children with disabilities

On May 13, 2008 Isabella Maria was born, the eighth child of Rick and Karen Santorum. While the family rejoiced, they were also saddened. Isabella was born with a rare genetic condition called Trisomy 18, or Edward's Syndrome. She had an extra eighteenth chromosome in every cell in her body, making a genetic code doctors call "incompatible with life". Only ten percent of children born with this condition are born alive, and ninety percent do not make it to their first birthday. The Santorums refused to accept this fact, and made plans for Isabella's life with her family. During the next seven years, the Santorum family adjusted to life with a special-needs child and watched her transform their lives. Bella was a joy to live with and she became an inspiration to everyone around her.

Born with cerebral palsy, Amy can't walk without a walker, talk without a voice box, or even fully control her facial expressions. Plagued by obsessive-compulsive disorder, Matthew is consumed with repeated thoughts, neurotic rituals, and crippling fear. Both in desperate need of someone to help them reach out to the world, Amy and Matthew are more alike than either ever realized. When Amy decides to hire student aides to help her in her senior year at Coral Hills High School, these two teens are thrust into each other's lives. As they begin to spend time with each other, what started as a blossoming friendship eventually grows into something neither expected.

Relates the experiences of Tuyet, an orphan from Vietnam who was adpoted by a Canadian family, as she underwent operations to correct damage done to one of her legs from polio and struggled with memories of the Vietnam War.

A mother describes the difficult task of coping with a handicapped child as their family moved from grief to acceptance.

Discusses a number of issues that family members face when living with someone who is deaf or hard of hearing.

In the spring of 2002, acclaimed filmmaker Joe Berlinger traveled to Vienna to witness the burial of the preserved brains of over 700 handicapped children. The victims had been murdered in a "euthanasia" clinic as part of the Nazi eugenics program that many consider the opening act of the Holocaust.

Weaves her personal experience with useful advice for parents, service providers, and siblings themselves.

Step-by-step guidance on the most effective approaches to the pyschological and educational assessment of children. Assessment of perceptual-motor skills, social skills, autistic disorders, and mental retardation.

For families and caregivers of preterm and handicapped children in their first three years, here are more than 100 tips on adjusting and coping, nursing, feeding, and dressing, social skills, games and activities, discipline, decision making, and much more.

Arnie, a young boy with sensory modulation difficulties, learns about the different tools and techniques he can use to help him keep his restless body calm so he can do his work at school and at home.