Disability-and-Health Books

What upsets me more than the boy Dale's autism is the way his mother mollycoddles him from the start, allowing his behaviour to rule the household. Gardner (who is a practicing nurse) never attempts any disciplinary action on him. She doesn't remove his toys, doesn't give him time-outs, watches while her son hurts other children in playgroup and just cringes when he throws a tantrum. She has the whole household walking on eggshells around him. So, she admits he turned into a monster child, but I think a lot of that developed because she let him run rampage. Sometimes she even rewards him with TV time. Instead of putting him in a cleared room to ride out his tantrums alone she straddles him to "protect" him staying with him throughout. But there are lots more over-protection and indulgences in the book, like when in the middle of family dinner Dale asks to go to the train museum (he's obssessed with trains) and they drive him there late in the night just so he'll understand it's closed.

Then instead of teaching Dale the importance of human relationships (he has scant affection for his parents; this doesn't change in the 17 year chronicle of his life in this book) she coerces him into connecting with the family pet and they "talk to him" through the dog. He won't talk to his parents except thru the dog. What a spolied brat they made him! He says I love you to the dog but not his own parents. Forget about please and thank yous, she even teaches Dale how to use swear words with his peers on the playground! And he does...Worst of all Gardner allows Dale (and even their 2nd autistic child) to call them by their first name rather than mum) whenever he wants.

In the end when Dale as a teen writes an account of his behaviour he often cites his parents as being irritating and making him fed up. He seems to have been trained to be a very self centered child who should be treated ultra specially because of his needs, and he too saw himself that way.

Luckily for Gardner her husband stuck with her even though she seemingly wanted to punish her son for not loving her by breaking up their marriage. She's a total head case and attempts suicide and then is actually offended that the health visitor is quizzing her to see if she'd be a threat to the kid. Surely a suicide attempt is a sign you possibly might be mentally unstable.

Gardner tries to help her son at the professional level and has some success but there is an "arms length" element to the whole approach. She herself didn't spend much floor-time with Dale as a baby, didn't try to read to him, or show him picture books. She used Disney Sing along CDs instead of singing to him. At times, I agreed with some of the health professionals who said she acted like she "wanted Dale to be autistic".

this book didn't start all that well for me, partly because I thought it was a novel, the writer's style is very matter of fact.

But the writer keeps her wit throughout this immensely difficult journey and it grows on you. This story was moving and funny. It also allowed bright lights to be shone on the difficulty of autism from the sufferer's perspective, the care giver's perspective. More than anything it reminded me that we should never give up on people, everyone has great potential.

The whole Gardner family and friends, you all are AMAZING.

This book was okay, but the process really didn't help with our child's depression.

Coping with a depressed teen is difficult for many parents to accept, but not dealing with it can lead to behavioral problems, the need for therapy or hospitalization - even the chilling but all-too-common outcome of suicide. Although they rarely acknowledge it, teens do greatly depend on their parents for support. Studies show that when parents are closely involved during therapy and professional treatment the results improve dramatically. This book supplies valuable information and advice, and outlines a concise, problem-solving plan of action that could make a big difference in kids' lives. The authors begin by explaining the difference between sadness and depression, relating real-life case studies of various types of depression, and including exercises and check lists to help readers make determinations and record progress. They continually stress the importance of family interaction and communication, describing the "family circle" concept and suggesting how to develop healthy patterns. Always stressing that families need to "label" and discuss depression, and that is nothing to be ashamed of, the authors give suggestions for coping with challenges that can occur at school and with friends. They also offer tips on medications and their affects, and how to deal with crises that may arise during treatment. This is an important, helpful book, especially in these fast-paced and confusing times. While debates rage about treatments and the safety of new anti-depressant drugs, this book stands out as a compassionate, valuable resource for parents and kids - some of whom are battling to survive.

My 6 year old son has had diabetes for 3 years. I ordered this book hoping it would be good to take to school to read to his classmates. It was very nice that the older brother had written this book and yes, the drawings are nice. I found that the book painted a gloomy picture about children with diabetes. Children with diabetes can have candy, they don't have to give up their Halloween treats. Family and friends can learn quickly to care for the child with diabetes. I am going to have to return this book. I feel it would make the kids at school more fearful rather than more comfortable being around my son.

This book is amazing! It was written by the older brother of a 7-year-old who was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes and really captures the emotions of the child and the family as they learn to cope with the disease. The drawings are so charming and overall the story is very uplifting. The diabetes facts are all very accurate too. Every family learning how to deal with diabetes should read this book!

A bias look at LASIK surgery albeit very information and easy to understand. The downside to lasik is not full explored leaving the patient to think, yes I want that for sure. Not one horror story was included, which leaves it very incomplete. It would be a five star if it did tell about those horror stories, therefor it is far less entertaining making it only a four star booklet. But lets be real, you will not get that info so with that in mind this is a good book. Just tell em to be watchful of the pressure that is being used.

but we went with surgery... our auntie had dry eye forever after her Lasic so uncle went to this master at LI eye care a Dr. Sable who is some kind of prodegy, no scars in twelve to twenty fou hours- do not ask me how- but uncle is doing great and i guess we have lots of eye books to give away now... I did like this book because it lays out all the problems and benefits fairly...

This is a handy resource for professionals. The only problem is that it could use some updating. At the time this book was published, the ADA wasn't in place.

This book was a lifesaver when it came to preparing for final exams. A very nice summary that hits all the major topics in Mental Health law. My only complaint is that it hasn't been updated since 97. So although most of the information is still accurate, it doesn't cover any of the more-recent developments in the law. Either way, if your struggling in a course, it's a great tool to have- just be aware that it was published in 1997, but I've looked and this was the best option I could find.

The medical aspects are dealt with fairly accessibly, but troubles me is the author's tone throughout the book - patronising, and his tendency to make statements that belie an extraordinary ignorance of human beings. What kind of weirdo would write a sentence like "....of course, the death of a child is always tragic, even when it is expected"?

There are a few such pronouncements in the book, but the whole thing is saturated with that strange arrogance that only doctors seem to manage - I think it comes from dealing so much with "the sick" and "suffering" family members, that they start thinking that doctors are some higher breed of "healthy" humans who are on earth to offer hope to poor unfortunates.

I would not recommend this book for parents.

This book uses easy to understand language to explain the complexities of this group of disorders. It is a good first book for individuals and families faced with the likelihood or reality of a muscular dystrophy diagnosis.

This book was heavy on educational and psychological jargon and short on new ideas. Granted that there isn't a large body of knowledge on NLD, but this book doesn't seem to address anything that hasn't been covered by other authors.

A very easy and short book that is packed with tons of information on nonverbal learning disorders. If you have a child with this disability, you will know that not much information is known about this in the educational setting. I highly recommend this book to parents whose children have been recently diagnosed with this disorder. It's very frustrating when the people that can help your child most don't have a clue how to. It's a great book to give to educators in your school. I thank the author one hundred times over. This book was a lifesaver.

This is a great book! Especially for therapists starting out to use sensory processing principles in their interventions. Easy to read and filled with practical ideas.

I work in the school systems with children with learning disabilities. It was totally designed for an SI therapist in the clinic. As far as sensory integration is concerned, feel it fell short of assisting to advance my knowledge base.

This was a short book, for which I'm grateful. It would have been much more enjoyable if it was half as long. The aspects of going blind and than regaining sight many years later was intriguing, and those parts of the book I enjoyed. But the author spent (IMHO) much to much time talking like a philosopher, which made it an effort to read.

When Robert Hine was coming of age, he learned that, sooner or later, he would be blind. Instead of giving up, Hine went on to earn his maters degree and later his doctorate degree. He became a respected college professor, author, and researcher. Before age fifty, he was completely blind, yet he continued to work. Fifteen years later, circumstances necessitated a risky surgery that couldn't have gone better. Hine's sight was restored. He shares the miracle of his instant return to the sighted world, taking readers along as he reacquaints himself with the visual parts of his life. Hine demonstrates how truly relative "disability" is. WIth some sight, no sight, and restored sight, the author remains motivated and sucessful. This book is both a personal journey and a manual on living with loss and the rewards of not giving up. Hine is a true hero. Amazingly he carries it all off without an ounce of pretention.

This book is very very outdated and has many inaccurate findings. It is very depressing and makes you think pregnancy with MS is a bad bad thing. This is the stuff they talked about years ago before all the disease modifying drugs and up to current research. This book is a waste of time.

I loved this book! I had 2 children before MS and was quite unsure about how MS would effect the entire process. This book answered all my questions, provided scientific data for both sides when there was something to think about, and was very encouraging while realistic.

This was very readable and offered clear and helpful statements of facts as known by medical literature from a few years ago. The anecdotes from various women helped me imagine what a particular result/situation would be like if I were faced with that, which was a helpful supplement to the statistics. Italso offers many practical tips, which while most of us know/may have read before regarding MS generally (keep cool) it was helpful to have them listed nonetheless. When I am in mother-martyr mode I will try to remember the recommendations to ask for help, accept help, and make time for yourself and to rest...and plan ahead for how to make these things possible. While it would be great if updated, it was still well worth buying and reading. I want to go into pregnancy having thought through as many issues as I can (or at least begun to think about them...), and this book helped me do that regarding having MS.

I was thrilled to be pregnant and, having seen this book more than once, expected it to be helpful. While it can offer some useful information to those who do not have knowledge about their MS at this point, the rest, with comments added in by mothers, was just scary and depressing. One women even comments that if she had known how bad she was going to feel she would never have gotten pregnant! This is NOT a book for someone who is happy about their pregnancy and unwilling to let MS rule their lives. Women would be better off reading one of the other books on MS combined with a good pregnancy book. This book also chooses to follow alternative medicine, which can be disappointing for those of us looking for traditional medical advice. I would suggest pregnant women with MS find a good website for women with multiple sclerosis. There a person can get advice from the message boards and chats, places where people not only share information, but a general concern for ones feelings.

This is the worst book I have ever read.

First of all, it bases its "findings" on academic studies that are out of date and contradictory. The book gives no "conclusions" about any topic, but instead presents every piece of research done. She includes research that was conducted before the medical community had a strong understanding of MS and research conducted even before disease modifying medications were developed. To make matters worse, the does nothing to summarize or explain the findings in a meaningful way.

Furthermore, the author's tone and language is incredibly offensive. She refers to people with multiple sclerosis as "disabled" throughout and even goes so far as to suggest that they are "deteriorating". In her relationships section of the book she says something to the extent that people with MS might not be able to find relationships, but don't worry because there are plenty of other disabled people longing for companionship. As if those with MS are unworthy of affection from someone without a chronic illness. Or, my personal favorite, she claims that MS can make existing relationships hard now that one person in the relationship is deteriorating. This kind of language is prevalent throughout the book.

Painfully brief excerpts from patient stories are included. It's nice to hear whether someone experienced a relapse after giving birth, for example, but you don't know anything else about them - how long had they had MS, what form of MS they have, how soon after birth did they return to medication, what did their relapse rate look like before becoming pregnant? Without any context, these tid-bits are useless. And the ones about bad experiences are particularly nerve wracking.

Overall, this book was not in the least bit informative, and does a lot to damage spirit and hope. I'd suggest that you save yourself the money and just have a good chat with your Neurologist and OBGYN.