The Child With Special Needs: Encouraging Intellectual and Emotional Growth

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Summary: Hands down the book to improve your child dramatically
Review: This is the one book to get if you have a child with special needs. I cannot state enough how wonderful this book is in helping your child grow and develop above and beyond their current level, not just incrementally, but in leaps and bounds! I have a daughter with autism and first I tried the Behavioral books, such as "Behavioral Intervention for Young Children with Autism" along with all the other books based on the Lovaas Method and the Behavioral Model of teaching which is shaping behavior step-by-step using reinforcers (just how Pavlov got a dog to ring a bell for food or how, in my Psychology class, I got a pigeon to peck a red dot for food) I tried the Lovaas method for one year, also called ABA or Applied Behavioral Analysis, and my child did not progress in her development. She was also enrolled in an Early Start class and was getting speech therapy. Finally I bought Dr. Greenspan's book when my daughter turned 3, one year after her diagnosis. I only wish I found this book earlier! This is based on the Developmental approach to learning. It is full of hope, not false hope like dietary cures, but real hope based on real methods that are simple to learn, make a lot of sense and are based on how children actually learn. It really makes perfect sense when you read it: Play with your child, keep an interaction going, keep them actively engaged, block them from self-stimulating or hiding into their own world, keep them interacting with you. This is a lot of work, but it is natural and rewarding and you can do it yourself without training. You do not have to do this all day long. Dr. Greenspan recommends several 30-minute sessions of "Floortime" each day. Do not believe the bad reviews on this book that say something like, "If your child flaps their arms, flap with them." I kept away from this book for one year based on such reviews, but that is not how it is at all! This book is empowering and enlightening. Dr. Greenspan's entire premise is based on this: Although your child is disabled, they can learn and grow way beyond any level you could imagine for them or any teacher could vision for them, by having high expectations and not limiting them based on their label. Yes it is work, but with a little effort on your part, your child can really improve and learn self-help skills to become an independent adult. That is the goal for all children with special needs and it's not easy to get them there, but for most all children it is doable with work, time and attention and high expectations that it can and will happen! Dr. Greenspan does not throw out the Behavioral approach of Lovaas at all- he even states that for some children both approaches are necessary to learning, he has an entire chapter on this. Each child is unique and each child needs an approach tailored to what works best for that child. For my daughter, Greenspan's approach really works and after using this method for several months, she is now enrolled in an integrated Preschool with mostly typically developed children- Something she never could have achieved without the Greenspan approach!

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Summary: Thank you Dr. Greenspan for saving my child
Review: When my wife and I first felt that our daughter had serious developmental issues, we panicked. My daughter was 3 at that time and was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified(PDD NOS). Days later a librarian helped me choose this book. I read the book, re read it many times and applied it to interact with my daughter.
After nearly two years of applying the principles and techniques discussed in this book, we turned our daughter around a full 180 degrees.
She is now very intentional, joyful, creative, spontaneous, logical, friendly and natural. What were some of her major issues are now her strengths. She still has a few minor issues and they are being addressed.
Our main intervention has been Dr. Greenspan's Floortime model. Most of the caregivers and professionals of my daughter were educated in the Floortime principles.
This book must be considered a great tool for providing intervention to special needs kids both at home and in the classroom. This intervention is very demanding of a parent's time and mind but worth every bit of it. We had a great psychologist that helped us apply the intervention.
Contrary to what another reviewer said, this intervention is not easy. You need a lot of patience, determination, mental energy to understand your child and apply the intervention for her individual needs.
Stanley Greenspan and Serena Weider created a masterpiece. This is a must read for anyone with a special needs child.