason Pearson is THE best: they are superb for preparing for PRAXIS tests. This book has a comprehensive alignment between PRAXIS Standards, INTASC Principles, and CEC Standards.

I'm speechless.

This book has a wealth of information for students working on a special education degree. The textbook has easy to read print. There are lots of extras within each chapter.

I have reflected on this book for many years in my reasearch for special education training. The frameworks have been an asset in getting the framework for teaching and sharing with colleagues ways to model research based practices for exceptional learners in any school environment. The author's are well-known in the reserach community."I reflect on this book often for answers!" Carol Swindell,EdS, Inclusvie Special Education Teacher and Doctoral Student.

The book does not provide activities for under privileged children. The book provides unrealistic scenarios that are rare for the students I serve.

I have used this book to plan lessons for my secondary students who have severe cognitive disabilities. My main problem with the book is that it relies heavily on worksheets and activities that require the student to be able to read. Since my students do not read, these worksheets were not appropriate for me. I was able, however, to adapt and modify the ideas to meet my needs. As a reference tool for ideas, it is a great book.

Excellent source of activities for use with LEP population. Good for counseling end educational activities.

I just started using this book 1 month ago with a developmentally handicapped class in our secondary school. I have been looking for months for suitable resources. I really recommend this book. The students are enjoying the discussions and completing the activities.

I am a speech therapist working with special needs kids in high school and junior high. This is a wonderful resource full of information I can use with all my kids. The book is clearly sectioned into activities and concepts which can go beyond classroom objectives and into real life situations. I really enjoyed activities geared towards the older population covering more sensitive subjects such as alcohol, suicide and sex. The special needs population needs more hands on information covering these topics and this book presented the material in a easy to understand and practical manner. I was also really impressed with the extension activities provided and short exercises given with every subject. What a timesaver!!

As a person who has a congential deafness of unknown etiology, I sometimes put up with people who are either misguided, ignorant, well-intended but wrong-approached, and likes when it comes to the deafness.

This book is absorbingly poigant and very eye-opening revelation of what has happened to the deaf people who are "victims" of medical procedures by the doctors who wanted to claim their fame as "curing the deafness" in the 1700s and 1800s as well as of badly planned and executed deaf education since the infamous Milan Conference of 1880. It extrapolates what is wrong with the deaf people today and what causes them to experience the indignity, disrespect, and so forth from the hearing people. To this day, they are still disenfranchised...

A Texas senator who pushed for 185-million dollar fund to rebuild almost entire Texas School of the Deaf snapped back at the group who thought he was insane to push for rebuilding the deaf institute when it was popular trend to close the special institutes for the people with disabilities. He said this beautifully,"If you don't understand the deafness, back off!" Exactly the reason for reading this book!

Harlan Lane shows how Deafness is a cultural affiliation and only through the hearing world's oppression does it become a disability. Very well-written and researched, Lane digs deep into the Deaf culture and history to bring us this excellent resource. I believe that anyone saying that this work is biased and obsolete holds biased and obsolete viewpoints themselves. Come into this with an open mind, and you will leave a better person. Highly recommended!

I found this book to be engaging almost from the beginning; it is meticulously researched, well organized, logical, yet passionate in its defense of an oppressed language minority. One could certainly argue that Mr. Lane short-changes his opponents by not really addressing their arguments on the benefits of mainstreaming Deaf children, but the purpose of this book is not to present both sides of the issues; the purpose is to demonstrate the oppression of the Deaf language and therefore their culture. It provides strong evidence that the Deaf child is a minority, not an invalid, and that the tendency of hearing parents to see mainstreaming as the only option is a dangerous mistake. This is deep reading and scholarly writing, at times to the point of near inaccessibility to a mainstream audience. However, it is convincing and eye-opening if one is willing to put the effort into reading it.

Sadly, the reader from New Jersey seems to have missed the point of this book. By condemning Mr. Lane as refusing to "recognize that different lifestyles are better for different people," he fails to see that Mr. Lane defends the Deaf as a different lifestyle that deserves to be recognized! This book is not saying that no Deaf (especially late-deafened adults) should try to learn lip-reading or consider cochlear implants. It is simply saying that those Deaf who wish to take part in Deaf culture, who wish to be Deaf, should be given that option as well.

This book is biased, not up to date in it's views of oral-deaf education, and outright offensive to those in the Deaf community who chose to use technology to be able to hear and speak. Yes, some deaf people DO want to be able to hear! Is that so surprising? Harlan Lane is an extremist who refuses to recognize that different lifestyle choices are better for different people. The audist and oral-deaf education community are supportive of and unopposed to sign language and Deaf culture. However, they also believe that if one's choice is to live in the hearing world, one should be afforded the opportunity to do so. Today's technologies of advanced hearing aids and cochlear implants, combined with modern education and therapy techniques make this opportunity available to the majority of deaf persons, particularly young children. The oral-deaf education community recognizes that ASL may still be the choice of many, and has no wish to damage or eliminate deaf culture. Why then does Harlan Lane refuse to similarly acknowledge in this book the fact that hearing aids and cochlear implants do work, and deaf children (and adults) can and do learn to hear and speak very well by using them? What is wrong with that if that is someone's choice, or if that is the choice of the hearing parents of a deaf child?

It was a long time ago...perhaps 15 years. My kid had been diagnosed as Deaf or "deaf" by the hearing community with a small "d." In those days, parents (especially a hearing parent like myself) had no options. Technology for "aided" hearing in all forms was the rage. ASL was not allowed even in the "deaf" school he attended. But my son could hear nothing even with powerful hearing aids. So, for me, a NJ criminal appellate attorney (for 20 yrs), I wanted facts-not-fluff. Dr. Lane's book in Hardcover was released in 1992. When I read the review in the NY Times Sunday Book Review section, I could not drive fast enough to get a copy. Holed up for a day, I read it front to back. And then I knew. No. My vocation was not going to be a criminal attorney, I needed to become an advocate or "the law firm" for one - my own kid. And we needed to move out of NJ so good-bye law practice and the money. Had it not been for this book, though, he would not be graduating to attend a great college next year. Please buy this book. Please do not let "them" tell you it is "radical." Go for it. I beg you....

As a student of American Sign Language and the Deaf community I have read many books on the subject. A Place of Their Own: Creating the Deaf Comminity in America is an excellent book in which to find details that you just don't find in many other places. It covers Deaf history, the people and places that influenced the Deaf community and the reasons for the importance of the Deaf community. This isn't a book that promotes or promises a "Utopian Deafland" it gives a realistic look at the the lives of Deaf people throughout history. As a textbook, this is an excellent learning tool for anyone. It belongs in the home of every Deaf person, every person with a Deaf family member and the home of every person that knows anyone who is Deaf. It would be a nice thing for any hearing person that doesn't know any Deaf people to help create an understanting of a community they are not likely familiar with. An excellent and easy read. I highly recommend it.

There are not a lot of resources on the history of Deaf culture but this one does the trick. Taking you from Biblical referances to present day, it is easy to read, yet thought provoking. I highly recommend it. I only give it 4 stars because, again, this is a one of a kind in its field and I hope some day there will be a more variety and a better comparison between texts.

A Place of Their Own is quite a good book, really, and the authors are qualified to write on their subject matter. In regards to other reviews of this book: Sorry, but the ones accusing God of schizophrenia are not the authors, but trinitarian Christians. After all, it is trinitarian Christianity which insists that God has three distinct personalities. One of them died and was resurrected by the other. One of them prays to the other and begs the other to be saved. One of them sends another to people, one walks around on earth while the other stays in heaven. The third, I suppose, just kind of flies around being misty and mysterious. Then of course, they will insist that they really don't worship three gods, but one. They further insult the mercy of God by implying that he sent someone else (his son/his self) to die for our sins, and as long as we accept that we are saved. Tell me, why would god require a blood sacrifice as the price of salvation? We can't just repent to God and be forgiven? Someone else has to die for something I did? And let's not even get into the fact that all of humanity is supposed to be stained for something done by someone else eons ago, ...or that accepting that someone else has already paid for my sins means PARTY TIME! I can do whatever I want. A Place of Their Own is a highly readable, accessible work that presents its topic in a clear format. It isn't too long and is a good introduction to the topic. VanCleve and Crouch did a great job.

For a long time I have been searching for such book like this! It is excellent resources for the people, who are interested to learn American Sign Language, to become aware of richly deaf cultural/social history. The authors know where to find such wealthy of information, yet their writings are brevity along with several examples of where the deaf people have been interacted in order to preserve their cultural-linguistic connections. I highly recommended this book to the education and medical personnel to see how the deaf people are evidently happy with their livings without being heavily corrected on their hearing loss.

For everyone who is interested in this book, let it first be said that I think many people interested and involved in the deaf community would find it appaling that deafness is being treated as a "sin" or and "error" in humans. While not all people may agree with me on this point, I think it is very important to watch your comments when referring to these books. While Van Cleve uses historical analysis in his work, it fails to account for any positive deaf cultured view of the situation. Those involved in this culture will tell you that deafness is not a disease or a problem, but part of a human being, and Van Cleve fails to recognize this point, and therefore fails in any attempt to empower the Deaf Community. Whether or not this was his attempt is not as important. We all must be aware of the fact that some people are happy how they are. They dont want their deafness "treated" or "cured" becuase it can't be - it is as much a part of them as your eye color.

An excellent true story of what it's like to be facing your child's pending adulthood when the child happens to have Down Syndrome. Extremely well-written, funny and informative. A good bet for families who know someone with Down Syndrome - which is just about everyone!!

I first read about Greg and Ned in Pacific Magazine in the Sunday Seattle Times. It was a brief but intriguing view into Greg and Ned's relationship and Ned's move into adulthood and the "mainstream". Both Greg and Ned, (father and son)seemed to be witty, talented, smart men learning to deal with each other and life as they moved into the next chapter of their lives. I wanted to know more, so I got the book.

I could not put the book down. Greg is an honest, engaging writer. He captures the anecdotes of his life, his son and his family with warmth, respect and love. In this book Greg shares his hopes and fears for his son. He also shares his personal philosophies and pet peeves - I enjoyed that part immensely and did not find it distracting.

Ned is by all accounts an incredible human being. He has his issues just like the rest of us. He also possesses certain gifts - incredible memory, love of music, and passion for history.

It is a bittersweet experience for parents as their children leave the nest and find their place in the world. This book chronicles the good and bad of that experience. This is an excellent book and I recommend it to everyone who enjoys smart writing and a well-told story about family relationships.

The first section of the book is very entertaining. From there, the action slows down. The content really drags towards the end. As the parent of a child with DS, I can relate to much of the writers comments, however, the author includes way too much personal bias and opinions unrelated to his son in the areas of politics, religion, public television, etc in his own separate experiences. The book would have been much better without them.

This book should really have been split into two different works. The first book would have been about raising a son (Ned Palmer) with Down syndrome as he transitioned into manhood. The second book would have been made up of the vocation and philosophical leanings of both author and father, Greg Palmer.

The parts of the book that deal with the author's son are honest and well written. I too have a son with Down syndrome who is younger than Ned. Thus, I wanted to learn what might be coming for us in the next several years. Ned's coming-of-age story was one that seemed honest and hopeful. There can be no doubt that Greg Palmer loves his son, and has gone to great lengths to provide for him and his future. The sections about this were helpful.

The unexpected parts of the book were the constant injections it received with Palmer's feelings about politics, religion, art, etc. While the author did have to reveal some of his personal story to tell his son's; it seemed that the main emphasis of the book was nearly hijacked by Palmer wanting to get in as many jabs as he could against any and everything with which he doesn't agree. By doing so, the book became polarizing.

Palmer seems to pull to the left about as far as I do to the right. So, if readers consider themselves liberal to moderate they will most likely enjoy the book all the while nodding in agreement with the author's personal views. However, if readers are moderate to conservative (like myself), they may wonder why a book about Down syndrome is throwing darts at many other areas of life. Palmer proceeds to give liberal views on the following subjects and more: religion, separation of church and state, art, socialized medicine, evolution, stem cell research, the war in Iraq, etc. He goes on to associate membership in the Bill O'Reilly Fan Club or the NRA as akin to being in the Klan or the American Nazi Party. The author also seems to have hostility towards any organized religion that requires more than a sideline faith with buffet-style theology. As a Christian, I found it particularly odd when Palmer basically conveys that he wouldn't mind his son becoming a devout Christian as long as he wasn't too devout. Also, for those who care, the book has its share of profanity to include taking God's name in vain on numerous occasions. Again, for some readers these points will carry no weight, but to others they should serve as fair warning.

Finally, Palmer dives far too deeply into discussing his own work in both the theater and at PBS. This was painful reading to be sure, and it was made all the more painful because so little of it really needed to be said to share the story of his son.

If the book had stuck to the main subject, I could have recommended it. As it is however, I must advise readers to find one of the many other well-written books about parenting a child with Down syndrome.

I finished reading Greg's book and immediately sent him an email thanking him for his honesty in depicting the hopes, fears, concerns, and joy that we, as parents of children with disabilities, have in our day to day living.

As the parent of Daniel, a 7 year old with Down syndrome, my husband and I worry about if we are doing the right things, if we are teaching the right things, how to prepare him for life after he turns 21 and ages out of the educational system. As Greg's book depicts-- sometimes we do a good job on some things, sometimes we do a bad job on some things-- but we are human and don't have the magic key when it comes to teaching a child with a disability what to do, what not to do, what to learn, etc.

Loved the ending as I am a huge fan of "Inside The Actors Studio" and made us realize that our job is to prepare our child to the best of our(and their) ability and KNOW that someone will watch out for them when we are gone and they are on their own.

Loved Greg's comments about being sensitive to 'slights'(perceived or real) and other things that we, as parents, become sensitive to throughout our child's life. He tells it like it is-- the good and the bad and doesn't sugar coat things because while there are good things about having a child with a disability, there are also bad things that alot of books won't talk about.

Would definitely recommend this to any parent who had a child with a disability-- or anyone working in the field with people with disabilities because it gives a unique perspective.

I ran into this book by accident looking for a book about law. (LOC cataloged it in the Dewey system as 340.092, near books like Legal Realism at Yale.) It's actually the autobiography of Bonnie Poitras Tucker, born (so far as anyone can tell) totally deaf but who eventually became a lawyer and a law school professor. Tucker's strength is in communicating the burden of being deaf even for a gifted lip reader. I must say that I never thought about how terrifying darkness must be for the deaf, how much it would hurt to be thought rude because one couldn't hear everyday sounds or conversation, or even how a moustache might completely frustrate a lip reader. Tucker's reluctance to tell others about her handicap undoubtedly made some periods of her life more difficult than they might have been otherwise, but it takes little imagination for the reader to sympathize with her desire to be "normal." Curiously, although Tucker, is an expert on the law of disabilities, her book does not address legal issues in any rigorous way. For her, it is a self-evident truth that a theater owner should provide a seat for her interpreter at no charge. Likewise, the brief attempt she makes at discussing her religious beliefs (basically none) is more simplistic than one would expect from a law school teacher. Nevertheless, the book is worth reading. As a teacher who has had a number of deaf students over the years, I will certainly think twice before regrowing my moustache.

I found this book to be extremely powerful. Bonnie wholely admits to being in denial about her deafness til she was 38. At first I found this disturbing as she KNEW she was deaf, but claimed to be in denial. Three months AFTER I read the book it finally hit me what she was saying!!! She was not in denial about her deafness, she was in denial about the fact that her deafness made her different from other people, AND she was in denial that it impacted on her life! This was a huge lesson to me, because I was (then) doing the EXACT same thing!! I blamed a madrid of other "things" that affected my life EXCEPT for my hearing loss! What a relief it was to be able to accept the truth and get on with my life, and go forward! I now accept and do know that it is just a part of me that I have to live with every day!!! I must constantly educate others about it, and I am always appreciative of those who make the extra efforts to accommodate me and keep me informed on what is going on around me.

This book was very liberating for me and helped me tremendously! Bonnie is one of the very few deaf authors that addresses the implications that hearing loss has on one's own life, and those people directly around you.

I found this book to be upsetting and depressing. All of her life, it seems the author never accepted the fact that she was deaf and tried "passing" as hearing for her entire life! Although I am not deaf and do not pretend to know what it is like to be deaf, I felt that she made her life so much more of a struggle by shunning the Deaf Community. She refused to sign and tried to live as a hearing person. This book left me with a feeling of overwhelming sadness for all that this woman has missed in her life as a result of not accepting her deafness and at least trying to be a part of both the hearing and the deaf communities.

I would have never heard of this book if not for a dear friend's recommendation - whose 15-year old daughter has been deaf since birth. And I am as profoundly grateful to my friend Anna Marie, as I am to Bonnie Tucker, the author - for a lesson in gratitude. compassion and frustration . . .

All of us, the hearing - will learn of gratitude for the "given" of the sense of hearing. We will add to our repertoire of our feelings a very special variation of compassion - for one like Bonnie - full of zest and energy in her approach to life - who definitely does not want pity.

We will learn of the aspects of frustration which our hearing world may not conceive of. Why not learn of this? Why not absorb some of the unique feelings which none of us ever thought of, in the situations none of us ever has found himself/herself?

You, the psychologists, might add to your lists of therapeutic data - this very intelligent woman's pointers and leads - how and when to help the deaf . . .

As the deaf are not really deaf - witness Beethoven and his most significant output as a composer in the late years of life, when, after becoming deaf, his hearing switched inward, into the inner world of sound - after all we all have an inner ear.

So does Bonnie Tucker and she has proven it with her astounding life and career as a mom and an attorney. Hurrah to the victor!

Eva Victoria Tame, [...].

The account of a courageous woman who has been deaf since at least age two. Determined to communicate, she taught herself lip reading and speech. Her life has been a journey to defy all obstacles that stood in the path of her being totally involved in the hearing world. She refused to accept permanent set backs and plunged ahead with a strength of determination seldom seen in any human being. Although she had a lifetime to become adept at deafness, she presents as a role model for all of us whether two years deaf as I am, or deaf from birth. She is not an experienced story teller but her life is rich in adventure. It will evoke a plethora of emotions from all readers and may spark the debate about communication styles for deaf children. I would reccommend this book to parents of deaf children and to deaf adults

We used this book for our book club. It had practical ideas and was the guide for creating a simple information booklet to help parents work with their children.

The book describes "how to" approaches to work with a dyslexic child at home. What the author suggests does not conflict with methodology that might be used in the classroom, but rather it complements any specialized, commercialized multisensory approach used at school. When parents of actual elementary dyslexic students viewed the book, they could actually understand what the author suggested doing. Various activities suggested by the author could be prepared and conducted by parents in a few minutes per day. It's a book well worth reading, by both teachers and parents of dyslexic students.

I am tutoring a 7th grader, apparently dyslexic, who has never been taught how to read or given any individual help. At the beginning I was clueless how to improve his reading skills, and was puzzled by the many mistakes he made in decoding. After receiving this book in the mail, I began to understand his problems better, and better yet - how to remedy them! He has since passed his required state reading test (3rd grade level) and is reading in most cases at a 4th grade level, a jump of 4 grades since November. Many thanks to the author, and Amazon for giving me the opportunity to buy it used from the Marketplace, which is the only way I could afford it.

I think this book was originally called "How to Teach Your Child to Read" (or, probably, "How I, Bernice Baumer the Great, Taught Your Poor Neglected Child to Read"). The "information" consists of a number of chapters that read like testimonials to her "method." The method, once revealed, has little or nothing to do with Orton-Gillingham, Wilson, or any other MSL technique. The method could in fact be very damaging to children who actually do have dyslexia. The author's attitude could be very damaging to parental confidence, since the author doesn't seem to recognise that dyslexia is any different from a "slow" reader, and posits that dyslexia can be cured in a few "simple" steps. As any parent of a dyslexic child knows, dyslexia is a lifelong disability that can be corrected and dealt with to some extent, but that will never be "cured" or go away entirely.

(...)

As a parent of a dyslexic child, I've read most of the recommended books on the subject. Of all of them, this is the first one I would recommend to parents who have realized that their child is dyslexic.

The author presents most of the classical techniques in dealing with the dyslexic learning style in an exceptionally clear, concise, and very human style. She uses as a vehicle to do this her own experience in teaching dyslexic children and young adults. After using these techniques with my own daughter, I can say that many are quite helpful.

In the course of describing the learning-to-read process with dyslexic kids, the author also brings some practical thinking to the "phonics vs. whole-word" reading debate. She explains the necessity of phonics for word-attack skills in non-intuitive readers as well as the ultimate necessity of whole-word reading in order to establish fluency and comprehension.

At the end of the book she provides most-used word-lists, phonics charts, writing charts, and pictures. She tells you how to use these materials in applying the techniques previously described.

This book is not revolutionary nor does it promise a panacea for all the issues surrounding the dyslexic learning style. But, I recommend that you make it your first of several on this complex subject.

I really liked this book, we were looking for books that included children with Down Syndrome, but did not ever actually say they had it. It was also great because Russ was doing something that all kids like to do, and overall I think it was a good message

Our neighbor across the street has a little girl with downs syndrome and my daugther who is 4 has started to notice that she is different from her. I wanted to get her a book that showed someone with downs syndrome doing real things so that I could use it as an example. Unfortuntately the pictures are so far away that you don't really get to see Russ. It would have been better if there were some closer photographs.

As an educator, I absolutely adore the inclusiveness portrayed in this book. So many books today which include characters with a disability, spend so much time trying to teach about a specific disability, or trying to impart a message of acceptance, that they forget the storyline. This certainly can't be said about Russ' books. If it weren't for the pictures, we wouldn't even know that Russ has Down syndrome and that's exactly how I like it- disability naturally.

This is a terrific book about a little boy with DS who visits his uncle's firehouse in Chicago. The story is simple and clear. The photos are lovely. The actual story never mentions Russ' DS which I think is just the way it should be. He's just a little boy visiting a fire house, however, kids with DS will be excited to just see him in the photos and other kids will benefit from what I can only describe as his "normalcy". I purchased this book initially because my own son, who is almost 3, has DS. He really loves this book and it has become one of our regular story books. Which puts it in the ranks of classics like Brown Bear, and Goodnight Moon at our house. Russ is just a little boy who gets to help out around fire engines one day. What kid wouldn't want to do that!

I'm such a fan of books from Woodbine House! My kids love this series of books about a boy named Russ, especially RUSS AND THE FIREHOUSE. I think it's wonderful that Russ has Down sydnrome and the book doesn't even mention it. It just shows Russ as a regular kid, doing regular kid stuff. Any child who likes fire engines will love this tour of a real firehouse. We have the first book in the series, RUSS AND THE APPLE TREE SURPIRSE, and we hear that there is a new one coming out soon. Looking forward to it!

once again it's really unfortunate that the author, who wrote a nice little book, used such old fashioned terminology by putting the "Down syndrome" in front of her daughter.
A person is a person FIRST and having Down syndrome is secondary to that, and should always come after the PERSON.
So, please don't say Down syndrome person, Down syndrome baby or daughter or whatever.
Our children are children FIRST. They just also happen to have DS...but it doesn't define them.

Reading technical and how-to books about Down Syndrome can be depressing and frustrating after awhile. I needed a break, something up-beat and positive, about a real family.
This book is it! I loved every minute of it - couldn't put it down - had to read it all in one sitting. It is about Becky, the Icenhower's delightful daughter, and her journey from baby to independent adulthood. It is just the sort of encouraging, heartwarming story parents of children with DS need to hear. In the coming years, I will read and re-read this book. Wonderful!

This absolutely delightful book was a "page-turner" that I couldn't put down! I read it all in one afternoon. It's the story of a regular family with problems like everyone else, and who have a deep faith in God. Becky, the down-syndrome daughter, puts them in their place time and time again with comments like "Can't you people act normal?" I laughed so hard and yet was so touched. I recommend this book not only for families with a down-syndrome child but for every family who grows, laughs and cries together.

This is a delightful book. I will never see a Down Syndrome person the same again. My forced concerned will now be a smile. The part of me that did not understand is now ready and able to embrace and accept all children as precious gifts from God. Although this book teaches, it is not heavy reading. It reads like a story. Each line entices you to the next. At the end, I was wishing for more. This is a story of an average, normal family whose love for the Lord gave them the courage and strength to accept their precious daughter the way the Lord handed her to them and prepare her for a life that would touch us all. Thank you, Rosalie!

I am the mother of a son with a severe reading disability. Tears welled up in my eyes when I read Christopher's reflections of his days in elementary school. I know my son was going through that too. I can not personally imagine being in any place day after day for 14 years, surrounded with things I could not understand nor cope with. I would be a very unhappy and probably unruly, due to anger, soul. That is how many years my son was in school by the time he graduated. He now attends Landmark College and has been inducted into Phi Theta Kappa. So much for being the dunce so many thought he was. By the way, I found myself on the pages about math. All though everyone assured me it was easy, I never did get it very well. I recommend this book to every parent and every educator involved with a Special Learner. You really can't cut off the tops of their heads to take a look inside, no matter how much you would like to. Read this book and you will see just what might be going on in there.

I had to read this book for a course, which was a good thing because I would never have made it through otherwise. I am interested in the subject, and you do learn more about what the world is like for a learning-disabled individual. It is amazing that this guy could write a book at all, even with a lot of help! Unfortunately, he doesn't appear to have had access to any kind of editorial services, so reading it is like reading a 200-page freshman essay: painful. This is a pity, since this book could have been a fascinating read, and even a sort of reference work.

The author provides those of us who are not LD with a view into his world and the perspective from which he approaches life and learning. As a teacher of students with learning disabilities, this book has helped me to approach my students in a different and... better way. I routinely recommend this book to other teachers and parents, so that understanding and acceptance can be cultured. I applaud the author for taking the bold step to share relevant information with those of us who work with individuals with learning disabilities.

As a former tutor who help a job essentially identical to Rosemary's, I read this book eagerly, for it allowed me to visit the world outside of the tutor's office. My students, like Lee, had many talents but often found college challenged their self esteem. This book provides a revealing look at what Lee experienced in all the disciplines, as well as in life in general.

One scene that will stay with me forever was when Lee had to write a check and felt paralyzed with fear when he realized he had to risk misspelling words -- simple words -- in front of the clerk.

I assigned this book in my graduate education class, for I felt it would provide future teachers with a detailed, sensitive, thoughtful account of students with learning disabilities. Many remarked that this book was the most influential book they had read, for they did not realize the abilities many students with L.D. have.

Some criticisms included the repetition; many felt the book needed to be edited further. We felt the strength lay in the anecdotes, the ones that were probably most difficult to share. But those rich stories are what make this book special, what make this book move beyond just another article about L.D.

Your future book may include other adults' experiences. We are all eager to read it.