A Special Education: One Family’s Journey Through the Maze of Learning Disabilities

Peer Power explodes existing myths about children’s friendships, power, and popularity, and the gender chasm between elementary school boys and girls. Based on eight years of intensive insider participant observation in their own children’s community, the authors discuss the vital components in the lives of preadolescents: popularity, friendships, cliques, social status, social isolation, loyalty, bullying, boy-girl relationships, and afterschool activities.

This book is about helping youngsters with learning disabilities hold onto their dreams. It is also about helping their mothers and fathers negotiate the maze of challenges that so often leaves parents and students alike feeling overwhelmed and helpless. Writing with warmth and compassion Corinne Smith and Lisa Strick explain the causes, identification, and treatment of learning disabilities and present a wealth of practical strategies for helping youngsters become successful both in and out of the classroom.

If you are a parent of a child with special needs, perhaps you have also felt lost and wished you knew someone in a similar situation you could turn to for support. If so, you’re not alone. Across the country, parents are providing emotional and informational support to other parents through a national network of Parent to Parent programs. In this comprehensive book, the authors share with you the ins and outs of developing and maintaining a strong, local Parent to Parent program that individually matches “veteran” supporting parents with those who are new to the challenges of caring for a child with a disability. Drawing on research about Parent to Parent groups and best practices in program development and training, you’ll get the basics of setting up your own program, including guidelines for finding, preparing, and matching supporting parents with newly referred parents, ideas for organizing and incorporating your program, and evaluating its effectiveness, tips on accessing funding and promoting your program througho0ut the community, and useful forms and extensive lists of contacts and resources to get you started.

With Faking It, Christopher Lee and Rosemary Jackson offered a moving account of Lee’s struggle and ultimate triumph over dyslexia. Now, Lee combines his special insight with Jackson’s expertise as a special education trainer to offer specific help to teachers and parents of other misunderstood learners.

Best Friends, Worst Enemies brings to life the drama of childhood relationships, guiding parents to a deeper understanding of the motives and meanings of social behavior. Here you will find penetrating discussions of the difference between friendship and popularity, how boys and girls deal in unique ways with intimacy and commitment, whether all kids need a best friend, why cliques form and what you can do about them.

Do you know a child who is bright, charming and articulate, but has no friends? A child who showed early signs of intelligence, but is now floundering, academically and emotionally? Children with Nonverbal Learning Disabilities (NLD) are an enigma. They’re children with extraordinary gifts and heartbreaking challenges that go far beyond the classroom. Nonverbal Learning Disabilities at Home explores the variety of daily life problems children with NLD may face, and provides practical strategies for parents to help them cope and grow, from preschool age through their challenging adolescent years. The author, herself the parent of a child with NLD, provides solutions to the everyday challenges of the disorder, from early warning signs and self-care issues to social skills and personal safety. User-friendly and highly practical, this book is an essential guide for parents in understanding and living with NLD, and professionals working with these very special children.