Use this alphabetical index to find books that have been reviewed for the Harried Parent's Book Club.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J-L | M-N | O | P-Q | R | S | T | U-V | W-Z
Journal Buddies
Cover image courtesy of Jill Schoenberg Girma
Bottom Line: Kids with low self-esteem are quick to assume that everybody feels as negative about them as they do. Journal Buddies offers an upbeat way to counter that impression, by giving important people in your child's life a chance to list all the great things they see in her. Meanwhile, she gets to practice being positive and supportive of others, and thoughtful about her own experiences.
Judy's World
Cover image courtesy of Judy Blake
Bottom Line: Most parents of kids with special needs have probably had somebody tell them, "You should write a book! You have so many stories." Unlike most of us, Judy Blake went ahead and did write up her experiences raising two boys with autism (and OCD, anxiety, and ADHD), with the intention of giving those who may know little about invisible disabilities a glimpse of what her family's life is like.
Kids in the Syndrome Mix
Cover image courtesy of Jill Schoenberg Girma
Bottom Line: 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.
The Kitchen Classroom
Cover image courtesy of Woodbine House
By Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer; 131 pages. Subtitle: 32 Visual GFCF Recipes to Boost Developmental Skills
Bottom Line: If you're like me, you love the idea of cooking with your kids but tend to take over when you can't think of anything low-risk for them to do. The Kitchen Classroom will change that, as Kaplan-Mayer spells out exactly what you can have your child do at every step. The gluten-free angle is nice if that's an issue for your child, but if it's not, you'll still love the terrific work-together techniques described, and many of the recipes require no specialized ingredients.
Last Child in the Woods
Cover image courtesy of Algonquin Books
Bottom Line: Calling something a "disorder" is a trendy way to call attention to it, and author Louv isn't really making much of an argument for, say, putting lack of time in the woods in the DSMV. But he does have a lot of thoughtful things to say about the decline in outdoor play, the reasons for it, and why those reasons are wrong. Whether that's going to be compelling to you probably depends on your own feelings about the outdoors, and the degree to which it's practical to expand your individual child's exposure.
Late, Lost, and Unprepared
Cover image courtesy of Woodbine House
By Joyce Cooper-Kahn, PhD, and Laurie Dietzel, PhD; 217 pages. Subtitle: A Parent's Guide to Helping Children With Executive Functioning
Bottom Line: Executive functioning is a often overlooked problem for kids with neurological and learning disabilities, and it's about time someone gave it this kind of attention. If your child just can't seem to get going or get organized, he may need to be taught those skills just as carefully as you'd teach reading and writing and math. This friendly guide will help you understand and make a difference.
The Learning Tree
Image courtesy of Da Capo
By Stanley I. Greenspan, MD, and Nancy Thorndike Greenspan, with Richard Lodish, EdD; 276 pages. Subtitle: Overcoming Learning Disabilities from the Ground Up
Bottom Line: Parents of children with learning problems are always on the lookout for ways to help, and often those ways involve money and tutors and appointments and situations in which parents feel inadequate to help. The great thing about the Floortime approach presented in The Learning Tree is that it's parent-powered and fosters emotional engagement between parent and child, here in the service of strengthening the skills needed to make learning easier. It's an approach worth considering and trying out.
A Life in Balance
Photo courtesy of Learning Breakthrough
By Frank Belgau as told to Eric Belgau; 200 pages. Subtitle: Discovery of a Learning Breakthrough.
Bottom Line: "Learning Breakthrough" is a program that uses a balance board, pendulum, bean bags, and other therapy items to train kids' brains and make learning easier. Frank Belgau, who developed the program, tells of his experiences in the classroom and in academia as he worked with children to find the techniques that would turn the lights on for them. It's an engaging tale, maybe even enough to make you want to seek the program out and buy a kit at the end.
Little People: Learning to See the World Through My Daughter's Eyes
Cover image courtesy of Dan Kennedy
Bottom Line: For readers who like popular science and history books, Little People strikes a nice balance between a good nonfiction read and a book on special-needs parenting.
Living Sensationally
Cover image courtesy of Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Bottom Line: Living Sensationally is not a parenting book, but it leads readers through a process that's important for parents of children with sensory proccessing challenges: realizing how their own sensory profiles may affect the way they react to their children's behaviors and needs. In your own way, you, too, may be a sensor or an avoider, a bystander or a seeker. If that conflicts with your child's sensory challenges, you're the one who will have to work hardest to learn to live with it, and this book has lots of good suggestions.
