Rating: 
Summary: Mainstreaming
Review: About the content:
Very insightful, honest report on how the author has experienced her life... with her son... and the forces that played a part in her, and her son's, life.
I'm very much like Blaze in the sense that I was "different" and very much aware of that fact - although I hadn't figured out what exactly was so different from me and the majorty of the people.
I had learned myself to swim within 10 minutes, for example, because swimming was required in school; I had someone demonstrate it to me and I would then try it myself. I remember telling the swimteacher that I could already swim, and if I could get tested and then get the certificate so I wouldn't have to come to swim class anymore. Well, I had to swim with clothes on... if I put on my clothes and swim with my clothes on, will I get the certificate. Well no, of course, but that was how everything was in school for me. I would study the math book and be done in three weeks... and I still had a whole schoolyear to go.
Fortunately I able to learn really fast if shown to me properly several times. The same thing with learning to write, calculate, ...
I was "different" but since I could do everything that was required in class I was saved the treatment Blaze went through.
Like Blaze, at a very young age, I was very much aware of my environment. I became an expert at analyzing people's behavior - that's how I got through school: I pretty much knew what was expected of me by analyzing and I did it. But like Blaze, I kept my talents hidden. I have a gift for seeing the essence of anything relatively soon... one time I "simplified" a chemistry formula used to determine what a substance consists of when two different substances are mixed. That didn't go over very well...I enjoyed this book very much because the author, very authentically, describes the way she experienced her life with her son Blaze... and also how Blaze experienced it. I enjoyed it because of the authenticy, the clear and conscious perception of the events that took place, and because I recognize a lot of the things in my own life. "Mainstreaming" is supposed to be the goal of the schoolstaff... but, like the author said, Blaze was taken out of the mainstream and therefore was unable to learn how to deal with the mainstream. My "rescue" was that I was never received "special" treatment and was able to find my way in the mainstream by being part of it... I would analyze how people interacted, what was expected... and also came to realize that people who are different are seen as a threat to the nice structured mainstream world, in which most people live in great denial of who they are... Someone who is different makes those people aware of aspects of themselves they'd rather not recognize and therefore they try to "convert" someone different into someone not different. Different people have a tendency to confront people with some other facts...
I'm reminded of the saying: "I've already made up my mind - don't bother me with the facts." I like the book because it objectively makes this clear. The amount of guilt that was attempted to be put on the author because she only saw her son as special and not wrong, the way it impacted her life and her son's - the impact is something that becomes very clear in this book and, because the author stays objective (although possibly not perceived by some), it's hard to take it as offensive (because it isn't)... it allows some greater awareness... "Understanding starts with AWARENESS" as I like to say. This book can make people a little more consciously aware of who they are, who others are, why we are...
Rating: 
Summary: a different direction
Review: After reading "Waiting", Deborah Ginsburg's memoir of her life as a waitress I expected "Raising Blaze" to be a light hearted, funny little book. It's not. Blaze is the author's son, he's the sweet baby she had at the end of "Waiting". Blaze is different and his teachers and school psychologists have called him everything from retarded to autistic to having attention deficit disorder. This book is about Ginsburg's fight to save her son from being labeled and stuck away in special ed classes. The book is about love, Ginsburg's family is still in her corner and it's about hope, there is still no telling what Blaze will be like when he grows up. The book is emotional, it's upsetting and several points I wanted to yell at the teachers and at Ginsburg herself. I wish Ms. Ginsburg and her special son the best and I look forward to her next book.
Rating:
Summary: Teaching "Blaze" in an Extraordinary World
Review: As a teacher in a public school, I feel "Raising Blaze", is a must read for new teachers as well as any teacher who believes in life long learning. This book allowed me to reflect on my profession and on myself as a teacher. Seeing through the eyes and emotions of a parent who is struggling to come to terms with a "different" child is powerful. More powerful though is seeing through the eyes of the different child while he tries to learn his way through the maze of educational "red tape" while trying to maintain a sense of self worth. This book is a must read if you care about changing the lives of children and students. What we do and say in the classroom room can have both negative and positive ramifications for years to come. This book will remind you how powerful teachers are and how it is most important to never allow this power to be abused.
Rating:
Summary: Really great view into a quirky autism spectrum family
Review: Debra Ginsberg doesn't like labels, that may be the main theme of the book. I do like lables. I have one, I am autistic, I have another, I have Asperger's syndrome. I would say that Debra's son probably could get an AS diagnosis and may have one by now. So in spite of her view of labels, I think it's a good book to read if you have AS yourself or have a child with AS. The descriptions of good, bad, indifferent and truly hideous school district staff and teachers are great. I had forgotten about the power that teachers can have over families and the visciousness that they can dump onto parents and kids. That all came back to me in reading this book. It's post traumatic IEP syndrome. (yes, some teachers are fabulous) I'm glad she gave such a detailed view of her extended family and I'm very glad that she and Blaze had them for support. I hope Blaze is doing well.
Rating:
Summary: Really great view into a quirky autism spectrum family
Review: Debra Ginsberg doesn't like labels, that may be the main theme of the book. I do like lables. I have one, I am autistic, I have another, I have Asperger's syndrome. I would say that Debra's son probably could get an AS diagnosis and may have one by now. So in spite of her view of labels, I think it's a good book to read if you have AS yourself or have a child with AS. The descriptions of good, bad, indifferent and truly hideous school district staff and teachers are great. I had forgotten about the power that teachers can have over families and the visciousness that they can dump onto parents and kids. That all came back to me in reading this book. It's post traumatic IEP syndrome. (yes, some teachers are fabulous) I'm glad she gave such a detailed view of her extended family and I'm very glad that she and Blaze had them for support. I hope Blaze is doing well.
Rating:
Summary: Raising Blaze Raises the Bar
Review: Debra Ginsberg has accomplished the near-impossible: she's written a book about one of the most difficult human experiences there is--raising a child who is troubled and troubling--and managed to make the reading experience not only uplifting but enlightening. Raising Blaze is disturbing, beautiful, poignant, and moving. It's also a call to action. We don't need to accept mistreatment of our children by a system that devalues them, as Ginsberg shows us so poetically. The best book I've read on the topic, and the best memoir to come along in a long time.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read for Teachers Workiing with Mainstreamed Students
Review: I am a retired elementary school teacher. I've had many mainstreamed children in my classes. Teachers should read this book. It gives the parent's point of view, what iep meetings seem like to her and how frustrating it is for the parent to be faced with a lot of experts who think they know more about her son than she does. That said, I imagine that having Blaze in a regular classroom situation with 24 or so other students would be very hard for the teacher and her students because he might interupt the learning of the other students.Disruptive behavior always takes something away from those students who are trying to do their work. Blaze did his best in the special education class during 5th. and 6th. grades. I'm sorry he wasn't placed with another teacher who understood him. This is an honest book. I didn't always agree with Blaze's mother, but she certainly tells it as she sees it. I must add that I wondered why she provided no playmates for Blaze until he entered his horrible year in Kindergarten. If you are a teacher this is a must read book.
Rating:
Summary: Let's value the Blaze's of this world
Review: I found this to be a riveting memoir of a mother's advocacy for her unique son. Sadly there are far too many parents in Debra Ginsberg's position. They are isolated in their attempts to find the best schooling situation for their children and have to follow the direction of the educational professionals who prefer to label and drug the children instead of working with them. To her credit she was able to develop wonderful relationships with many of the school officials and teachers and I think they all learned a lot from one another. This book is a fascinating chronicle of Blaze's early school experience. I hope she writes more about Blaze. Her earlier book, "Waiting" is fascinating reading also.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I have a baby with Down Syndrome and I found this book to be fabulous. Debra Ginsberg is definitely a gifted writer and I look forward to reading other books by her. Alas, the portrait she paints of the special education nightmare that awaits parents of children with disabilities is frightening. At least my eyes are open now. I wish her and Blaze all the best.
Rating: 
Summary: Good story - but little insight
Review: I read this book as part of a book club. I enjoyed this book. It was an easy, and fast read. I was very impressed by Debra Ginsberg's writing skill, especially considering this is just her second work. She is extremely talented at putting her thoughts and feelings into words. One of the first things that occurred to me, actually toward the end of the book, was that I didn't really feel like I *knew* Blaze. I definitely felt as if I knew Debra, and in fact a good portion of her family, but she gave very little description of what day-to-day life was like with Blaze. In fact, the only descriptions of Blaze's life were his school days, and even those only came second-hand, as they were recounted to Debra through his teachers and school staff. I really longed to read more about how he interacted with his mom when they were alone, and to read about random things such as trips to the grocery store, or to the pediatrician. Also, and this is not a criticism of the book, but I found myself wondering over and over again, if, even though Debra obviously had Blaze's best interests in mind, she and he would have been better off if she had ultimately decided to place Blaze in a "special" school early on. It seems to me that the constant struggles that both of them endured by Blaze's attempts to "fit in" and be "normal" in a regular classroom would have been detrimental to Blaze. He is obviously a very bright child, and I felt that he would have performed better in a learning environment with more individualized instruction. These thoughts made me wonder about Debra's motives - why was it so important to her that Blaze attend "regular" classes in a "regular" public school (other than the financial expense of a private school) rather than consider other options? It seemed obvious, after he was in the sixth grade, that he was not getting much out of his schooling, and the staff and other students were suffering as a result of the distraction. You may or may not agree with the choices Debra makes in raising her disabled son, but since she's written a book about it, you should at least be able to understand WHY she has made the choices she's made. I didn't get it. WHY was it SO important to Debra that Blaze be mainstreamed? He was clearly disruptive and distracting to other students, he was clearly not learning as much as he possibly could have in other environments ---- Debra's motives are just not explained. I believe that all children with disabilities should have the right and the opportunity to mainstream at school, and as a result into society. But at what cost? Do non-disabled children have a right to attend classes that are not regularly (daily!) disrupted? It's a difficult issue to decide. I just wish that Debra had explained her motives.
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