Special Needs Advocacy Resource Book

This book resulted from a national search for models of before- and after-school child care that served children and youth with disabilities. After an opening section which summarizes the results of a national parent survey, there are separate chapters that profile home-based (family child care) models, public school-operated models, models operated in partnership between schools and other organizations, and community-based models. Appendices include parent and provider surveys resource listings, and a quality checklist. At the time the book was published, the author was a research associate at the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women and editor of a nationally circulated newsletter on policy and practice in school age child care. The study was the first of its kind and the book remains the only one published on this subject.

This book uses the Building Blocks model. The Building Blocks model is practical, supported by research, and easy to implement. It identifies ten areas important to school success (the building blocks), divided into three levels:

1. the foundational level includes attention and impulse control, emotion and behavior, self-esteem, and learning environment blocks
2. the symbolic processing and memory level contains the visual, auditory, and motor skills blocks
3. the conceptual level comprises using strategies and thinking with language and images

Executive functions are the cognitive skills that help us manage our lives and be successful. Children with weak executive skills, despite their best intentions, often do their homework but forget to turn it in, wait until the last minute to start a project, lose things, or have a room that looks like a dump! The good news is that parents can do a lot to support and train their children to manage these frustrating and stressful weaknesses.

Research shows that if these children do not “close the gap” before they finish third grade, they are likely to remain functionally illiterate throughout their lives. See Johnny Read! is the first book to offer practical, proven, and timely ways for parents to help their boys with this critical skill. Written by an expert teacher and educational consultant, this much-needed book answers essential questions, including: When does a reading delay become a reading problem? How, when, and where should I look for tutoring? How can I get the best help from the school? How can my son avoid (or overcome) the “Bad Boy” label? How can I help my son learn to read — and enjoy reading — at home?

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.

When Marvin’s name is not on the class roster on the first day of school, he feels like he’s one too many – in fact he doesn’t even have a desk. Plus, Marvin can’t seem to catch on to reading as quickly as the other kids. Perhaps a little help from his teacher and his parents will give Marvin the boost he needs.