Phoebe Flower’s Adventures: Phoebe’s Best Best Friend

Some of us learn things in a different way from those around us — do you too? One frog might need a bit of help with counting; another might not know how to behave around other frogs. Other young frogs in this book are easily distracted and get themselves into trouble. But help is at hand: if we think differently about things that we find difficult, we can find our own ways to get better at doing them.

With this fully realized second edition of the classic guide, Dr. Larry Silver addresses the subjects all parents wonder about when they suspect their child has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: What causes ADHD? What signs should I look for? How can I make sure my child is diagnosed correctly? Could my child have a learning disability, too? What’s the latest information on medications and other treatments? What controversial treatments should I watch out for? What should I tell my child’s school, and what should they be doing? Dr. Silver’s warm, thoroughly practical guide will give parents, teachers, and others the support they want and the answers they need.

Do people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder have a “Deficit” and a “Disorder”? Or are they just different in some ways from people around them? In Distant Drums and Different Drummers, the author presents a more positive perspective on ADHD — one that stresses the value of individual differences. The child with ADHD, with his penchant for novelty and exploration, his boundless energy, and his tendency to take risks, is seen as the descendant of a long line of adventures and explorers stretching far back beyond the beginnings of recorded history.

This practical and compassionate guidebook enables parents to sharpen any child’s social skills by pinpointing the child’s particular social strengths and difficulties. Each chapter — from “The Shy Child” to “The Little Adult,” from “The Short-Fused Child” to “The Sensitive Soul” — uses case studies that focus on the specific social conventions that certain children don’t “get,” and offers drills that parents and teachers can use to help children understand the unspoken underpinnings of social situations, the knowledge essential to building, sustaining, and repairing relationships.

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

Unlocking Potential contains the latest information on LD and AD/HD, as well as advice, practical tips, and resources designed to make their transition from high school a success. From selecting and applying to a program to setting and achieving goals, this book leads them on their way.