A Parent's Guide to Special Education: Insider Advice on How to Navigate the System and Help Your Child Succeed [Paperback]

Linda Wilmshurst (Author), Alan W. Brue (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 18, 2005

A "Parent's Guide to Special Education" offers invaluable information and a positive vision of special education that will help parents through the potentially overwhelming processes of catch-all programs that encompasses dozens of learning challenges: developmental delay; learning and physical disabilities; emotional disturbance; retardation, autism; and others. Filled with practical recommendations, sample forms, and enlightening examples, this is a priceless resource for helping every child learn.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"ADDitutde: ""As a writer and educational specialist who has learning disorders, I found this book indispensable. Don’t go to a school meeting without it!""

Special Education Law Blog (http://specialedlaw.blogs.com): ""A Parent's Guide to Special Education…represents itself as an ‘insider's’ guide to the system. I am happy to report that the book lives up to this claim especially regarding the process of psychological testing…. This book tackles those issues in a readable way without oversimplification. The graphics and illustrations are clear and the needed concepts are well covered. The book also has many pointers for more effective advocacy. I certainly recommend this book to parents, and even to other attorneys and advocates, to assist in the process of effective advocacy."""

“This is one book that all parents should have in their personal library to better understand special education.”

-Attention!

Book Description

"The term 'special education' encompasses dozens of learning challenges: developmental delay, learning and physical disabilities, emotional disturbance, retardation, language impairment, autism, and others. By nature of this diversity, navigating even well-run, well-funded special education programs can be daunting. A Parent's Guide to Special Education offers guidance to parents and their children -- as well as to teachers, counselors, and administrators -- on issues including:

* diagnosis and awareness * special education laws * eligibility issues and requirements * programs * parenting issues * communication between parents and schools * and much more

A Parent's Guide to Special Education offers invaluable information and a positive vision of special education that will help them through a potentially overwhelming process. Filled with practical recommendations, sample forms, and enlightening examples, this is a priceless resource for helping every child learn."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 17 and up
  
• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM; 1 edition (July 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814472834
• ISBN-13: 978-0814472835
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,226,715 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

113 of 113 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I recommend it, July 4, 2005

By 

Mary Anne Bowden (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Parent's Guide to Special Education: Insider Advice on How to Navigate the System and Help Your Child Succeed (Paperback)

I certainly recommend this book. I have learned a lot in the first half of the book alone and look forward to reading the rest of it. Now that my son receives special education services, I think this book will help me to prepare for the next school year. I agree with the other reviewer -- if Amazon included the Table of Contents on this page, they'd probably sell a lot more books. I will include it here and I hope you find it helpful.

Chapter 1: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004: What a Great IDEA!

Chapter 2: Not All Roads Lead to Special Education Placement: The 411 on 504 Plans

Chapter 3: A Comparison of IDEA 2004 and Section 504, and a Brief Look at No Child Left Behind.

Chapter 4: The Psychological Assessment: What to Expect

Chapter 5: The Assessment of Intelligence

Chapter 6: The Other Psychological Assessments: Achievement Testing, Process Testing and Emotional/ Behavioral Assessments

Chapter 7: Understanding Your Child's Disability

Chapter 8: Labels: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Chapter 9: You and Me and the IEP

Chapter 10: Beyond Eligibility for Special Education: What's Next?

Chapter 11: A Parent's Guide to Parent-Teacher Communication and School Meetings

Chapter 12: A Parent's Guide to Stress and Coping

Chapter 13: A Parent's Guide to Building Your Child's Self-Esteem and Increasing Social Competence

Chapter 14: A Parent's Guide to Behavior and Discipline

Appendix A: Selected Changes in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004

Appendix B: Sample 504 Plans

Appendix C: Sample Behavior Charts

Appendix D: Procedural Safeguards

Appendix E: Sample IEP Forms

Appendix F: Food for Thought: Helpful Resources

Glossary: Acronyms 101

105 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This parent advocate likes it, June 24, 2005

By 

Julie Thomas (South Bend, Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Parent's Guide to Special Education: Insider Advice on How to Navigate the System and Help Your Child Succeed (Paperback)

I saw this book in my local B&N and thought it was very comprehensive. I found the updated information on IDEA 2004 to be of most help and in no other book since the law doesn't go into effect until next month. Since the federal law is updated only every 5 or 10 years, it's important for me, a special education parent advocate, to keep up with everything that affects my clients. This book will definitely help me to do that. I really like the variety of chapters. I just wish Amazon would post the sample table of contents since I will definitely recommend this book to parents and often refer them to Amazon's site when I think a book will help them. I'm hoping Amazon will consider doing this in the near future.

98 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I also liked this book, July 30, 2005

By 

Barbara Calucci (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Parent's Guide to Special Education: Insider Advice on How to Navigate the System and Help Your Child Succeed (Paperback)

Like the other reviewers, I found this book quite helpful. My grandson was diagnosed as having a learning disability and I bought this book for my daughter. I read it first because sometimes I go to meetings for her if she cannot get off from work. The book has some very helpful information. I told my daughter to bring this book to the first meeting she has this next school year so that the school staff knows that she has read up on the topic. We'll have to see if it makes a difference since she sometimes gets the run-around. Anyway, I would recommend this book to parents (and grandparents!) of a child who is in special education.