You know that your child has a disability. What do you know about your child's disability - specifically?

How does the disability affect the child's school performance? In what areas?  Can the child's disability be minimized or "cured" through intensive remediation? What are the child's strengths? What tools can be used to minimize the impact of the disability?

Step One of your Game Plan is to become an expert about your child's disability. Read at least one book about your child's disability - several books are better. You will find several good books about children's disabilities on this page - let us know if you find a helpful book so we can include it.

The Way I See It by Temple Grandin.

In the revised and expanded version of this innovative book, Dr. Temple Grandin gets down to the REAL issues of autism, the ones parents, teachers, and individuals on the spectrum face every day. Temple offers helpful do’s and don’ts, practical strategies, and try-it-now tips, all based on her “insider” perspective and a great deal of research. Topics include: How and Why People with Autism Think Differently, Economical Early Intervention Programs that Work, How Sensory Sensitivities Affect Learning, Behaviors Caused by a Disability vs. Just Bad Behaviors, Teaching People with Autism to Live in an Unpredictable World, etc.

The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain by Brock L. Eide, Fernette F. Eide.

Neurolearning experts Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide describe an exciting new brain science that reveals that people with dyslexia have unique brain structure and organization. While the differences are responsible for certain challenges with literacy and reading, the dyslexic brain also gives a predisposition to important skills, and special talents.

Different Learners: Identifying, Preventing, and Treating Your Child's Learning Problems by Jane M. Healy Ph.D.

When parents are told that their child is having difficulty in school, they often don’t know where to turn for reliable information and advice. They may be confused by conflicting claims of "cures" or may mistakenly think that, because some learning problems are genetically based, they can do nothing to help. Even the terminology of learning disorders is confusing: dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADD, ADHD, autism, Asperger’s syndrome, NVLD, executive function disorder—what are all these conditions, how do they differ from one another and, most important, what practical steps should parents and teachers take to remedy the situation?

Legacy of the Blue Heron: Living with Learning Disabilities

by Harry Sylvester.

This book is a story of persistence in the face of misunderstanding, a story of survival by patient perseverance through years of puzzlement and frustration, and much more. 

Harry Sylvester shares with us many lessons he learned the hard way, during the years in which our society was discovering what learning disabilities are.

The Learning Tree: Overcoming Learning Disabilities from the Ground Up

by Stanley Greenspan and Nancy Thorndick Greenspan.

The Learning Tree offers a new understanding of learning problems. Rather than looking just at symptoms, this new approach describes how to find the missing developmental steps that cause these symptoms.

The best solution to the problem comes from knowing what essential skills to strengthen.

Sandra Rief offers myriad real-life case studies, interviews, and student intervention plans for children with ADD/ADHD. In addition, the book contains best teaching practices and countless strategies for enhancing classroom performance for all types of students.

Is your child underachieving? Unhappy?  In this practical book, Dr. Hallowell explains the biological basis for many childhood behavioral problems - sadness, inattentiveness, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder - & discusses appropriate treatments for these and other childhood problems. Ned Hallowell is the co-author of Driven to Distraction and Answers to Distraction. 

This  definitive book describes the various subtypes of ADD/ADHD, from the hyperactive search for high stimulation to the floating daydreaming quality of inattentiveness. Hallowell and Ratey discuss how ADD/ADHD is distinguishable from "unacceptable behavior" and what medication and treatment techniques work best. Also available in audio tape format.

Driven to Distraction (2 audio tapes)

A very good intro for parents of TS kids. A compilation of articles by parents, doctors and educators, this book is a solid introduction for families who have one or more children with Tourettes Syndrome. At the end of each chapter is a collection of comments by parents on how they have learned to cope with TS, and their disappointments and triumphs."
Includes a chapter about special education law by parent attorney Sonja Kerr.   

The Child With Special Needs : Encouraging Intellectual and Emotional Growth, by Stanley Greenspan, Serena, Weider, Robin Simon. 

Covers several disabilities including cerebral palsy, autism, retardation, ADD, and language problems. Offers specific ways to help all special needs children reach their full intellectual and emotional potential. Learn more about The Child with Special Needs. 

The OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome: Advice, Support, Insight, and Inspiration by Patricia Romanowski Bashe, et al;

The authors, both mothers of AS children, delve into the world of pervasive developmental disorders with clarity, warmth, and depth. Learn about this disorder from the onset of symptoms through adulthood. This book grew out of the OASIS site (Online Asperger Syndrome Information and Support) which has furthered AS research.

"This book gave me a clear understanding of my childs needs at home and at school. After reading this book, I had a clear picture of what was going on and what path I needed to take." Learn more about Childhood Speech, Language, and Listening Problems

“Words Fail Me: How Language Works and What Happens When It Doesn't” by Priscilla Vail. 

In "Words Fail Me,” Priscilla Vail explores the links between reading, writing, listening and speaking, how these skills are learned, and what happens in the process breaks down. 

Asperger's Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals by Tony Attwood and Lorna Wing. (1997) 

An easy-to-read book about Asperger's Syndrome for parents, educators, clinicians.  Covers the major characteristics and how to understand people who have of Aspergers. 

One parent writes: "I didn't realize how much I could depend on a book! It's like an instruction manual for children with Asperger's Syndrome. I will pass it on to each of my son's teachers every year . . .Thank you, Tony Attwood!" 

A child psychiatrist wrote: The degree of humanism and respect for people with this syndrome, and emphasis on their strengths and possible futures and careers is outstanding." 

Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family's Triumph Over Autism

by Catherine Maurice. 

"In Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family's Triumph Over Autism, the process of recovery is a sort of miracle, but documented, witnessed.

One that can be duplicated. One that offers hope, not to all, but to some. And that is the best miracle of all." - The Women's Review of Books 

The Misunderstood Child: A Parent's Guide to Understanding and Coping with Your Child's Disabilities (Time Books, August 1998) 

This book is on our "must-read" list for parents and professionals. Includes excellent information about psychological, emotional, and social development; up-to-date information about evaluations; and effective treatment strategies to use at home and at school.

The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Integration Dysfunction by Carol Kranowitz.

This book describes the often conflicting symptoms of children with SI dysfunction. You learn that these children can be diagnosed at an early age and receive OT therapy when it is most effective. You learn many simple things that parents and teachers can do at home and in the classroom to improve the functioning of SI kids.

The Everything Parent's Guide To Sensory Integration Disorder by Terri Mauro.

Get the Right Diagnosis, Understand Treatments, And Advocate for Your Child.

In this parent guide you'll find the answers you need as you search for ways to help your child. This reassuring handbook examines various forms of treatment and therapy, and provides professional advice for helping children with SID succeed in school, at home, and with friends.

Identifies five "difficult" child personality types--sensitive, withdrawn, defiant, inattentive, and active/aggressive--explains development from the child's perspective -- offers strategies to turn difficulties into positive personality traits. 

Maybe You Know My Kid : A Parent's Guide to Identifying, Understanding, and Helping Your Child With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder by Mary Cahill Fowler.

Updated edition of Mary Fowler's candid and dramatic guide for parents just like her, whose children have Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder . . . describes the latest scientific advances and clinical breakthroughs and discusses the recent changes in the education of children suffering from AD/HD. Examines the school's role in assessing children, practical guidelines and suggestions for improving educational performance. More information.