Customer Reviews

Taming the Dragons: Real Help for Real School Problems

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Knowledge is a lot like fertilizer; it is only useful when it is spread around, helping young things to grow. With her book "Taming the Dragons", author Susan Setley has turned her twenty years of teaching children with ADD and other special needs into a fountain of information for the professional educators and the parents responsible for the education of children who have attention problems. Too frequently, these children are the "square pegs" who cannot fit into the "round hole" of the conventional classroom. As a result of their disorder and their frequent inability to benefit fully from more traditional educational methods, children with ADD often develop academic deficiences unrelated to their intelligence or innate potential. Rather than labeling these children as "problems" to be corrected, author Setley offers specific techniques to enable children who suffer from ADD to succeed academically. Her methods of adjusting teaching and class room environment to foster student achievement are useful not only for the 3- 5% of American children who have ADD but could be beneficial to any child who has difficulty in an academic environment. As someone who tutors adults in basic skills, I have to wonder how different my students' lives would have been if they'd had a Susan Setley for a teacher when they were young

This book, great at explaining learning disabilities and Attention Deficit Disorder, was one of the most useful I've read. The language is easy to understand, and full of wonderfully simple, concrete examples and tips. I was able to take specific ideas and put them to use immediately! Ms. Setley's tip on using index cards for writing assignments has made a big difference not only in my son's compositions, but has helped reduce his frustration level when faced with the task. We've also used this method when studying for spelling and social studies tests. I would highly recommend this book to any parent or teacher working with a child with learning difficulties. Wish I'd had it a couple of years ago!

Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CMC, MCC, SCAC , coaching pioneer and co-founder of the ADD Coaching field says . . .

I will NEVER understand why this book is not a best seller. Heads up educators, home schoolers, ADD Coaches, *ALL* LD specialist, Mom's with kids on the Spectrum -- BUY THIS BOOK *immediately* if you ever find it, because it continues to disappear. Heads up Publishers: somebody is missing out on a FORTUNE by failing to promote this book. (More to the point: kids, teachers, parents and coaches are left to do it without this resource -- i.e., the hard way)

While not an "ADD" book per se, I was so impressed with the "real help" provided across all issues that cause problems for kids at school and the amazing simplicity with which the author breaks down the system steps, it was one of only FIVE required books for my original ADD Coach Training. It would never have been replaced except for problems with the publishers.

There is no "fluff" to this book, only a wealth of knowledge straight-forward practical advice about how to reach and teach those who are learning with difficulty, avoiding learning, or unsuccessful with learning because they learn differently. It's a brilliant example of how to break things down so that they are approachable - and each of its sections are broken down into problem/solution sub-bites.

This is a HOW-TO book: after a eight brief but full-featured "context" chapters you won't want to skip (on learning and LD, diagnosis, IEPs, ADD, Brain-based reasons for struggles, and how to use the tips and tricks), Setley goes chapter by chapter to explain HOW to approach each basic category.

Even more important, she points up the underlying difficulties that make up a larger problem. For example, in the READING chapter, she breaks it down into word attack, sight vocabulary and comprehension, then gives tips tailored for each domain of struggle. At the end is an "other" catch-all, in case your child doesn't fit neatly into the other three categories.

Chapters nine through fifteen cover the BASICS: reading, spelling, several covering math, writing production (printing and cursive), as well as written expression. Chapter Sixteen covers Organization, Listening Skills, Study Skills and Social Studies and Science. The last Chapter and two Appendices add a bit of additional detail on attentional struggles, reading and spelling.

Just BUY it - if you don't like it, you will have NO problem selling it back (but you will probably choose, as I have, to keep it forever on your references bookcase). Do others a favor too - take time to review this book once you've bought it.

Taming the Dragons : Real Help for Real School Problems : The author explains the terms that we had heard many times and didn't have a true understanding of what they meant. The "Tips and Tricks" on each academic subject is easy to use. I find myself pulling out the book and looking at the "icons" that apply to my child with in a matter of a few moments my child has a way to approach the problem that he is able to comprehend. I have given this book to friends who have children that don't have a learning disorder. They find it to be a useful tool in helping their child with the struggle of challenging homework. If there was to be a "handbook" for parents and teachers to come to common ground this would be the book