The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal

Approaching literacy development as a complex process that unfolds over time, this book gives educators the guidance they need to help students continuously advance and deepen their reading skills — not just in the early grades, but into the upper grades as well. All the suggested ideas and approaches are evidence-based or identified as best practices in reading, so educators can use them with confidence in their classrooms. Equally effective as a text for preservice educators, a manual for in-service teachers, and a resource for administrators wrestling with different approaches to reading instruction, this in-depth, accessible book will lead to sharper skills and better outcomes for a wide range of struggling learners.

This book is designed to help recreation leaders better understand individuals with learning disabilities in order that they may better implement quality leisure experiences. The book describes in detail characteristics of various learning disabilities; the instruments used to diagnose learning disabilities; self-awareness of a learning disabled in regard to learning, living, and leisure; the benefits of leisure to a learning disabled individual; and possible modifications needed in the delivery of recreation and leisure services to these individuals. Packed with helpful appendices and suggestions, it sheds new light on helping create quality leisure experiences for all individuals.

This is a unique handbook that teaches parents how to work with schools to achieve optimal learning situations and accommodations for their child’s needs. From IEPs and 504 Plans, to IDEA and NCLB, navigating today’s school system can be difficult for even the most up-to-date, education savvy parent. Special needs advocates Rich Weinfeld and Michelle Davis provide parents and professional advocates with concise, easy-to-understand definitions and descriptions of legal terms and school regulations, along with checklists, tips, questionnaires, and other tools.

Parents, educators and general-interest readers will relish a fine book which surveys how language develops in kids. Why isn’t language developing for so many? This explores links between reading, writing, listening and speaking, revealing how these are learned and what happens in the process breaks down at various stages.

Ever since first grade, Ben’s been in trouble, even though he’s really not a bad kid. He just can’t seem to stop doing things that get him sent to the principal’s office. His parents and wise older sister, Meg, swear he’ll be fine in his own time, but when a new kid shows up in Ben’s fifth-grade class, he’s not so sure. Trout sticks to him like glue, and it’s clear from the start that Trout is a much bigger troublemaker than Ben ever was. So when Ben gets diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), just like Trout, and then has to take Ritalin, just like Trout, he’s not sure what to make of his friendship — especially when he starts to get a bad reputation. Is Trout’s badness rubbing off on him? Can Ben make people understand it’s the ADD, not Trout, causing the problems before it’s too late?

On the first day of fourth grade, Hank’s teacher assigns a five-paragraph essay, “What I did on my summer vacation,” and he knows he’s in trouble. It has always been difficult for him to read, write, and spell so he decides to “build” his assignment instead — to “bring Niagara Falls into the classroom, water and all.”