Pull up a blanket and a cup of tea and settle into these helpful books...
Katherine
Inspirational
You Will Dream New Dreams: Inspiring Personal Stories by Parents of Children With Disabilities, Stanley Klein and Kim Schive. This touching and empowering book is one that I will likely re-read many times through the years. The short essay format of this book makes it easy to pick up when you have just 10 or 15 minutes to spare (otherwise known as being a mom or dad....).
Therapy
Gross Motor Skills in Children With Down Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals (Topics in Down Syndrome) by Patricia C. Winders. Also in this series: Fine Motor Skills in Children with Down Syndrome by Maryanne Bruni and Communication Skills in Children with Down Syndrome by Libby Kumin Ph.D. CCC-SLP. While this series is labeled for children with Down Syndrome it is a wonderful starting point for early intervention activities to discuss with your therapists and implement at home.
The Out -of-Sync Child by Carol Stock Kranowitz, M.A.. Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID) has come to the forefront of discussions regarding child development over the past few years. This book is a good place to start to get the basic terms and concepts involved with SID defined.
The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun by Carol Stock Kranowitz, M.A. A collection of fun activities aimed at strengthening the sensory system.
Yoga for the Special Child by Sonya Sumar et al. The stretches and exercises laid out for the young infant were wonderful for our son's circulation before he was active. Later we have enjoyed learning new yoga positions and stretches together. This book gives illustrations and precautions in a very user friendly format.
The New Language of Toys: Teaching Communication Skills to Children with Special Needs: A Guide for parents and Teachers by Sue Schwartz. Full of ideas on how to go the extra mile to incorporate speech into everyday toys, this book is a great companion to your floor time play activities.
Behavior
The Explosive Child by Ross W Greene, Ph.D. I don't like the title of this book because it intimidated me as the parent of a young child who would not be called 'explosive'. Move past the title because this is a very good book for any parent of an inflexible child (otherwise known as toddlers and preschoolers!) I have mentioned this book to friends whose children have no special needs and they have raved about the helpful tips they were able to glean from it. While much of the book is illustrated by examples of school aged children there are many points that parents of younger children can relate to and use.
Learning
Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All In
Your Head by Carla Hannaford,
Ph.D.. This book explores the links between movement and learning. At times it
can be a bit thick with scientific explanations of the brain but if you are
interested in the books on learning styles and working with children who learn
differently, this book provides another piece of the puzzle. One chapter of this
book briefly outlines the Brain Gym program.
Brain
Gym Teachers Edition by Paul
Dennison, Ph.D. I've now come across the Brain Gym program in a Kindergarten
classroom, a home school group and several seminars aimed at working with
children labeled learning disabled. It is an interesting program based in the
theory that cross lateral movements are important for brain development. Where
Smart Moves delves into the theory behind movement and learning, this book is
more about the actual exercises themselves.
A Mind At A Time
by Mel Levine, M.D. Doctor Levine is an expert on learning styles in children.
Understanding learning styles can help parents and teachers to really unlock a
child's potential. This book can wait until you have a good grasp on
understanding PWS and the Early Intervention process but, in my opinion, reading
a book like this before entering the school system can really help a child who
may be labeled as 'learning disabled'. Learning differently is not a disability
and this book can provide the starting tools for learning success.
Songames
For Sensory Integration CD by
Aubrey Lande: This collection of songs is specifically aimed at facilitating
activities that target sensory system development. Accompanying book provides
activity suggestions for each song to maximize sensory play experience. Great
fun, developmentally appropriate play and exercise whether your child has
sensory difficulties or not. A few songs do pertain to food.
Nutrition
Bowes and Church’s Food Values of Portions Commonly Used by Jean A. T. Pennington: This book outlines thousands of fruits, veggies, meats, dairy products, grains, drinks and processed foods according to their calorie, fat, sugar, vitamin, mineral content and more.
The
LCP Solution: The Remarkable Nutritional Treatment for ADHA, Dyslexia and
Dyspraxia by
B. Jacqueline Stordy, Ph.D. et al. A good introduction to the role and benefits
of essential fatty acids (EFA's).
Bunny's Noisy Book by Margaret Wise Brown. Little Bunny goes about his day hearing all sorts of interesting noises. Periodic question like "And what kind of noise was that" encourage our little listeners to vocalize.
The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins. Dandelions and bubbles make fun blowing games during the day but at bedtime this book will give you another opportunity to practice! Blow along as balloons, hats and many other things get swept up in a big wind.
Love and Kisses by Sarah Wilson. Pucker practice is wonderful for strengthening those oral motor muscles. Watch how far a kiss can travel in this silly book and play along.
Mice Squeak, We Speak by Tomie dePaola. Very simple text and pictures of various animals gives ample opportunity for animal sound play. I especially picked this book out of the myriad of 'animal sound' books out there because it combines typical animal sounds like roaring and mooing with the more complex chatters, howls and screeches.
We're Going On A Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. This classic is just plain fun for toddlers and preschoolers....but those pages of sounds like "Swishy Swashy" and "Squelch Squerch" are great for sound play. In M. Rosen's version, many of the story pages are in black and white while the sound pages are in color. This really makes the sound pages stand out as a place to linger and play on.
Further Recommendations at Speech Express.
***Children's
books with gentle messages
about loving who you are***
Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae. Gerald is a lovable giraffe whose not exactly graceful. At the big dance contest he's called clumsy and weird. Thanks to a little cricket who reminds Gerald that "Sometimes when you're different you just need a different song," Gerald finds his own groove.
The Caterpillar That Roared by Michael Lawrence. A little caterpillar spends his days wishing that he were a lion instead. One day his is mistaken for a lion and frightens a friend away. Not liking that outcome one bit, our little caterpillar realizes it's better to just be himself.
Pigs Can't Fly by Ben Cort. Another story about being happy with who you are. Our pig goes to great lengths (stilts, paints, wings) to be other animals but after landing in mess after mess he decides it is better to just be himself!
Hooway For Wodney Wat by Helen Lester. Wodney Wat, has a speech impediment and he gets teased in school for it. One day a bully comes to school and Rodney's speech impediment is just the tool to teach that bully a lesson. This silly book aimed at a child who can follow a bit of a story line, turns a speech impediment into a silly but empowering tool to rid the school of a bully.