Taming the Dragons: Real Help for Real School Problems

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Summary: A must-read for anyone involved in educating an ADD child.
Review: Knowledge is a lot like fertilizer; it is only useful when it is spread around, helping young things to grow. With her book "Taming the Dragons", author Susan Setley has turned her twenty years of teaching children with ADD and other special needs into a fountain of information for the professional educators and the parents responsible for the education of children who have attention problems. Too frequently, these children are the "square pegs" who cannot fit into the "round hole" of the conventional classroom. As a result of their disorder and their frequent inability to benefit fully from more traditional educational methods, children with ADD often develop academic deficiences unrelated to their intelligence or innate potential. Rather than labeling these children as "problems" to be corrected, author Setley offers specific techniques to enable children who suffer from ADD to succeed academically. Her methods of adjusting teaching and class room environment to foster student achievement are useful not only for the 3- 5% of American children who have ADD but could be beneficial to any child who has difficulty in an academic environment. As someone who tutors adults in basic skills, I have to wonder how different my students' lives would have been if they'd had a Susan Setley for a teacher when they were young

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Summary: This book helped my son and myself end the frustration.
Review: Taming the Dragons : Real Help for Real School Problems : The author explains the terms that we had heard many times and didn't have a true understanding of what they meant. The "Tips and Tricks" on each academic subject is easy to use. I find myself pulling out the book and looking at the "icons" that apply to my child with in a matter of a few moments my child has a way to approach the problem that he is able to comprehend. I have given this book to friends who have children that don't have a learning disorder. They find it to be a useful tool in helping their child with the struggle of challenging homework. If there was to be a "handbook" for parents and teachers to come to common ground this would be the book

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Summary: Full of great techniques that have worked for us!
Review: This book, great at explaining learning disabilities and Attention Deficit Disorder, was one of the most useful I've read. The language is easy to understand, and full of wonderfully simple, concrete examples and tips. I was able to take specific ideas and put them to use immediately! Ms. Setley's tip on using index cards for writing assignments has made a big difference not only in my son's compositions, but has helped reduce his frustration level when faced with the task. We've also used this method when studying for spelling and social studies tests. I would highly recommend this book to any parent or teacher working with a child with learning difficulties. Wish I'd had it a couple of years ago!