A Special Kind of Love: For Those Who Love Children with Special Needs [Paperback]

Susan Titus Osborn (Author), Janet Lynn Mitchell (Author), John T. Trent (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2004

All children are special, but some children have special needs. Where do the parents of a "special-needs child" go for comfort? What other individuals do they know who share their daily struggles, while watching their child try to "fit" into a normal world? A Special Kind of Love: For Those Who Love Children with Special Needs is written for these moms, dads, grandparents, foster parents, and extended families who live with these children on a day-by-day basis. This book is also designed for teachers, doctors, social workers, friends of the family, and pastors who work with these children.

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: B&H Publishing Group; 1 edition (January 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805427279
• ISBN-13: 978-0805427271
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #766,060 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book of Enablement, March 9, 2004

By 

Jeanne Zornes (Wenatchee, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Special Kind of Love: For Those Who Love Children with Special Needs (Paperback)

If you have a special needs child, get this book. If you know of someone with a special needs child, get this book for them. They'll be encouraged by others who've worked through the special social and fatigue issues of their parenting. Besides sharing from their own experiences with mentally and physically handicapped or chronically ill children and grandchildren, the authors have invited other special-needs parents to get to the heart issues of their lives. The book is chock full of practical stories, like having a coming-home party when a sick child came home from the hospital. Or a "Blessings Jar" to help them focus on the positive. Having a trusted male relative take a wheel-chaired teen to the prom so she wouldn't be "dateless." Keeping thank-you cards in the car for when someone extends special grace. Printing up business cards to hand out when an autistic child has a public "inappropriate behavior" episode. Writing notes to curious neighbors about your special needs child, and inviting them to support the charity seeking a cure for the problem. There's so much more. You'll be glad you bought the book. I'm sharing mine with a friend with a special needs child to encourage her that she's not alone in her task.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A special book for special families, March 11, 2004

By 

Carmen Leal (Kailua, HI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Special Kind of Love: For Those Who Love Children with Special Needs (Paperback)

When I first heard about this book, I figured it would be another compilation filled with a few great stories with the rest being just okay. As soon I read the first few pages I knew I was wrong.
If you have a special needs child, or you know someone who does, then this is a wonderful book to read. The format of the most incredible stories with the follow up comments by the authors makes this book both enjoyable and informative. The spiritual applications are strong without being puhy. The pictures of tthese special children added much to the book and made me want to read the stories again. There's something exhilarating about reading how every day families cope in extraordinary ways with the hands they have been dealt. This is the kind of resource that needs to be around for years to come.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Challenge to a Greater Love, September 20, 2005

By 

Kathi Macias (Homeland, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Special Kind of Love: For Those Who Love Children with Special Needs (Paperback)

Honest. Moving. Poignant. Heart-wrenching. All these describe the stories contained in A Special Kind of Love by Susan Titus Osborn and Janet Lynn Mitchell. But nothing describes those stories more clearly than the word challenging.

From the agony of a mother sitting beside an incubator watching the life-and-death struggle of her tiny newborn, to the outrage of parents over the hurtful taunting of their "different" child by "normal" children, to the indescribable grief of a father watching his child's casket being lowered into the ground, these true-life stories will challenge readers to a greater depth of love. While offering practical helps as well as loving encouragement to those who are currently caring for special-needs children, the authors offer no pat answers, no tried-and-true formulas for success, no one-size-fits-all remedy for the pain and frustration that inevitably come with the job.

Why did God give me a handicapped child? Why did my baby die before I had a chance to hold him in my arms? Why doesn't God heal my child the way He has healed others? All of these are legitimate questions. But sometimes the only answer is that God knows why, and we don't ... and that's the way it is. Yet in the midst of the long and difficult struggle that comes with accepting that answer, there is great blessing.

These courageous caretakers and unconditional lovers of special children have chosen to come forward and bless others by sharing their own stories gained through trials and heartache, disappointments and loss. But they also share the blessings of triumphs and victory, achievements and success, as both they and their children learned, day by day, to live and rejoice in A Special Kind of Love.