Words Fail Me: How Language Works and What Happens When It Doesn’t

Peter does well in third-grade math. But, somehow, in writing and spelling, by the time the letters get from his brain to his paper, they get turned around. His Dad thinks he’s lazy. Peter just wants to get sick and stay home from school. It takes the perseverance of a spider named Seymour to help Peter work to overcome his learning problems.

Phonemic awareness—the understanding that words are made up of sounds—is essential to a child’s early reading success. With this book, children gain this awareness through engaging, easy to teach activities.

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.

“…the book is a winner! This charming tale delivers a message of respect, resilience and hope to its young audience…The adventures of the appealing characters are extraordinarily effective in demystifying learning disabilities for special needs kids and their classmates. It belongs in every elementary school library, and save room on the shelves for the sequels!” — Rick Lavoie, Former Executive Director of Riverview School in East Sandwich, MA, and producer of How Difficult Can This Be?: The F.A.T. City Workshop

This is the story of Chic L. Dee, a boy bird with learning disabilites, who flip-flops when he tries to fly. While he struggles to accept his limitations, he begins to discover his talents, trust his intuition and find his own way. Perhaps most importantly, he learns about making room for differences. Any kid who has ever felt embarrassed socially, who has ever resorted to bravado in the face of shame, will understand Chic — and love this story.

“Clearly it is time for a holistic approach to the understanding of writing. The Writing Dilemma offers an embarrassingly overdue breakthrough, as this most important work acknowledges and describes vividly the multiple possible breakdown points that must be considered in a child who is not developing writing skills.” Other sections include components that facilitate automatic writing performances, assessment techniques, and a variety of recommendations for compensations and remediation of writing problems.

This important resource is an update of the best-selling book The Special Educator’s Resource Guide to 109 Diagnostic Tests. The greatly expanded second edition contains 301 new and enhanced tests, which are vital to understanding assessment in special education. Designed as an easy-to-use, hands-on resource, the book is filled with practical tools, information, and suggestions. Step-by-step, this practical guide explores the various stages of evaluation, interpretation, diagnosis, prescription, and remediation.