Disability-and-Health Books

This book is not what I thought it was going to be. Even still I found it to be boring.

This is a poorly written book with many glaring ommissions.

This book is listed as for babies to preschool, but it has little appeal to this age group (or any other). The illustrations are poorly done, unappealing, and not in the least expressive. The text and illustrations are on separate pages, so you can't read while showing the illustration even if you wanted to.

The text is poorly written and full of inappropriately big words; there are no illustrations that actually show what is being talked about (no pictures of blood testing, insulin needles, or any other new object the diabetic child will encounter).

The text is unappealing and condescending as well. A pre-schooler would be confused by the words and wording; an older child would be repulsed by the condescending attitude and lack of actual information about everyday life for diabetic children.

There are a lot of books on diabetes for children on Amazon.com. Look beyond this one. "Bo" is much less useful than a simple verbal explanation from a parent.

This is not really a book, but rather more like a pamphlet. Very short , basic and only deals with infants.

Rondal reports on a person with Down syndrome who is communicating at a level above that to be expected from people with Down syndrome. Does he raise his estimate of her intelligence (or of the maximum intelligence of people with Down syndrome? No, he does not. Instead, he declares that communiation at that level requires less intelligence than has formerly been thought. An example of academic rigitity at its worst.

I didn't have that high of expectations for a health book after the ones I had in middle and high school. However, this one proved to actually be worse than the ones from my public education.

The book doesn't go into much detail except in the chapters that show different physical exercises. Now I understand as well as any American student that being fit is a key component of health class, but there are other things that need to be taught, especially to college freshmen (the group who is most likely to use this book). They need to talk about things like abstaining from alcohol, drugs, and sex since the education they get in high school isn't enough. They also need to talk about good decision making, which is essential for college.

The physical exercises are the normal ones you'd find in any gym class and aren't anything revolutionary. Some of the labs seem a bit bogus in my opinion (in particular the sit and reach test since it isn't fair for people with short arms). The included CD, called HealthQuest, isn't bad, but is basically an electronic way to calculate everything in the book. There is some emphasis on dieting, which I also feel isn't the best topic for a health book since, like exercise, it varies from person to person. A football player obviously needs more in his system than a 4'11" girl who doesn't play sports.

The pages are designed to rip out of the book but they don't rip out well. The edge usually looks like a dog just took a bite out of it.

The CD and the journal give this text the one star I awarded it. Because your professor will likely make you rip out the pages these books have no value used.

My problem with this book is that the title: Help Me Speak A Parents Guide to Speech and Language Therapy implies that there are speech and language activites that you can do with your child at home. This is not the case. The correct title should be Why You Should Chose Speech Therapy. This book explains problems that children have and why a child cannot hear. It pushes the need for speech therapy. Which is fine and they are needed but the title is deceptive and I wasted my money. Do not buy this book if you are looking for speech and language activites to do with your child.

As the parent of a child with Down syndrome, I was disappointed with some of the "wording" in this book. When I explained this to a friend, she asked if the author is from England. Yes, the author is from England. Apparently they are not as "politically correct" as we try to be.

I bought this book for my 5 year old nephew in the hope that he will have a better understanding as to why his cousin has some "differences". I can not give this book to him, or anyone else for that matter. I feel that book places too many labels and places more focus on "why they look so different".

My daughter has high functioning autism. Her therapist recommended this program. She emphasized that it was about "theory of mind", but had not yet previewed the program. It isn't. It is all about reading emotions. The emotions displayed are so numerous that nuance becomes necessary. But we did not always agree that the face matched the expressed emotion. And, given the intricate nuances that ultimately became necessary as the levels progressed, it would perhaps be better to be dealing with American actors for American kids, given both the slight language and cultural differences.

My daughter's passion is computers, so I thought she would take to this program. We fooled around with it for about half an hour. Then she announced that she already knew all the material (she did) and that the program was boring (it was). An hour later, she said, "Mommy, can you do something to get that horrible program out of my head?"

This program is what my computer programmer ex-husband calls "shovelware". It is intensely dull. This subject matter could have been made so interesting! I mean, come on... Emotions are everywhere! Instead, we are subjected to five-second clips of really bad actors (plus the Harry Potter kid) acting out, for example, anger. No context. And with all the overacting, it isn't true to life.

This program would only be useful for a child who truly has no understanding of emotions whatsoever. Even then, I think you would have a hard time getting him or her to work through the program, based on the sheer mind-numbing boredom.

My daughter gets emotion. What she doesn't always get (here comes theory of mind) is why YOU don't "get" something, when SHE does. The program didn't help with that at all.

Oh, and did I mention that it was BORING?

Being into my 7th month of recovery from bilateral knee replacement I found this book ridiculous and extremely negative - not at all encouraging. The information comes across as official and usual, but every patient is different. My experience, which I thought out thorougly before making a decison, has been excellent - if I have to do this again, I will. It is a challenging recovery and there is pain, but there are so many good meds out there to help with pain managemnt these days - and it is a pain that is going to come to an end. I stood the morning after my surgery, walked 4 days later, did stairs 10 days out from the surgery and returned to my desk job 60 days later. Recovery is hard work - daily work for a long time. Today I rode my exercise bike for 30 minutes! I have been on my feet nonstop for over 2 hours at a time. I feel better than I have in years. Am I pain free ?- not yet. It takes the muscles, tendons , and ligaments a long time to forgive their trauma. But talk with your doctors, talk with rehab people - ask all the questions before hand - but you can get well. Bilateral knee replacement does not have to be the worst experience of your life!

I am going to guess that this book is generated from a template. There is no other way to explain the mountains of irrelevant information and lack of basic information.

The book purports to guide you to "official" information. It lists a few websites like NORD and UBPN. It points you at NIH websites like PubMed.gov -- while showing examples of mostly irrelevant search engine hits. Those are the good points. Other tips are generic, such as to try the AMA and other directories to find a specialist.

The samples of "official" information in the form of article citations and multimedia are nearly random and irrelevant to a patient. I have since read many "official" (i.e. journal articles) sources, following the trail of footnotes. I can't believe how unlike the real thing this book's samples are.

The only content specifically about brachial plexus injuries is a statement from NIH which is infuriating to anyone who is dealing with this injury.

The glossary is terrible. It defines "ankle" but no arm anatomy--in a book about brachial plexus injuries! Perhaps the authors have heard of the ulna, radius, and humerus? The book promises to define "unfamiliar terms" and gives you neurology, but not neuropathy; membrane, but not neuroma; etc. You want to laugh but you can't because you are suffering too much.

Half of the book is filled with detailed but totally generic information on: medications, alternative medicine, nutrition, and insurance.

Enough. A real guide to self-directed research would provide you with a conceptual framework, surveying the major areas of research and giving examples of worthwhile reading. It might even, dare I say, arm you with insightful criticism.

In the end, I could not laugh at the awful train wreck this book is. I laughed only when a search on "brachial plexus injuries" on Pubmed Central returned "Injuries suffered by dogs from riding in the back of open pickup trucks". More than half of the content in this book is like that.