Multitudes of books have been written about parenting children with disabilities, but this book is like no other! Out with the old---in with the new! Disability is Natural: Revolutionary Common Sense for Raising Successful Children with Disabilities, Second Edition is a wonderfully positive manual on ways to ensure children who have been labeled lead real lives---the lives they would lead if they did not have disability labels . . . the lives of their dreams (and their parents' dreams)! The strategies Kathie recommends are making this hope a reality for thousands of families. This is not the usual parenting advice about children's "problems" and how to "fix them." Kathie believes---and demonstrates---that the presence of a disability is not a barrier to success!
When we focus on children's strengths and gifts; identify their real needs; provide the appropriate assistive technology, supports, and accommodations; listen to them with our ears, our eyes, and our hearts; and believe that children with disabilities are more like children without disabilities than different, the world will change before our eyes! This eye-opening book is making it happen!
"Our History"details how we got to where we are today. A self-test in "Yesterday's Influence on Your Child Today"helps parents recognize the antiquated mentalities that may be having a negative affect on their children and families. The "Disability World" chapter examines today's conventional wisdom and explodes the myths that have led to the isolation and segregation of too many children with disabilities. You'll learn how many of today's services, programs, and treatments that are intended to help, may actually cause harm. "New Attitudes and Actions" explores new ways of thinking and talking about disability, and includes strategies to move beyond traditional assessments that focus on a child's perceived "deficits." When we recognize, celebrate, and value a child's strengths, abilities, interests, hopes, and dreams, the significance of the disability label pales in comparison.
"A New Therapeutic Landscape and Tools for Success" details a revolutionary and common sense approach to meeting children's needs, without "therapizing" their lives! Ensuring children have the right tools--- assistive technology devices, accommodations, and supports---will ensure children's success in inclusive environments and can help them move beyond the label. "Real Lives at Home and in the Community" provides strategies to ensure children with disabilities enjoy the benefits and responsibilities that are part of a natural childhood, and which lead to self-determination and success as an adult. Can we continue to let children learn helplessness and become dependent? It's time for children with disabilities to take their rightful place in the family, at school, and in the community!
"Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers" takes a look at the stress that's often generated by Early Intervention and questions the morality of "placing" very young children with disabilities in segregated Special Ed preschools. Positive, life-changing alternatives are presented, to ensure children begiin their lives in inclusive environments---and stay that way! "Inclusive Education and Beyond" examines the status of students with disabilities today in traditional Special Ed programs (the statistics are dismal---read 'em and weep), and presents strategies to help parents and educators move toward inclusive education. And the ideas presented for teens and young adults pave the way for a Real Life in the workforce or post-secondary education---not as a client in the Adult Services World!
Real-life stories illustrate creative solutions to the usual barriers facing children of all ages and with all types of disabilities. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll learn what it takes to ensure children with disabilities live successful lives!
Disability is Natural, 1st Edition has become a text at several colleges and universities, in classes for emerging teachers, therapists, and others! Also, Dr. Laura Schlessinger has featured Disability is Natural on her national radio show and placed it on her Recommended Reading List. Change is possible: a quiet revolution is at hand! Aren't you ready for new ways of thinking? Isn't it time for children with disabilities to live happy, fulfilled, successful lives, as first-class citizens, included in their homes, schools, and communities?
Disability is Natural: Revolutionary Common Sense for Raising Successful Children with Disabilities, 2nd Edition ; Spiral-bound; 8 1/2 x 11; 324 pages; $30.00.