Adoptive Parenting from the Ground Up: For the Infant or Child Who Waited.

by Katie Prigel Sharp  Available through her website, www.heartofthematterseminars.com

Synopsis: This book is for parents of an adopted older infant or child, and deals with, amongst other things, brain development, understanding and developing attachment, sensory issues, day care and school choices, discipline, and ‘red flags’. It helps navigate the maze of information available about parenting in a way that is very useful for the adoptive parent.

Beneath the Mask - Understanding Adopted Teens.
by Debbie Riley and John Meeks (2005).  Silver Spring MD: CASE Publications.
 
Synopsis: Grief and trauma issues from relinquishment tend to surface at adolescence. The teenage years can be extremely painful and difficult, not only the adopted child, but also their parents and family.

Riley (a therapist, adoptive mother and Executive Director of CASE ) identifies six most common adoption “stuck spots”. These are: reasons for adoption, the missing parts of the adoption story, loyalty to adoptive parents, differences between parents and child, personal identity and abandonment issues. Even the most well-loved child may have low self-esteem from "relinquishment issues". These can be traumatic, even when unconscious.

Much of the healing power of group therapeutic sessions for adopted children comes from learning you are not alone. CASE also advocates providing cultural connections to help with the adopted child’s almost inevitable search for identity, and teaches effective techniques for helping kids deal with insensitive questions about adoption.

The Challenging Child: Understanding, Raising, and Enjoying the Five Types of "Difficult" Children

by Stanley Greenspan with Jacqueline Salmon (1995). Boston, MA: Perseus Books (Merloyd Lawrence).

Synopsis: Dr. Greenspan, MD, describes five behavior types at various developmental stages: Highly Sensitive, Self-Absorbed, Defiant, Inattentive, or Active/Aggressive. He believes that both nature and nurture can lead to these challenging types of children. He explains how it feels to be that child, and the most effective parenting techniques to help your child.

The Connected Child
by Karyn B. Purvis, and David R. Cross, & Wendy Lyons Sunshine, (2007). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Synopsis: As the title outlines, this book is ‘For parents who have welcomed children from other countries and cultures, from troubled backgrounds, with special behavioral or emotional needs’. The rise of adoptions from orphanages abroad and foster homes can be adoptions of at risk and special needs children who can have difficult learning, emotional and behavioural problems. Such children may not be used to being touched, having enough to eat, having toys or even interaction with another person. The book deals with discipline issues, by fostering understanding that their child’s apparent ‘bad behavior’–stealing food, for example, may be triggered by fear or self-protection. It also helps deal with bonding issues, and learning disorders. By enabling the parent to respond with love and understanding to even the most challenging of problems, such as attachment issues, the child can begin to heal. 

How Difficult Can This Be? PBS Video
The F.A.T. City Workshop Presented by Richard D. Lavoie

Description: This unique program lets viewers experience the frustration, anxiety, and tension faced by children with learning disabilities. Workshop facilitator Richard Lavoie presents a series of striking simulations emulating daily experience of LD children. Teachers, social workers, and parents, workshop participants, reflect upon how the workshop changed their approach to LD children. Includes discussion of mainstreaming discipline and self-concept.

Kids in the Syndrome Mix of ADHD, LD, Asperger’s, Tourette's, Bipolar, and More! The One Stop Guide for Parents, Teachers, and Other Professionals.

by Martin L. Kutscher, (2005).  London and Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Synopsis: This book by Martin Kutscher, MD, is a guide for parents, teachers and other professionals to a whole range of often co-existing neurological and behavioral disorders: from ADHD, autistic spectrum disorders, bipolar disorder, executive dysfunction, nonverbal learning disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, to sensory integration problems.

Last Child in the Woods: Nature Deficit Disorder
by Richard Louv, (2006). Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books.

Synopsis: For parents, educators and scientists, this book outlines current research on the social and ecological reasons and unhealthy consequences of the increasing lack of time that children have to experience the natural world. He prescribes new ways for reconnecting kids with nature. The results are improved standardized test scores, grade-point averages, with a better problem solving, critical thinking and decision-making skills. Time in the natural world also appears to stimulate creativity.

Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice.
by Howard Gardner,  (1993).  New York: Basic Books.

Synopsis: Dr. Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University, argues that there are a number of forms of intelligence that each child possesses in varying degrees. He lists eight: linguistic (‘word smart’), musical (“music smart’), logical-mathematical (‘number/reasoning smart’), spatial (‘picture smart’), bodily-kinesthetic (‘body smart’), intrapersonal (‘self smart’), interpersonal (‘people smart’) and naturalist (‘nature smart’). Our schools and culture have traditionally focused most on linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence, and have not tended to pay attention to our budding artists, designers, entrepreneurs, musicians, naturalists, and therapists, for example. He argues that teaching and learning should focus on the particular intelligences of each child, as they also represent learning styles.

The Out of Sync Child by Carol Kranowitz
Available through the author's Web site .

Synopsis: The revised edition of the ground-breaking 1998 book that introduced Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) to parents, teachers, and other non-specialists. SPD is a common and frequently misdiagnosed problem in wihch the central nervous system misinterprets messages from the senses. This new edition features additional information on visual and hearing deficits, motor skill difficulties, ADHD, autism, Asperger syndrome, and other related disorders.

The Out-of-Sync Child was awarded the Exceptional Parent magazine's Symbol of Excellence, and it has been translated into Korean, Finnish, and Dutch.

A Revolutionary Way of Thinking by Dr. Charles T. Krebs Contact Kim Gangwish to order! This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Synopsis: On the morning of January 22, 1982, Dr. Charles Krebs was a fit 35 year old with a world of possibilities at his feet. By the evening he was a quadriplegic facing death or at least, a life sentence of physical and mental disability. Possessing both the knowledge of human anatomy and an indomitable will, Charles Krebs decided that whatever it took, he would walk again. In seeking the scientific explanation for his own miraculo recovery, Dr. Krebs synthesised the vast bounty of knowledge of the function of the human body and brain - from the 5,000 year old texts of the East to the very frontiers of Western neuroscience.


S.A.F.E. at School Manual Available from the Center for Adoption Support and Education (CASE) website http://www.adoptionsupport.org

Synopsis:  S.A.F.E. at School presents 5 proactive strategies to help teachers and counselors create a positive adoption environment in school: Acceptance, Accuracy, Assignments, Assistance, and Advocacy. Background material is included on: adoption today, unique educational needs of some students, and how students at all ages are likely to comprehend the complexities of adoption. Guidelines and examples are provided to improve communication about adoption while protecting the privacy of personal adoption stories. S.A.F.E. is a complete--but simple--tool for addressing the complex topic of adoption in ANY school.

The Child with Special Needs: Encouraging Intellectual and Emotional Growth. by Stanley Greenspan,  & Serena Weider, (1998). Boston, MA: Perseus Books (Merloyd Lawrence).

Synopsis: This book is for parents of children with developmental challenges that include ADD, autism, cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, language and speech problems, and pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). It describes effective and intensive parenting therapeutic play time with your child (“The Floor-Time Approach”). It also offers good information about your child’s emotional development as well as outlining marital and family challenges in a way that will help you feel empowered.

Traumatic Experience and The Brain.
by Dave Ziegler,  (2002).  Phoenix, AR: Acacia Publishing.

Synopsis: This book by Dr. Ziegler presents research on how severe trauma affects the structure and functioning of the young brain, which in turn affects how young children see the world and how they respond to potential threats. The book describes how children can control their responses given structure, nurturing, and appropriate types of non-verbal therapy.

The Whole Me. by Ellen K. Baron

Available from the Center for Adoption Support and Education (CASE) website and elsewhere

Synopsis: This colourfully illustrated book is designed for adoptive or foster parents, social workers or therapists to help them talk to children about the way they joined their new family.

What Babies Want- An exploration of the consciousness of infants
by Debby Takikawa. Available through www.whatbabieswant.com.

Synopsis:  This award winning documentary film about babies is being shown across the nation in movie theaters, parenting and birthing classes, and small group gatherings everywhere.

What Babies Want is a heart-opening film that brings together ground-breaking information about who babies truly are, what they know, and how we can support them to be their best as they develop and grow. The film is alive with captivating stories and remarkable personal experiences of infants, children and adults. It is warmly narrated by Noah Wyle who, with his wife Tracy, shares with us their passion for the well being of children.

Research is now showing us that our society is a product of how we welcome and raise our children. When babies are welcomed with love and warmth and given the immediate opportunity to bond with parents, they develop minds that are coherent and flexible, ready in turn to make compassionate and meaningful connections with others as they grow.

As we learn how early relationships shape the structure and function of the brain, we are also gaining a new appreciation of the wisdom of ancient cultures that understood the importance of welcoming children before, during and after the moment of birth.