Disability-and-Health Books

In response to one of the reviews below I have to note that this program is in fact based on a very detailed and comprehensive theory. In fact it is more firmly grounded in current thinking in developomental psychology and recent research on how social development evolves, than most work in this field. Gutstein looks at both typically and atypically developing kids and doesn't base his theory only on working with autistic children. This, in my mind is the key flaw of many other approaches in this field (e.g. ABA) which base none of their approaches on how typical kids develop these skills.

In fact, Gutstein's theory is among the most coherent in the field and, as always, the question is whether the resultant interventions really follow from it and work. There is recent (2005) peer reviewed research suggesting some very significant positive outcomes for RDI, but it, like all autism research, has its flaws. Also, I have to agree that, of the two "intervention" books he has written, this one has less meat to it and is less immediately useful than the one for young children.

Gutstein's theory is laid out exceptionally well in another book - "Autism-Aspergers: Solving the Relationship Puzzle" which for some reason Amazon doesn't carry! I would say that book is an absolute must-read to understand this one, or the terms (e.g. master-apprentice) which have a very specific meaning to Gutstein will make no sense to you. For more info I would also suggest going to their wesbite at [...]

But personally disappointing. As a thirty-year-old who has been diagnosed with both Asperger's Syndrome and NLD, I picked this up at an ASA conference expecting to find it immediately useful. Instead, I took the test at the back (which is designed for caregivers/administrators, not adults on the spectrum... why can't they do simple rewrites so we don't have to?), only to find out that I tested out as to relationally immature for this book, and should refer to the previous one in the series. Which is recommended for use with children under 8, and whose activities are decidedly not age appropriate, nor can I find a way to re-write them enough to make them so. A warning, though: RDI significantly changes the personality of the person who goes through it. In a young child, this may not be noticeable or unwanted, but in an older child or adult, you may wish to ask their permission before putting them through this very thorough and intrusive therapy. As an adult, I am uncomfortable with the changes I saw produced in people who have gone through it, and would not consider it for myself. I like the personality I have, quirks, prickles, and all. Novotni's book, "What Does Everybody Else Know That I Don't" was more immediately useful, as it contained some precise suggestions on things to do or ask that did not involve extreme changes in personality or behavior.

There still exists a major gap in literature on relational development for ADULTS on the spectrum, since even those of us who are "high-functioning" tend to be low-functioning socially. While Gutstein's Solving the Relationship Puzzle, and Gutstein and Sheely's RDI book I'm currently reviewing have shown me what developmental milestones I have yet to cross, they don't provide any practical solutions for someone my age to begin the process... unless we're already at an intermediate level I, at least, have failed to achieve.

The caveat to this is that I expect this and it's companion book to be more useful for young children, and have recommended reading them to the parents of several children that I work with as a Respite/Habilitative Care Provider and to professionals at a school for developmentally disabled children where I work as a Classroom Aide. I have found ways to modify the activities in the first book to be suitable for children up into their early teens, and recommend use of this book as a follow-up for those who have mastered the activities in book 1.

I read this book thinking it "sounded" good but how could I use the info its seems quite complex and overwhelming. THen I attended one of Dr G's conferences and realized the book was never meant to stand alone!!! It is needed to progress and have a reference for the stages as you do them but RDI requires coaching and support. Ill tell you from me and many families who have done it, it has been the one thing that finally tackles the issues no other methodology can!!! We have been doing it for merely 2 months with an agency certifying throught DR G's practice and we have experienced spine tingling miracles. Most importantly it has made my daughter EASY to take ANYWHERE better than any ABA or VB has. In all honesty we have used many different methods, PRT, ABA, DIR-Floortime, Incidental Learning, You name it weve been there. But the commonality is that they still all allow the child to stay in their comfort zone- they are basically child centered approaches. This method MAKES your child come out of their shell, forces them through mutual enjoyment and love for the interaction to allow themselves to be lead.
The residual of all of the other methods was that they left my child having a hard time KEEPING friends due to her need to control situations (PRT and flootime) or be depended on adults to always allow for things to happen (ABA). THis changes all of it!! Not only is she beginning to appreciate and read social cues in just the mere first level of this method, but she is asking more age appropriate why questions and asking about things that happened to her when she was NONVERBAL!!! Her school is on board and wanting to do this and we know we cant stop. I highly recomend looking at this book and then going to a conference or purchasing their video, or even check out their website. (connectionscenter.com)YOU HAVE TO SEE IT IN ACTION!! And My prayers and blessings of frutiion to all!!!

My overall impression of this book is that is contrived and forced in places. The book is structured around a layered model of progress; essentially progressing the student from the lowest level of competence on through higher levels. One might presume that the authors were stuck for a teaching metaphor and grabbed the apprentice-expert metaphor as scaffolding on which to hang the lessons. The book is replete with various lesson plans and tactics for enagaging the AS person's interest. To be fair, a reasonable amount of what is here is worthwhile reading and reflecting on - once you filter out the esotericism of much of the language.

However, the book seems to stumble as it tries to fill its 400 odd pages with 'advanced' lesson plans. Some of the section titles made me wonder was this a case of Asperger Syndrome meets Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The AS subject moves through Novice, Apprentice, Challenger, Voyager and Partner levels as just one example. There are sublevels within each of these. Finding one's unique idenitity and place in the environment etc, are major objectives.

The tenor of a lot of this, for me at least, verged on almost cultish twaddle. I prefer a reasonable scientific tenor to any behavioural modification programme. However, others may find the book's approach illuminating and helpful.

The book emphasises coaching and that the real business of interventions is coaching. My problem with this is that it doesn't tie coaching into any particular theory - though if you take one of the authors' RDI courses presumably the theory will be revealed. There is a growing emphasis on putting intervention programmes on some sort of scientific footing, and it behooves the authors of such programmes to produce the goods on the worth of their offerings. I would recommend looking at Succeeding with Interventions for Asperger Syndrome Adolescents for a different approach.

The latter sections of the book, in my opinion, presume a lot of the AS subject. In particular the use of others to faciliate interaction, learn about emotions and generally mediate social interactions is just not a an easy thing to acomplish with an AS subject. The 'partner' that turns up today may not be there tomorrow. So how do you coach an AS teenager to fall back on there own resources?

The authors state that the book is suitable for use by parents, adolescents and adults, teachers and therapists (not many left out there). Personally I found this to be the most questionable claim of the whole book. How on Earth can it be a manual satisfying the requirements of such different audiences. It is verging on cyncical to suggest it has so much to offer to so many.

In conclusion, there are aspects of the book that are useful and other aspects that I found incongrous, if not downright peculiar. If I had a larger budget, I would definitely prefer Kathleen Quill's book, Do-Watch-Listen-Say even though it is not explicitly aimed at adolescents, and couple it with one of the Boystown Teaching Basic Social Skills to Youth as a more convincing pair. It is a personal choice, and different people may have different requirements.

This book is moderately useful especially if you are unsure of your parenting practices. The main content of the book seems to focus on the outlook of the parent toward the ADD child. There are many worksheets that can help parents to figure out where they stand on the issues at hand (especially the issue of medication). If you are confident in your parenting practices then...well, this is no more valuable than a counseling session.

I have to admit I was disappointed in this book. I ordered it because I knew the author, Harvey C. Parker was involved in CHADD, a support group for parents of children with ADD. This book does a good job covering the basics, but if you are already an educated parent about ADD and strategies, it offers nothing new or advanced. I'd say this book might be helpful for a parent who has a child aged 4-6, and who knows very little about ADD. The sticker charts in the book are definitely geared toward younger children. One example: there is a "Good Bedtime Behavior" chart with a picture of a bed with a teddy bear on it. There are ten circles on the headboard/footboard of the bed to put stickers on for behaving at bedtime. Definitely not for my ten year old boy!

This book provides simple strategies to help parents understand and manage a child with ADD/ADHD. The practical suggestions about behavior management are clear and simple. There are charts and scales to evaluate how your child is doing on medication and suggestions for teachers to help in the classroom. Best of all my likes the charts and stickers supplied with the book.

This text is very useful for understanding what one might refer to as the social construction of the category of disability. It is not anti-disability in any sense at all. The reviewer who criticized it as such profoundly misunderstands the volume and reads it in what seems to me a perverse way. Any one who wants to understand a public policy issue would be well advised to make use of this book.

This text is required reading in the Bryn Mawr College Master's program in Social Work. It is articulate, insightful, in depth, and nuanced. Her analysis covers a great deal of ground: it includes historical, political, and sociological analyses of our concept of the disabled as a category of people entitled to benefits.

I do not see her at all as for or against the disabled. She says, "the very essence of society is providing help to those in need." She explains who we see as disabled, why we do so, and how we identify and validate each category within the broad notion of disabled.

What I particularly enjoyed is her ability to identify similar ways that people have thought about aspects of disability across centuries of history.

Highly recommended.

"The Disabled State" was a required text for our English course on Disability Discourses at the University of California, Berkeley.

Two aspects about the text are disturbing, in that they perpetuate ignorance and hostility towards disability, which remain embedded in the minds of American society.

The first problem arises with Ms. Stone's reference to a student with low vision, who helps a completely blind person understand the feel and contour of a statue in a museum: "This is the blind leading the blind." People with low vision are NOT totally blind. Many see well enough to move about with grace, and are quite capable of helping a blind person appreciate the environments of which they encounter.

Secondly, Ms. Stone claims that those living with a disability enjoy a "privileged" station in life, which only exasperates the hatred and intolerance of which the disabled community faces each day.

Disabilityphobic bigots who see the disabled as "targets" will like the author's interpretation. Regan Mason, U C Berkeley, 1999

As a parent, this book has filled me with objective optomism. It is the only book I have found that has given me a clear understanding of the problem as well as some refreshing ideas as to what parents can do to help. I congradulate Dr. Unruh for his straight talk and for sharing his vast experience with those of us who need good advice.

If you are the father or mother of a child with Down Syndrome, stay away from this book. The title is misleading, it has nothing to do with "successful parenting of children with Down syndrome". It is just a technical book that fits in the "doom and gloom category". It is very discouraging for any parent to read a text so overly pessimistic. The living conditions of Down children are improving everywhere. Unfortunately, author John Unruh (Ph.D.) doesn't like good news.

This book is a "must read" for parents of Down Syndrome children. Having close friends who had a sister with Down Syndrome, I saw the difficulties and the joy of parenting these children. However, I really knew little about it until I read this book. Dr Unruh not only gives a clear description of the causes or biological reasons for this problem in clear laymans terms, but more importantly, he gives a positive uplifting view of how parents can, and, do deal with this problem. Clearly, this is a book written by someone who has a great love for these children and instills a great hope and sense of purpose to parents as well. It is wonderfully done. A very good read. Kudos to Dr Unruh!

"Final Negotiations," for all its flaws, should help a lot of people. These are the people suffering from insomnia.

Think of the book as a sandwich. Two wafer-thin slices of sociology in the introduction and conclusion, holding between them a big fat slice of baloney.

The separation of evocative prose and sociology is the book's main flaw. In addition, the long narrative of illness is absolutely dull and tedious to read. It reads like.... fieldnotes. Like the fieldnotes of a goody two-shoes master's student who has discovered Autoethnography and is struggling to write one. Ellis is the author of good methodological treatises, but she can preach better than she can practice. "The Ethnographic I" is an excellent textbook, but "Final Negotations" is as scintillating as mucus.

I think more sex would have made the book halfway passable.

Ellis' autoethnographic novel graphically depicted details about the relationship she had with Gene who was her professor, partner and who later became her husband. As a scholar Ellis' Final Negotiations offered poignant thoughts, which are often ignored in academia. Ellis' experiences regarding her open relationship with Gene, his deteriorating health and her own professional growth, as a woman and scholar in her field were raw, authentic and made you appreciate healthy relationships, supportive colleagues and the ability to express yourself despite what critics have to say. Ellis' willingness to allow her readers to study how she analyzed her own subjectivity made me consider some of my inner thoughts. I recommend this book to anyone interested in finding hope and balance in all life bring us.

This book is so insightful and a wonderful description of what it is like to be primary caretaker for one you love. The text is wonderfully written and moves you deeply into the lives of the characters. Ellis does not shy away from honesty, and in doing so helps us all better face the realities of caring for the terminally ill. On the other hand, Ellis still manages to leave us with hope.

I loved this book! I read it and follwed the advise given. After reading it, I deciced although I have cp I can have a child. It was the enlightenment I needed! (my daughter is 9yrs. old now) Thank You!

This book is old and not full of much useful information for modern day women. It list specific conditions - mostly rare conditions - and fails to discuss the broader issues for mother with disabilities.

As someone with a disability who recently became a mom, I found that the literature on the subject was sparse to nonexistent. This book was the one shining gem that helped me to know that I was not alone, and that my pregnancy was not the unnatural thing that much of society still thinks it should be. A "must read" for moms with disabilities. Patricia Day

Paul K. Longmore is a historian. He wrote a well reviewed book on George Washington. In 1988, in front of the federal building in Los Angeles, he burned a copy of his book. Longmore saves the essay about the book burning until the end of Why I Burned My Book; Longmore needs to take the reader on a long and instructive journey through the history, imagery, and ethics of disabilities and disability rights so that the reader will understand why someone would burn their own book. Longmore's perspective as a historian with excellent writing skills and a physical disability probably isn't unique, but it certainly makes him more than qualified to write on the history of the disability rights movement. I enjoyed the history essays [which make up slightly less than half the book] the most. I found the essays on assisted suicide to be the most challenging. I support assisted suicide in principle, but I found Longmore's arguments in opposition well stated and troubling, and they've been swirling around my brain ever since I read them. I highly recommend Why I Burned My Book to anyone wanting a deeper understanding of disability and the disability rights movement.

I just cannot accept the fact that the truly handicapped have the demands that authors such as Longmore states. It's as though only a small number of disabled (and a large number of their lawyers) yell, scream, and whine for "rights" that are never denied from them in the first place.

As Disabling America taught me (ISBN: 0785262253), the disabled did not want to be turned into victims but that's exactly what the ADA did.

Brilliant book by a fabulous writer, historian, activist and educator. Prof Longmore for years has been teaching, writing and championing disability history -- in fact he is just this week receving an award from the American Association of People with Disabilities for his ongoing scholarship and his role as "an intellectual force and passionate spokesperson for all disabled people's right to dignified supports for independent living and self-determination." With solid logic and accessible language (pun intended), he demonstrates how social prejudices and institutional discrimination shape the lives of disabled americans as much--if not more--than any physical frailties or limitations. This work is simply too good to pass up! An excellent introduction to disability history and disability rights -- and a welcome antidote to the willful ignorance evident in the last review by "mipater."

I recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of ideas surrounding disability - it is not just an application of cultural or feminist theory to examine a grouping but the development of a whole new way of conceptualising disability. I would say it is one of the best books I have read on the subject - although I do also have to add it can tend to ignore the realities of disability and stretch some ideas too far, to be unable to meld reality and theory - but ignoring that it is a stimulating read.

The book is very profound with lot of historical information and covers wide range of perspectives.
I may use this as a reference book to fill in my research on the disability viewpoints or legal applications for the definition of the disability. Only one page mentions a discrimination by disability and the American Disability Act, which I was more interested in.

My husband and I have 3 children who are ADD, this little book has helped us so much that I would highly recommend reading anhd followimg the authors suggestions.

I bought this book for myself; I am an adult that was only recently diagnosed with ADD, and I wanted to try dealing with the problem naturally rather than always relying on drugs (which, if properly prescribed, are fine).

I will grant that there are some interesting ideas in here about nutritional deficiencies perhaps contributing to the symptoms, and they were helpful in pointing me toward researching more reliable sources on the same subject (the part about minerals like magnesium and zinc being common deficiencies I would never have known about). But they lost me a tad when they started discussing aromatherapy and Chinese medicine, and then I started questioning most of the book.

While I can appreciate this isn't a technical book, there is no attempt to show research studies backing up some of their claims, and some of the claims sounded like they were simply winging it in an attempt to paraphrase in an accessible way ("this causes heating in the brain"?? I'm hoping that was a typo). Other claims just sounded like pure BS, like they took the word of some schmoe in a pharmacy who claimed to know a lot about herbal supplements.

While I don't doubt a more natural and nutritional approach to treating ADD works best for many people, I believe there must be far better books out there on the subject.

I like the fact that the recipes start at lowest carb amount, to highest. (It also has an index for those who want by ingredient or alphabetical). The recipes I have had all had vegetables. I had chicken with green beans, stew with cabbage, and lentil (that included carrots, and green beans in the recipe) soup.

My family and I have enjoyed every recipe I have used so far from this book.

the majority of recipes that are low carb are not using veggies, just meat. And most have you pre-cooking it prior to putting it into the slow cooker. I want some that all I need to do is dump everything into it and when I get home in the evening I have supper ready, no muss, no fuss. They also use thickeners like flour and corn starch quite often, but these are better left out, you can add your veggies instead and still have less carbs than if you had used the thickeners! Several recipes suggest putting the meal over rice or potatoes, but don't add those carbs into the counts because they are not put into the slow cooker, you would have to fix them seperate. Gee folks, I already knew how to modify existing recipes, I wanted something for us diabetics!