Disabilities Books

Gave new insight to the development and importance of American Sign Language.

A ugly picture of prejudice that teaches inclusion and acceptance of every human being.

Heart-warming story of the relationship between two deaf parents and their hearing daughter.

Made me laugh. Made me cry. Made me determined to treat all people respectfully.

In many ways, this book parallels "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" by Betty Smith; both are autobiographical accounts of the lives of two women growing up in Brooklyn, New York, although from entirely different ethnic backgrounds. Where Betty Smith's account opens the reader to a world from a strong Irish-Catholic heritage in turn-of-the-century New York City, Ruth Sidransky's account starts a bit later and reveals her Jewish faith coupled with the feeling of exclusion from the hearing world, on behalf of her dear parents. Nevertheless, hardships and love are plentiful for both women and their families, with Ruth's a bit more complex. Both deal with sensitive issues such as child molestation, poverty, overcoming diversity, etc., but are handled with care, even at times with humor.
I would strongly recommend this book, particularly to students looking for insight into the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing world; additionally, it, like its counterpart, offers excellent historical, religious, cultural, sub-cultural, and ethnological perspectives of life in early to mid 1900's New York City.

excellent. informative. as a homeschool parent I agree with many of his suppositions.

Mr. Armstrong helped us find our child's learning style and our 12 year blossomed from an insecure, discouraged and failing student to a confident, enthusiastic young person who now finds joy in learning. This book shows that any child CAN learn, and shows the reader how to make it happen.

After reading this book I can only hope that I will be lucky enough to have a student with severe and multiple disabilities in my classroom some day. The book has a lot of practical ideas, simple and easy to use and at the same time there are a lot of references to actual research. This is a very inspiring book!

Dr. Downing does a wonderful job in this book of offering
teachers practical information. She has a section devoted to
each stage of education from preschool to high school & within
each section offers specific tips on how to modify both the
environment & the curriculum. She also addresses common
concerns such as dealing with disruptive behavior & a lack of
adequate planning time or support staff resources.
A great addition to any teacher's resource library!

I recommend Mr. Khalsa's book to any teacher who needs some guidance with working in a school that integrates kids with a variety of disabilities into your classroom. I use this book as a resource and a point of inspiration to keep up!

I teach science in a school that is attempting to make inclusion work. When I picked up SiriNam Khalsa's book, "The Inclusive Classroom" I realized that my job of reaching all these kids with different abilities and behaviors was possible! This book is a very practical guide for regular education as well as special educators. I really found the chapters on collaborative teaching and classroom management very helpful. I highly recommend it. I've also been to a workshop that Mr. Khalsa led called "The Inclusive Classroom." Great!!

Experts in the field Donald R. Snyder, Anne Rothschadl, and Marcy Marchello present Inclusive Outdoor Recreation for Persons with Disabilities: Protocols and Activities, a guide for outdoor recreation staff, therapeutic recreation specialists, rehabilitation counselors, special education instructors, students, teachers, and anyone else seeking to adapt outdoor recreation programs to serve individuals with a variety of disabilities. Chapters cover general guidelines and protocols, suggestions for tailoring programs to individuals, common disabling conditions to take into account, basic disability etiquette ("Introduce yourself by name to people who are visually impaired and use their name when speaking directly to them. Let them know when you are ending a conversation or moving away from them.") and much more. An easy-to-use, all-around solid handboook to selecting and hosting activities that build self-esteem and positive expectations.

The ideas are so well organized that this will be an invaluable text for anyone who is interested in sharing the great outdoors with friends or family that may have a disability. The innovative solutions for access and particiation should generate other creative ideas from readers once they start thinking about overcoming the barriers that exsist in public areas.

E-Bility Book Review: April 2005
By S.Vassallo
Review found at: http://www.e-bility.com/books/spicer.shtml

Postal Address:
204/15 Warayama Place, Rozelle NSW 2039, Australia.

This publication is a manual for individuals and organisations "wishing to learn more about designing fully inclusive services for people with disabilities" [Introduction]. It is a well written and very practical resource. Materials and information in the book have been gathered using an interdisciplinary team approach, and while the details of case studies relate to the American healthcare system, the principles, values and strategies are universal in their application.

In the first section a ten step multi dimensional approach to writing individualized service plans (ISPs) for people with disabilities is proposed.

The ten steps above are supported by a wealth of resources and innovative ideas (section two) presented as prewritten goals and objectives, including ideas on communications skills, stress management, time management, activities of daily living and more.

The last section "expanding options" provides contact details and web links for local organisations in America such as the Special Olympics, Best Buddies International.

Paul Spicer, has authored numerous publications and journals on the topic of disabilities and community inclusion. If you work with an individual with a disability and have run out of goals or objectives to include in your client's service plan or if you are training a new colleague on how to write an ISP then this book is a useful starting point. It would also be a great team resource for generating new ideas.

This publication is available online from www.individualizedserviceplans.com for US$21.

Reviewed April 2005

A great read for those in the disability field. We need more books written for healthcare workers improving the lives of those with disabilities. Good job, read it.

My own daughter came to Mt. Vernon Hospital less than a year after Brian. Both of them suffered a catastrophic brain injury. Reading this book by his mother, I can vividly see many of the people at the hospital and can empathize with what the Rife family experienced, not just because I had similar experiences, but because this is an incredibly interesting, inspirational, and well-written book, enlivened by Brian's own responses to what he lost and what he experienced as he struggled to find a place back in the world. I highly recommend it, and especially hope that you would buy a new edition if you can afford to since the money from the sale of the book goes directly to Brian.

Janet Rife eloquently conveys her and her family's experiences in working to help her son Brian to recover from devastating traumatic brain injury. Girded by faith, Ms. Rife lays out the details of Brian's injury, his several close calls, and her and her son's persistent effort to regain the shattered dreams of a vivid teenager, beset by a severe and long term injury.

Inner Lives Of Deaf Children: Interviews And Analysis by Martha Sheridan (Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at Gallaudet University) is an informative exploration into the lives and minds of deaf children based upon interviews with seven very different deaf children between the ages of seven and ten. Outstanding for its exclusive perspective and invaluable documentation of a deaf child's struggles in contemporary society, Inner Lives Of Deaf Children is an invaluable and seminal collection of studies and research into the psychology, lifestyle, and personal adaptation of deaf children. Inner Lives Of Deaf Children is very strongly recommended to parents, teachers, social workers, counselors and anyone else involved in the lives of deaf children.

Inner lives of deaf children is an informative book that is easy to read. The author, Sheridan, grew up deaf so she has a personal connection to the subject. The book starts out with background information on the deaf community and the author. This helps you understand the deaf world better. Sheridan then explains how she conducted the deaf children's interviews. The bulk of the book consists of Sheridan's interviews of deaf children. She provides the actual transcripts of the interviews, allowing the children to speak for themselves instead of forcing her own interpetation. Throughout the interviews Sheridan provides little summaries that help the reader keep track of the main points along the way. She selected children with different backgrounds and communication methods so that the diversity of the deaf community would be better represented. At the end of the book, Sheridan neatly wraps up the results of her interviews; she provides the reader with a better understanding of what it is like for deaf children to grow up in today's world. I highly recommend this book.

This is the third book from Brookes publishing that I have used--the others are Road to the Code and Road to Reading. Like the others, this book provides primary teachers in grades K - 3 with lessons to use in small group targeted instruction in the five components. I especailly like this text because of the word lists which make it easy to implement the lessons to meet the needs of struggling readers. I would highly recommend this book.

The collaborative work of Professor Diane Haager (Charter College of Education, California State University, Los Angeles), Joseph A. Dimino Research Associate, Instructional Research Group, Signal Hill, California), and Michelle Pearlman Windmueller (Elementary School Administrator, Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles, California), Interventions For Reading Success" offers an extensive series of lessons in reading and literacy. Each lesson takes from 20 to 30 minutes and focuses upon early literacy issues such as phonological awareness, the alphabetic principles, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Enhanced with more than one hundred 'learning friendly' activities and interventions (including goals, materials, word lists, and teacher steps), "Interventions For Reading Success" includes guidelines, assessment and intervention planning guidance, 75 photocopiable take-home activities parents can use to reinforce their child's basic reading skills, and practical tips for teachers on implementing intervention in the classroom setting. A comb-bound book that lays open on a flat surface for each of use, "Interventions For Reading Success" is a welcome and recommended resource for classroom teachers working with student from kindergarten through the third grade to develop and improve their reading skills.

I read this at Job Lot in Lincoln. A five-year-old boy named Jonathan goes to his grandparents' house on a Friday. His mother (I named her Sherry because that's my friend Jonathan's mom's name) drops Jonathan off in the morning before she goes to work. Jonathan has lots of fun- he feeds the birds with Grandma, goes to the park with Papa, and even gets to sit with Papa. At the end of the day, Sherry picks up Jonathan and Jonathan tells her about his day. I reccomend this to babies!

This book I read at Job Lot! It is cute! It all begins when Jonathan's mom drops him off at his grandparents' house since she has to go to work. Jonathan has a fun filled day: he goes to the park, feeds the birds with Grandma, and even gets to sit with his grandfather. At the end of the day, Jonathan's mom picks him up and Jonathan tells her what he did. This book is cute! I reccomend it!