Customer Reviews

Karina Has Down Syndrome: One Family's Account of the Early Years with a Child who has Special Needs

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book helped me to realize that there are many parents out there who are faced with life changing news everyday. Through reading the experiences in this book, it showed me the different emotions wrapped up in families with disabilities. I am studying to be a special education teacher, and I know that this book will be a reference for me when relating to the parents of my students. If you are a special educator, or anyone whose life has been touched by a child with a disability, you MUST purchase this book!

This book was a huge disappointment. I am still trying to figure out why it cost me $25+. I was expecting a pretty substantial hardcover memoir for that, but in reality it's a very thin paperback, just over 100 pages, that I finished in a couple of hours (I guess I should have paid more attention to the product description on Amazon).

I was initially intrigued by the book because an excerpt I read online indicated that Karina, the child with Down syndrome who is the subject of the book, was born at home two weeks before her due date. Since this was exactly how my own son's (who has Down syndrome; hence my interest in this subject matter) life began , I felt destined to read this book. While there are parts of the account that are moving, and I could certainly relate to some of the mother's expressed anguish, for the most part the book reads like a report or article - it all seems pretty detached although it is the mother's personal account. The book covers Karina's first six years - in just over 100 pages! - and it was only after I started reading that I realized she was born in 1990, so I had to keep reminding myself that so much has changed in the last almost 20 years for children born with Down syndrome.

Not impressed.

I rate this book a 5-star review! This goes to show how a family who has a Down Syndrome child is determined to help Karina develop to her fullest potential in spite of her challenge with Down Syndrome.