Synopses & Reviews
Parents of children with special needs face unique emotional and practical challenges everyday. These issues are seldom addressed by the medical community—and parents’ most compelling questions remain unanswered.
Judith Loseff Lavin was thrust into the world of children’s hospitals and special needs when her daughter was born with a cleft lip and palate. In
Special Kids Need Special Parents, she draws on interviews with health care professionals, nationally recognized authorities, and other parents of children with special needs to give readers the advice, encouragement, and comfort they crave. Raising a child with special needs can be a daunting task, but it can also be a meaningful journey—helping parents uncover reserves of strength, wisdom and love they never knew they had.
Boosting your child’s self-esteem
Coping with chronic pain, sleep problems and frequent hospitalizations
Dealing with your feelings of grief and anger
Choosing a therapist
Finding suitable, reliable childcare
How to cope with teasing
The impact a child with special needs can have on a marriage, siblings, and grandparents
Finding cosmetic help, including hair replacement
Prosthetic and orthotic options
Review
An unflinching look at the multiple challenges of raising a child with special needs...a wealth of useful information. (Adele Faber, co-author of How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk)
Review
A wise and helpful book written by someone who knows what needs to be said and has earned the right to say it. (Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People)
About the Author
Judith Loseff Lavin has written for the Chicago Sun-Times and many magazines, including Newsweek. A graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in secondary teaching, Ms. Lavin is involved with several organizations that promote the welfare and progress of children with special needs.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I. How Could This Happen?
1. Grieving
2. Where Is God? Trying to Make Sense of Things
Part II. Your Special Family
3. The Special Marriage
4. Special Needs Affects Grandparents, Too
5. Well-Siblings
Part III. Better Behavior
6. Helping Your Child Sleep
7. Parenting Acceptable Behavior
8. Understanding Developmental Stages
Part IV. What's He Thinking?
9. How to Deal with Teasing and Other Hurtful Behaviors
10. Helping Your Child Grow Confidence
11. Self-Destruction: Can It Be Prevented? Part V. Your Special Team
12. The Pressure! Hospitalization
13. Help!
14. Counseling: The Right Therapy, The Right Therapist
Part VI. Modern Miracles
15. Helping Your Child with Chronic Pain
16. Answering Prosthetic and Orthotic Questions
17. Wheelchairs and Mobility Aids
18. Questions and Answers on Hair Replacement
19. The Art of Camouflage
Part VII. Your Schools, Your Rights, Your Child's Future
20. School Questions: The Education of Children with Special Needs
21. The Power of Advocacy
22. Transitions and Trusts
A Note from the Author
Advocacy Letters
Resources
Index