Breakthrough Parenting for Children with Special Needs: Raising the Bar of Expectations. Judy Winter, $17.99

Breakthrough Parenting for Children with Special Needs challenges families and professionals to help children with special needs to reach their full potential by using a proven motivational, how-to approach. This groundbreaking and inspiring book provides detailed information on how to let go of the “perfect-baby” dream, face and resolve grief, avoid the no-false-hope syndrome, access early intervention services, and avoid the use of limiting and outdated labels. Also included are specific guidelines for working with professionals, understanding the law and inclusion and planning for the future.

Finnie’s Handling the Young Child with Cerebral Palsy at Home, 4th Edition. Edited by Eva Bower, $70.95

The 4th edition of Finnie s Handling the Young Child with Cerebral Palsy at Home aims to help parents assist their child with cerebral palsy (CP) towards achieving the most comfortable independence in all activities. The book is also intended to help professionals and other carers new to this field understand, support and encourage young children with CP and their families.

The emphasis of this new edition remains a holistic approach to the child's needs - seeing the difficulties in relation to the overall development of the child as a unique person from childhood to adulthood.

The Four Walls of My Freedom. Donna Thomson, $18.95

This is a riveting and redemptive family memoir. Donna Thomson's vivid descriptions of her own experience in treading delicately through daily care, medical emergencies and the medical bureaucracy as she and her family cope with her son Nicholas' cerebral palsy is both inspirational and instructive. 

Donna Thomson's own experience with adversity takes on new meaning when viewed through the lens of Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen and other philosophers' roadmaps of how to realize a good life against all odds. This lens includes not only people with disability, but also the enormous generation of post-WWII Baby Boomers who are beginning to sense the health care crisis that is looming as they deal with their own aging and increasingly infirm parents. 

Donna Thomson's brilliantly written family memoir provides a strong, original message that touches on the lives of anyone caring for the needs of another.

Lucky Lou Gets Game. Sarah Yates, $25.00 (novel, 12 & up)

Lou is funny and she has attitude. Lou is a teenager with cerebral palsy. Her cousin Sam has never understood why she can’t play baseball, as he does. He doesn’t take her disability as an excuse. When Sam and his friends coach Lou and her motley crew, the baseball game has unexpected results. Lou gets the boy who was never in her dreams and learns to speak up for herself.

Mitchell’s Story: Living with Cerebral Palsy. Jeff Parkin & Lynda Thompson, $20.50

This is the story of one family’s struggle to give their son as normal a life as possible — and the rewards they found along the way.

Out of My Mind. Sharon Draper, $7.99

Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school — but no one knows it. Most people — her teachers and doctors included — don't think she's capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows...but she can't, because Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write.

Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind — that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice...but not everyone around her is ready to hear it.

Pocket Guide to Children with Special Health Care and Nutritional Needs. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Edited Jacque DeVore & Andrea Shotton, $35.50

This easy-to-use guide for practitioners provides information on the nutritional needs of children with conditions such as Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, and gastrointestinal orders. Topics include:

• The role of growth in determining important nutrition interventions
• Nutrition assessment methods and tools
• Feeding problems and menu modifications
• Consideration for non-oral enteral feeding and limited oral feeding
• Community services

Case studies, a glossary, and resources for additional information make this a comprehensive guide that you will refer to often.

Taking Cerebral Palsy To School. Mary Elizabeth Anderson, $14.95

School friends learn about cerebral palsy. Ages 5-9.

Written by an experienced physical therapist who is also the mother of a child with cerebral palsy, this comprehensive guide examines the physical characteristics of cerebral palsy and similar conditions - muscle tightness and weakness, increased or decreased flexibility, abnormal reflexes, impaired sensory perception - that affect a child's ability to sit, crawl, stand, and walk. Teaching Motor Skills offers dozen of easy-to-follow exercises with accompanying photos that parents may incorporate into many daily routines at home with the guidance and support of their child's physical therapist. This user-friendly guide helps parents and professionals coordinate their efforts to achieve the best possible outcome for the child.

Understanding Cerebral Palsy: a Guide for Parents and Professionals. Marion Stanton, $22.95

An invaluable starting point for anyone encountering cerebral palsy for the first time, this book provides essential background information on causes, types and symptoms, as well as vital advice about the treatments, therapies and sources of support available. Practical tips on everyday considerations such as communication, diet and education will help parents achieve the best quality of life for their child. A final chapter explores options after compulsory education and how best to support a young person making the transition to independent adulthood.

Using personal experience and case studies as sources of inspiration, as well as a comprehensive list of resources to signpost readers to further information, this positive handbook will help parents and professionals more fully understand cerebral palsy and the different options available to people with the condition.

Yago’s Heartbeat. Conchita Miranda, illustrated by Monica Carretero, $17.95

Can you dance in a wheelchair? Can you sing without being able to speak? Can you tell stories just with your eyes?

Yago’s Heartbeat is a story for everyone about differences, communication without words and unconditional love.

Yoga Therapy for Every Special Child: Meeting Needs in a Natural Setting. Nancy Williams, Illustrated by Leslie White, $22.95

Yoga therapy is gaining rapid recognition as a form of treatment that can improve the physical and mental wellbeing of children with a variety of complex needs. This book contains a specially-designed yoga program for use with children of all abilities, and provides both parents and professionals with the knowledge they need to carry out the therapy themselves.

The program consists of a series of postures, each of which is explained and accompanied by an illustration. The postures are designed to help children understand and use their bodies, and work towards positive changes such as realigning the spine, encouraging eye-contact, and promoting calm and steady breathing. Consideration is given to creating the right setting for carrying out the therapy, assessing an individual child's particular needs, and making the sessions fun using games and props. Sections on yoga therapy for specific conditions such as autistic spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, and cerebral palsy are included, and the book concludes with child and parent reports on how the program has worked for them, and a list of useful contacts and resources.

This practical book is a must for parents, teachers, therapists and other professionals, and anybody else who wants to help a child to develop through enjoyable and therapeutic yoga sessions.