Disabilities Books

This book really adds a new perspective on some of the behaviors that are typically associated with autism, such as toe walking and the rocking. The book addressed some out of the box ideas on how to evaluate a child with autism. If your area is like mine and does not have a specialist (Developmental Optometrist) then I think it would be beneficial to share some of Dr. Kaplan's ideas with your local optomtrist. The other thing that I liked about the book is that it described some activities that you could try with your child if you didn't have a doctor close by or one that is open to using yolked prism glasses.

This is a great book on a treatment that most people are unaware of. My 2 1/2 year old son who has Autism had a habbit of looking at the t.v. with his head tilted to the right. He would also intertwine his hands and look through the holes while on the computer or watching t.v. I was told that this was just a normal Autistic quirk. But after seeing a specialist in the Chicagoland area, I found out that it doesn't have to be a quirk. Arm Flapping, toe walking and other sensory issues can be resolved by putting his sensory vision and hearing back into sync. I just received his prism lenses yesterday, what I've noticed so far is that they actually seem to calm his need for sensory overstimulation. Example: When he is on the computer he is usually like a gymnist, climbing on the chair, the desk ect the entire time. But with the glasses on, he sat still, very still and just watched his videos on the computer. Wow. I am actually going to order 4 more books today to give to his therapists as Christmas presents. There is no better gift than the gift of knowledge.

Seeing Through New Eyes is an introduction to the treatment of visual conditions that go beyond 20/20 eyesight. Developmental or behavioral vision care can have a significant impact on behavioral, social and learning problems associated with autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities. Poor eye contact and other behaviors are often the result of difficulty with "ambient vision" that drives spatial awareness, visual organization and balance/coordination. Dr. Kaplan gives guidance on how to identify the visual deficits of nonverbal children, select performance lenses that will alter ambient vision and how to create individual vision management programs in order to assist each individual in achieving maximum success in life. This book is essential reading for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and professionals in the fields of autism, optometry, ophthalmology, psychology and education.

One of the most interesting book in the field of vision, behavior, posture and
much more.
Thousand thanks to Dr M.KAPLAN.

Reading this book has helped me understand the children, friends, and even old girlfriends that have been in my life throughout the years. The Shut Down Learner uses plain, down to earth, non-technical language, to describe, and relate to people who are more spatial and creative thinkers, but have problems with reading and writing. As I read this book, the judgments and prejudices I have had toward certain adults and children in my life started to fall away.

Our society praises book smarts and conceptual learning over street smarts and hands on, experiential learning. In almost all schools there is really no place for the type of kids Dr. Selznick writes about. This book starts to make room for these kids. Every parent, teacher, and school administrator should read this book. Every person studying to become a teacher should read this book. The Shut Down Learner will help parents and teachers identify and successfully teach these types of kids before major problems develop. And, finally any person who feels that they are or once was a Shut Down Learner should read this book.

The layout of the book is progressive, starting with a thorough description of the Shut Down Learner, then going on to describe approaches of how to relate and connect with Shut Down Learners. Finally, there are strategies and suggestions about how to successfully proceed with improving the school and family life of the Shut Down Learner and his or her parents. In particular, I really liked the profiles of actual people. I would have liked to read even more of these type of profiles, because they really bring alive the topic of the book. Also, the resources at the end of the book are very helpful.

I have had the pleasure of reading this book, and as a previous shut down learner and a highly visual person it was a real revelation in my life. Since reading the book I have grown in leaps and bounds and have a much better understanding of how my though process works and how to get the most out of it.

This book is a must read for people of all ages and backgrounds. This book truly gives new information on dyslexia and how to teach those who have problems with it.

There are so many students often misunderstood, but do not have a learning disability just a different way of thinking. I hope this book can change that and most importantly notice those talented people in our society and not to let their talents go to waist.

FINALLY, a book that gives a name to many of the kids I've worked with over the years! A must read for ALL teachers. The book provides insight into understanding the psyche of these "shut-down" kids. A must read for parents of struggling readers - the earlier the better! Strategies and interventions for parents to help their kids before they completely "shut-down". This down-to-earth book is written with honesty, sensitivity and a little humor and most importantly HOPE for these academically discouraged kids.

I read this book in one sitting and thought it was wonderful. I can imagine so many other parents feeling like they finally understand why their child is struggling in school after reading this book. The style is very down to earth and in plain English, easy to comprehend. Dr. Selznick provides straight-forward guidance in helping both parents and children cope and get back on track in school. The illustrations add a lot too. This book should be required reading for all teachers in the early grades.

The Shut-Down Learner is a "must read" for parents, teachers at all levels, and for shut-down learners themselves. It offers great examples of shut-down learners who have overcome hurdles and become quite successful. The Shut-Down Learner is inspirational and, in my book, required reading for all who have a heart and care about others.

This book is groundbreaking and will be exceptionally helpful to the parents of and children who are shut-down learners. It offers new hope for struggling readers who show signs of dyslexia and children with ADD, who can't pay attention. Selznick offers a resource for parents and teachers that promotes insight and understanding, relieves guilt, and provides strategies for intervention. Many times a visually spatially oriented child is one of the kids who become discouraged in school. Dr. Selznick has identified shut-down learners and offered great insight into their challenges and accomplishments.

As a Shut-Down Learner myself, I am enlightened and encouraged. I now know that I am not alone. My challenges are actually shared by, and are the norm for so many others like me, who Dr. Selznick has described in detail. I wish I was aware of Dr. Selznick's findings and innovative approach to "me being me", when I was a kid!

This book provides wonderful ideas for activities that certified Sibshop facilitators can use to provide the brothers and sisters of children with developmental disabilities opportunities to have fun, be kids, make friends and talk about the ups and downs of having a "special" sibling. Every organization serving children with special needs should offer a Sibshop - it is a tremendous source of family support.

The book is thorough and very good to assist you in running the SibShop program.

With this book, you can easily set up and run a sibshop for siblings of kids with special needs. Think of the lives you can change with this book! It has great examples and encouragement, and references.

This book provides a much needed platform for people who have siblings with special needs. It also serves as a manifesto for how you, too can set up such a workshop for people to share their experiences.

This is an excellent and empowering book that helps address the needs of siblings. I recommend this one together with Donald J. Meyers' book, "Views From Our Shoes."

When I heard Charlotte Abrams wrote the silents, I had to get it immediately. I doubt she would remember me, but we went to Tuley High School at the same time. Reading the book for me was like a travel trough the past. The memories of the school. the park, the neighborhood, and the simpler times were wonderful. But I recommend the book for the story of love and affection it tells. A beautiful tale of the struggles of deaf parents attempting to raise their children in what was for them a silent world. And while they felt like outsiders their children lovingly guided them through the speaking world. As you read this well written book be prepared to be spellbound and also to shed a few tears.

This book tells me that deaf and mute people live lives that are very similar to hearing and speaking parents. The children of parents with handicaps have more responsibility. This book tells about the love and care the parents give to their children and the love and care the children return to their mother and father.

The author, Charlotte, takes us through her childhood in depression era Chicago to living in Los Angeles with children of her own. What makes her story unique is that her parents were deaf. And we are graciously allowed into a world which is foreign to most. A world where there are no dogs barking, no music and no voices. It's a touching, inspiring, story full of rich memorable characters that stay with you long after you've turned the last page. After finishing "The Silents," I thought to myself, what a lucky woman Ms. Abrams must be to have had parents that were so utterly and indisputably in love. I look forward to reading more from this author and I hope "The Silents" receives the recognition it so greatly deserves.

Althoug I am a little biased about this book (the author is my mother) I felt it was a heart warming story of growing up the hearing child of deaf parents. The warmth and humanity of the family described is one that will touch the hearts of all people. If you are deaf or in any other way disabled, or you know someone who is, you should read this book. It is amazing to read about a family in the 20's and 30's of this century facing the hardships of deafness, raising two children and still being able to have a "normal" life. My grandparents, the topic of this book, were two of the most wonderful people you could ever meet and I would like to invite everyone out there to meet them in this book. Thanks.

Oliver Sack, MD called this book, "a remarkable account of what it means to be paralyzed, speechless, incapable of communication yet fully conscious... and to struggle back, over the years, to an active and creative life."
I was fascinated by this feminist film maker's candid account of her devastating stroke, and learning to live with disability after seeking out a variety of therapies. You see her struggle with depression, overcoming access barriers, dealing with insensitive hospital staff, and coping with the details of bodily disfunction.
It helps me to understand the experience from the inside view. Quite enlightening.

This book should be required reading for anyone in the field of rehabilitation. And it is a tremendously inspiring story for all of us who wonder how we could ever manage if we were struck with a disabling illness. If it were fiction it would be a great read. The fact that it's a true story gives one goosebumps as well. Bonnie Klein suffered a devastating stroke. This book is about her recovery - both physical and psychological - and the wonderful love and support she received from friends and family, especially from a wonderful husband. It also shows the predjudice and meanness of some people when they are faced with a person who is "different". And the ignorance and arrogance of some of the rehabilitation "professionals" she encountered along the way. It is a story of terror, hope, the tremendous importance of love and support, and how one finally comes to terms with being less facile physically than one used to be. Bonnie Klein is a hero. Her family and friends most loving and genuine. It is a great read.

Ms. Klein establishes important rules to live a fruitful, productive lifestyle, despite a chronic illness: Live life by celebrating life. Independence is control over one's own life measured by the quality of life sustained with whatever help is needed. Sometimes dispair can lead to depression. Sometimes, it can be motivating.

This is a great book! I have read a number of books written by stroke survivors and this is one of the best. This may well be because the book was completed several years after the event. This time gave Ms. Klein the chance to gather and refine her thoughts and experiences.

I am also a stroke survivor. Her acknowledgement that she experienced progress long after the stroke was especially encouraging to me. The medical world says that all progress stops in 3 months to a year. My experience is that the body is a living entity, which is forever changing. So, it makes sense that it would not stop changing because of any medical condition.

The book has humor and is written in a warm and caring context. I would recommend it not only for stoke survivors, but also for caretakers and for health professionals

I picked up Myrna Orenstein's book knowing little about LD and nothing about undiagnosed learning disabilities (ULD). Her clear and personal writing style makes it easy for the average reader to understand some of the struggles people with ULD face.

The book becomes increasingly meaningful as Orenstein calls for better methods for teachers to identify children having academic trouble, and to give a second thought to the class clown or the disorganized and constantly late student. Orenstein's message is supported further throughout the book, as she urges parents, teachers and therapists to work together; to recognize that this disability is attatched to developmental issues inside AND outside of learning in the classroom. Attention is called to bridge the gap between LD specialists and psychotherapists, so that these smarter-than-average children can reach their potential.

Her personal experiences, reseach, and writing introduce the everyday reader to the world where people are wrongly labeled "lazy," or "unmotivated." Her focus on adults and ULD gives insight for LD specialists, therapists, and, like myself, the average reader.

SMART BUT STUCK

What if Horatio Alger had been a dyslexic?

Sure, he's only a fictional character, but his bootstrap mentality and "work hard and you'll succeed" ethics have become what America believes is reality. If he had been a real American, there would have been a one-in-five chance that he would have had some type of learning disability. If he had, his handiwork in certain areas would have only been met with frustration, shame, and the "chasm".

Dr. Myrna Orenstein, in her book "Smart but Stuck", challenges the American myth that a person's strengths and weaknesses are determined solely by intelligence, motivation, and hard work. Orenstein has learned from her own experience and the experiences of others that many extremely intelligent people are unable to learn conventionally in certain areas.

Through the stories of twenty very different and very bright Americans who grew up with undiagnosed learning disabilities (ULD), she explores the painful and trying emotional journey these individuals were forced to go on in order to come to terms with themselves and their learning disorders.

Dr. Orenstein's book compelled me to go down a difficult, but in the end wonderful, road of self-discovery. I have always been a slow reader - not to the point of being diagnosed with a learning disability, where most weekends of college have been spent solely in the library. It frustrated me to no end. Was I not trying hard enough? Could I be tugging those bootstraps a little higher? Was I just plain stupid? Who could explain why I excelled in things such as writing, painting, problem solving, and math and yet read as slow as the children I babysat for?

The first important thing Orenstein's book gave me was the realization that I was not alone. I unquestionably saw myself (my experience and emotions) within the stories and voices of her twenty case studies. The second invaluable thing I learned was that I wasn't going to be able to get rid of my slight disability, but that it was nothing that I should be ashamed of. My slow reading was a weakness within me that I was going to have to accept and learn to effectively live with. Myrna Orenstein's book inspired me to search for new ways to compensate for my reading speed.

SMART BUT STUCK invigorated me to use the people around me and my strength in creative problem solving to find solutions to compensate for my weakness.

In SMART BUT STUCK, Orenstein provides a powerful portrait of the emotional journey undergone by many American adults who have grown up with undiagnosed learning disabilities. Her book illustrates that if a person approaches their learning disability with the right attitude and the necessary support, they can learn to effectively live with it so that it in no way imprisons their intelligence, strength, and success.

Through the powerful accounts of real Americans, Orenstein makes it clear that it is possible to expand America's traditional myth of the path to success. Her book shows that, as both a culture and as individuals, we must be open at certain times to creatively approach conventional learning in order to compensate for learning disabilities. SMART BUT STUCK combines an approach that I appreciate with an in-depth manual for professionals, including therapists, counselors, and educators, to use when measuring the impact of undiagnosed learning disabilities on their clients and students.

For several years I have been searching for information related to my personal experience with LD. There are many excellent books that have helped me understand and cope with a diagnosis that came unexpectedly into my life when I was in my 40's.

I discovered "Smart but Stuck" quite by accident as I searched a database of doctoral dissertations. When I called to find out how I could get a copy of a dissertation about adult diagnosed LD, I was told it had recently been published. Immediately I came to Amazon and ordered a copy for myself.

Dr. Orenstein's book gave me an understanding that is fundamental to anyone trying to put all the pieces of their personal LD puzzle together.

Her concept of the "chasm" is an essential building block for LD's trying to understand their disability in the long view. We all cope with self-defining events from our childhood. Often these events have been pushed into the recesses of the subconscious mind because they are unpleasant reminders of how we were seen by peers and adults whose subtle and not so subtle negative reactions permanently altered our self images.

"Smart but Stuck" has had a liberating effect on me. I deal with the obvious issues related to my LD every day. Using this book, I have begun to go back and reaccess my experiences as a student in a more positive way.

I would recommend this book to anyone with LD at any age or stage of their diagnosis and treatment. While it is specifically related to adults, it will add another dimension at any stage of the LD learning process.

Dr. Orenstein's book should be required reading for parents and counselors as they seek to understand and support someone with LD.

I picked up Myrna Orenstein's book knowing little about LD and nothing about undiagnosed learning disabilities (ULD). Her clear and personal writing style makes it easy for the average reader to understand some of the struggles people with ULD face.

The book becomes increasingly meaningful as Orenstein calls for better methods for teachers to identify children having academic trouble, and to give a second thought to the class clown or the disorganized and constantly late student. Orenstein's message is supported further throughout the book, as she urges parents, teachers and therapists to work together; to recognize that this disability is attatched to developmental issues inside AND outside of learning in the classroom. Attention is called to bridge the gap between LD specialists and psychotherapists, so that these smarter-than-average children can reach their potential.

Her personal experiences, reseach, and writing introduce the everyday reader to the world where people are wrongly labeled "lazy," or "unmotivated." Her focus on adults and ULD gives insight for LD specialists, therapists, and, like myself, the average reader.

I'm impressed with Hayman's ease in presenting challenging material in an integrated framework that is made remarkably easy to understand. This is an important work that challenges various assumptions you never realized you had, but that now you can't deny having made, and made without real justification. It is by provoking that kind of analysis that Hayman's work has the potential to make us all "smarter." It's rare to find a book that conveys such moral passion for a truly egalitarian society, yet argues for that society using such carefully constructed rational arguments, often citing emprirical and historical resources, while also tapping into the author's personal experiences. Highly recommended.

Professor Hayman looks at an issue in our society that is rampant with misunderstanding and rife with malaise, the basing of intelligence among our myriad cultures. His work engages the reader with common sense and personal experience as well as superb research. I can only recommend this text in the highest of glowing terms, an essential read for any individual seeking to uncover one critical reason why our society is unjust and in need of balancing.

Professor Hayman looks at an issue in our society that is rampant with misunderstanding and rife with malaise, the basing of intelligence among our myriad cultures. His work engages the reader with common sense and personal experience as well as superb research. I can only recommend this text in the highest of glowing terms, an essential read for any individual seeking to uncover one critical reason why our society is unjust and in need of balancing.

Nancy Levit *

In 1993 the Educational Testing Service renamed the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Amid controversy that the test contained racial and cultural biases, did not measure intelligence, and thus was inappropriately called an "aptitude" test, test officials changed the name of the SAT to the Scholastic Assessment Test. In 1997, the testing service again renamed its college entrance examination: the SAT became simply the SAT - initials only, no acronym, no squabbles over the meaning of aptitude, achievement, or intelligence. The same thing happens in workplaces all over the country. Employers pronounce that they make hiring decisions based on "merit" - and everyone nods.

In The Smart Culture: Society, Intelligence, and Law, law professor Robert L. Hayman, Jr., explodes the myths that everyone has come to accept about "intelligence," "merit," and "race." He then shows the ways in which law has been complicit ! in keeping these myths unexamined.

Hayman's thesis is simple and straightforward. We have bought into the very idea that there is a meritocracy, and that the meritocracy reflects a natural order. We assume that people succeed based on "merit." In actuality, those people who succeed - for reasons of race, property-ownership, and power - have been the ones who get to define "merit." Merit, as Hayman points out, is largely a definitional tautology: we identify certain characteristics we deem worthy (such as test-taking ability), and then call people who can perform those tasks laudatory labels ("smart"). We thus reward people who are worthy, based, of course, on the possession of the previously identified characteristics. Merit is not natural, Hayman says, "It is the carefully crafted product of centuries of cultural propaganda, a myth of natural inequality perpetuated by men in power - by a political, economic, and intellectual elite.&qu! ot;

Hayman makes the all-important link between race, me! rit, and intelligence. While our nation formally commits to equality under law, our culture still possesses deeply held beliefs about the natural inequalities of its citizens. From the time of its founding documents, our country promised equality. But declaring all men equal was not only a promise unfulfilled, it was a promise founded on a contradiction: the principle did not apply to women, slaves, and those without property. "A nation committed now to equality," Hayman writes, "remained fundamentally convinced that its people were, by nature, unequal."

This idea of natural differences between the races was promoted not only by Southern congressmen in the Reconstruction debates, but by the Western European "race scientists" of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the American eugenicists of the early 1900s, and the Aryan supremacists in 1930s Germany. It is a debate that has been resurrected in late twentieth century Americ! a by The Bell Curve.

The Smart Culture is a political history of the concept of intelligence. Hayman traces various projects of classifying human intelligence, demonstrating that the equation of intelligence and merit has little scientific validity, but enormous cultural appeal. Given the popularly accepted assumption that intelligence differences are a naturally occurring phenomenon, Hayman argues that racial equality will not occur until the myths surrounding intelligence are dismantled.

The Smart Culture is also a cultural history of the construction of race. This new racism, which is tied to our concepts of intelligence, and defended by arguments about "merit," is, as Hayman explains, really the old racism. The modern, righteously indignant and seemingly egalitarian calls for a color-blind society ignore the history and tradition of our treatment of race in America.

Despite evidence that the biological, genetic, and anthropological significance of raci! al classifications is modest, in America what we have chose! n to make count are the visible characteristics of race, such as skin color. For the Supreme Court, race is an immutable characteristic because of descent, ancestry, morphology, and physiognomy. Race, for the Court, and for most of America - white America, that is - is not a matter of culture, politics, economic enfranchisement, or lived experiences. "Racism," Hayman argues, "thus embraces not only the continued tendency to make of race what it is not - something biological, immutable, and inferior; racism embraces as well the refusal to recognize what race is - a powerfully significant social and political reality."

This review must come with a disclaimer, or perhaps a warning label. Reviews are supposed to be evaluations of merit. Having read what has gone before, you can probably sense the irony that is coming. Let me compound the irony of assessing the worth of Hayman's book with a confession: Bob Hayman and I have co-authored articles together! in the past. So for those of you who suspect that bias might infect this review, you may wish to stop reading before the descriptive project lapses explicitly into laudation.

Hayman's original research brings to life the actual debates of the Reconstruction Congress on slavery and racial differences, and he amasses the anthropological and genetic research regarding race and intelligence, but he drives his point home with stories. Hayman uses narratives to offer readers a glimpse into the formation of meritocracies. Each of the chapters in The Smart Culture contains a story, and in his stories you may recognize your childhood. The stories of Stephen and the Binky Fairy, Louis and the Jewish boy at the lunch table, Mrs. Sweeney's "retards," and Buddy, the impossibly stupid dog, all share a theme: the people in power are the ones who make the rules, who create insiders and outsiders, who name certain qualities or attributes and thereby make them important. The st! ories - sweet, wistful retrospectives, at times painfully s! elf-deprecating - are not to be missed, rivaling those from the great raconteurs of literature: Mark Twain meets Camus on the courthouse steps. In Hayman's stories, and his careful tracing of the political, scientific, and legal naturalization of race, are much broader implications than simply issues of racial inferiority. Systems of merit are everywhere, says Hayman. He describes how the territorial imperative of second graders at the school lunch table is learned, from aunts and uncles, from moms and dads. Hayman tells a story of schoolboys arguing whether the Phillies will take the pennant, and in the background, the girls in the class are a Greek chorus: "yea." Mini-meritocracies operate in sports (soccer games, football, sandlot games, Wall Ball), in school cliques, in gendered speech patterns, and in cocktail party conversations. They are manufactured. They are dangerous and destructive. And we make them.

The Smart Culture is more than a deconstruction! of the concept of intelligence. It is more than a painstakingly researched scientific, psychological, socio-cultural, and constitutional history of race. The Smart Culture is one of our generation's most powerful indictments of insidious racism and meritocracies - the kind in which we all participate, everyday.

* Nancy Levit is a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the author of The Gender Line: Men, Women, and the Law (New York University Press 1998).

i loved the book! it was a great book. i liked how they brought dane in tol his world. it was soo cool to see him from baby hood to adult hood. and they accepted his behavoirs. thanks june for a good book.

When Dane Waites was born in 1974, tolerance towards autism was just starting to move out of the shadows and into the light. His behavior was autistic from infancy; he smiled at trees and at the shadows they made on his walls. Largely nonverbal, he reached some milestones at a later rate, e.g. mastering toileting at age 7.

The boy also celebrated his first Christmas at age 7. The Waites, wanting him to enjoy Christmas as his peers did, taught him about Santa. Junee Waites even said that once introduced, she feared Santa would be with them forever. By the time Dane reached his teens, he accepted the explanation that Santa only comes to younger children. Dane's poignant comment, "I'm too old for Santa, right" makes one feel a tad sad for him. One cannot help but wonder if Dane still believed. I think another approach would be to tell him, "Dane, Santa is fun pretend and a game many people play with their children as a Christmas tradition" or whatever verbiage got through to him. The remote possibility that Santa might remain an enduring belief far past that of his peers was unfortunate and in which case, it seems the honest approach would be better. Fortunately for all, Dane learned to open gifts without fear of the unknown and participate in holiday activities.

Dane was enrolled in a mainstream kindergarten and it was there he met his lifetime friend, Jenny. She accepted Dane unconditionally; she said that she knew he could talk and when she asked him her name, he said, "Jenny." She was his defender and protector; a photograph of the pair at Dane's 5th birthday party shows Jenny at his side, ready to go to bat for him at any time. I just loved that part.

Jaeger, the German short-haired pointer was another faithful protector Dane enjoyed. The beautiful dog (1983-1992) was an important part of Dane's life and rarely left his side. Her untimely death might make you cry, but you will certainly be cheered by the strides Dane made.

Dane's immediate community accepted him as well. There was a large Italian community in his town and he learned to make many Italian dishes; Junee took conversational Italian and out of this, many friendships were made. Dane was quickly and readily absorbed and accepted by his friendly neighbors; from these friendships came lasting bonds and an abiding respect for Italian food, language and culture.

Dane's world expanded tremendously; the Waites took Dane on trips and moved twice during their son's boyhood. Dane was happiest when outside and enjoying nature. Luckily a farm family with 3 children had him work with them on their farm and Dane thrived in that environment. He also got to travel to the Fiji Islands and appreciated Fijian culture. I like the way he took an open interest in other people.

Junee Waites is wonderfully candid about life with Dane and working within his challenges. She is a person I truly admire and her unflagging faith in her son along with the kind nuns and priest who also taught him and helped him understand and appreciate his faith truly warms the heart. I loved the part when Dane received his First Communion at age 10 and the priest who wrote a lovely account of this in a book. Dane's spiritual development is nicely chronicled as well; an especially moving account of this was when Dane told a man in a wheelchair he would pray for him. Dane also insisted on bringing apples to feed homeless people in a neighborhood park.

The Waites' odessy with autism came full circle when they encountered Jenny, Dane's boyhood friend in a restuarant. By then the manager of the place, Jenny told them how she understood about Dane and knew how to reach him as only a compassionate peer could. That was my favorite part along with Dane's First Communion.

Dane's travel and spiritual development no doubt helped him become a rather well rounded young man. He also demonstrated physical prowess in early adulthood when he took up running; marathon biking and weight lifting. Although still autistic, Dane continues to remain an active, thriving member of his society and has held down jobs since the age of 14.

Junee Waites provides readers with rich descriptions of the parts of Australia where she and her family lived; readers are treated to the places that they visited as travelers. To make a good thing even better, a list of resources as well as descriptions of resources available in Australia are provided. This is truly an outstanding book. It makes me think of the hymn, "On Eagle's Wings" and the song "You Are the Light of the World," as Dane emerged from shadows into the light of conversing and providing explanations of his experience with autism.

I read this book from cover to cover and then I read it all over again. I am a mother of a child with special needs (including autistic traits)and know of many others with young ASD children. This is a book I could recommend to them, for the insight it offers into both autism and a parent's journey. I learned so much, began to see life through the eyes of the ASD child and to understand why he acted as he did, and related it to much of what my friends' children did, or my own. The mother's love shone throughout the book yet she was very honest about how she felt and how hard that journey was at times. Always though, it was a book of hope and of love and remained positive throughout.

Like the previous reviewer, I too would like to write to the author to say how enormously helpful this book is. It should become an ASD classic, to inform and inspire parents, professionals, the general public - and those with ASD themselves.

Thank you so much for this book. Junee is inspiring and warm, her love for her son and respect for his rights is uplifting for any parents dealing with the ups and downs of raising a child with autism. I am a single mother of two autistic children and while reading this book I was touched beyond words, I hope one day to inspire other parents as Junee has for me and many more parents around the world. Is there any way of emailing her or atleast a way for me to say thank you to her and let her know how much she has touched my family?

This is a very good book because it relates to my own life, i call my best friend a retard all the time and he really is one. it is pretty funny, you should see it.

Initially I'll admit I was a little sceptical as to the motives of this book, and I also thought the name to be a bit humerous. However, once you get over the initial judgements, this isn't a bad book.

I should also debunk an editor review above this by pointing out that one does not need to know the illness, and it's absurd to expect things such as character development and complex storyline in a childs book, much less for a child to understand it. This book is about morals, it doesn't need to be over complex.

I'd reccomend this to any parent or teacher of young children. Even though some children cannot relate to this exact example, most will find the connection to it and realize that words can hurt. I especially like the line in the title, which can truly touch a child, 'And my heart felt sad.'

This book is for anyone (with or without disabilities) who has ever been hurt by someone else's unkind words. The message can be easily understood by children and adults of all ages. I highly recommend this book to all educators to keep on their shelf at school. It may come in handy when hurtful words are used in the classroom.

As a teacher of both disabled and nondisabled children, I have often read this book to my students. It quite simply demonstrates how someone can be hurt by someone else's comments. Anyone can empathize, whether you are disabled or not. This book is terrific!

I volunteered to put together a group of books for my daughter's preschool (ages 3 1/2-4) which dealt with the topic of diversity and disabilities. I have ordered and read about 15-20 children's books on the subject of children with handicaps. By far this was the very best one that I came across. It had beautiful photographs of children with all types of disabilities and the message in this book (unlike several others which I read) was 100% positive. What I mean by this is that while some other books on disabilities may deliver a message that says "don't be mean, or tease children with disabilities" , etc., this one was totally focused on all children as being lovable and worthwhile people -- very focused on only a positive message. I really enjoyed it and my daughter's class also did. The message is simple, straightforward and very warm. Compared to other books on the subject, this one really was written at a good level for the 3-4 age group.

This is the only book I've been able to find with actual photographs of children with different physical and cognitive disabilities. It's invaluable in helping my 4-year-old understand and discuss this important topic, and it's my hope that preparing her in this way will help her react appropriately when she encounters someone who is differently abled. Some of the photos are a little dated, but that's very much beside the point. Definitely a great book for any preschooler!

I loved this book! Especially the cute little boy on the left-hand corner of the cover. That's my adorable friend Jon!!

My little boy who is Autistic and almost 10 years old loves this book. It is very lovingly written and has such a positive attitude about children no matter what their differences are. This is a must have book for parents, teachers and librarys in schools everywhere. We must teach children that being different is okay, that there is nothing wrong with it. Great illustrations too! My son brings me this book to read nightly and has for months. When this one wears out we will get another one to replace it...