Delicate Threads: Friendships Between Children With and Without Special Needs in Inclusive Settings (Paperback)

by Debbie Staub (Author) "Friendship, and having friends, is an essential part of being human..." (more)
Key Phrases: peers with disabilities, friendships between children, friends with disabilities, New York, Big Toy, San Francisco (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
An insightful guide to how children's friendships unfold when one child is developmentally disabled. Includes case studies from research conducted by the author, and help for parents hoping to understand and encourage these potentially life-enriching relationships. A 1999 Parents' Choice® Approval. (Parents' Choice®) -- From Parents' Choice

Product Description
Delicate Threads is the culmination of the author's years of careful observations of friendships between seven pairs of children-each including a child with a moderate to severe disability-who are classmates in an inclusive elementary school. The sometimes intimate interactions described here give readers a rare view of the nature of these friendships, how they develop, their impact on the children involved, how the families and teachers perceive them and contribute to their success or failure, as well as the benefits of inclusion.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Woodbine House (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0933149905
• ISBN-13: 978-0933149908
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,074,770 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A conundrum mixing sensitive insights and generalities, September 23, 2004

By	loce_the_wizard "loce_the_wizard" (Lilburn, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

"Delicate Threads" offers a conundrum for the reader. The artwork and testimonies pitch an impression that the author offers solutions and distills the wisdom of real-life experience. Moreover, the fact that this book does not focus on physical disabilities was not clearly articulated in the editorial reviews.

This book is more of a case study that details Dr. Straub's three-year study of seven pairs of children, a "normal" child and a developmentally disabled child. Despite the many interesting observations chronicled during this case study, the author too often, in my opinion, falls back on vague postulates such as "Between parental influences and all the complexities of cultural influences, understanding the influences on children's friendships can be an unpredictable process."

The author's conclusions are topical but often general, and the omission of children with physical disabilities---who often also have developmental disabilities placing them in double jeopardy for isolation---puzzles me.

Also, the striking lack of current research from the experts---most of the sources cited in this book are from the '80s and many are from the '70s---in the field proves again that the real experts are the parents of special needs children, and the wisdom of such parents (not just the comments from parents of the children in the case study) would have complimented and expanded the author's observations.

Despite such lapses, the author does address the topic with respect and sensitivity, noting that "It is the withdrawn, isolated child who is easily overlooked who becomes invisible." Her ideas for improving the social support for children with special needs are commendable but I suspect rarely employed in schools where the unruly rule and the disabled often languish.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inclusive education, November 29, 2001

By A Customer

I bought this book to use for my university dissertation on inclusive education. I found that it was an interesting and informative book and I ended up reading it just for the joy of it. She is perceptive about special needs and looks at special needs and inclusive eduaction from a novel angle. She aslo sheds insight on friendship as a whole by using her case studies of special needs and mainstream children.
A good book, highly recommended!