Books on Parenting Issues

Winter combines her talents for journalism and parenting in a book that is part inspiration, part how-to, and wholly optimistic about your family's survival as you take on the challenge of raising a child with special needs. It's a particularly useful guide to those just starting out on the journey of dealing with special needs, and hearing from everybody that it's too hard and their life is over and their situation is tragic. Breakthrough Parenting offers a much-needed antidote to all that gloom and doom. 5 Stars

What's really going on when a child is sensitive, self-absorbed, defiant, inattentive, active or aggressive? Dr. Stanley Greenspan, in his wonderfully reassuring way, describes the bundle of neurological, sensory, and developmental factors that combine to create those troubling types -- and how you can play your way through. 5 Stars

The book cover promises a "comprehensive approach to developmental challenges including autism, PDD, language and speech problems, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, ADD, and other related disorders." That's a tall order -- but this book more than fills it. Just about any child would benefit from the sort of intensive parenting play described here. 5 Stars

"Children will do well if they can." That's the philosophy behind this helpful behavior book, which then seeks to figure out why some kids can't. In this case, author Ross W. Greene looks at those children who seem unable to change their behavior even in the face of all reason, parental urging and dire consequences. Are they willful? Oppositional? Or just stuck? 5 Stars

Showing kids how to do things for themselves is a nice idea, but it's so much easier to just do it for them. This is a book that teaches parents how to teach their children well, with step-by-step instructions on how to help kids learn to do everything from shoe-tying to home repair. 5 Stars

If you've heard of "positive discipline" but wondered how on earth to do it, this is the book that can show you. The Nurtured Heart Approach involves bombarding kids with positive statements, while treating misbehavior with unemotional time-outs. A credit system adds more positive feedback. You may be surprised how well it works. 5 Stars

It's bad enough when misbehavior involves tantrums and lying and disrespect. When it involves skipping medication and avoiding treatments, it reaches a whole new degree of difficulty. The normal rules of Love and Logic parenting get tweaked here to accommodate the heightened stakes that come with chronic illness, and empower parents to create kids who can really take care of themselves. 4.5 Stars

I'm a big believer in positive behavior support, and accutely aware of how wimpy it looks on paper. While it may seem impossibly soft and child-coddling to those raised to fear and obey, techniques like Connected Parenting are the ones you come to when you hit a wall with the tried and true. Stepping back and coming at the problem from a different angle isn't weak, it's smart. And if you're lucky, everybody feels empowered. 4 Stars

What makes a child resilient? How can we help our challenged children find a happy life, and maybe grab a little bit of that for ourselves? Resilient Therapy™ seeks to identify the elements that lead to resiliency in children and adults, and teach parents how to pass those on. For those stuck in despair, it's a cheerful helping hand; but if you've been adjusting to your child's challenges all along, it may serve as nothing more than an encouraging pat on the back. 4 Stars

If your child has behavioral challenges, you've probably had the experience of reading symptoms for one diagnosis after another and feeling your child could be tagged with any of them. Kids in the Syndrome Mix works to sort out some of those tangled strands and lead parents to meaningful interventions for their children, whatever the diagnosis may be. 4 Stars