Written by Barbara J. Newman This book gives teachers practical tips for helping students welcome kids who have disabilities into their classes at church or at school. Children with special needs are part of God's family. This book gives you practical tips for helping students welcome kids who have disabilities into their classes at church or at school. Chapters address specific conditions such as autism, visual and hearing impairments, emotional impairments, learning disabilities, language disorders, AD/HD, and much more. Also included are guidelines for churches, sample lesson plans, and devotions for families. Publisher: CRC Pubns (June 1, 2001) Also by Newman:

Autism and Your Church

More at Friendship Ministries Website: http://www.friendship.org.

Children's Book written by Daryl Green This engaging story opens up the difficult theme of being different in ways that are easily related to by both children and adults - a great vehicle to open up sharing about a topic that is often avoided, and needs to be discussed with sensitivity. Loretta Gula, Reviewer Densmore Reid Publications 67 South 24th Street, Richmond, IN 47374, 2003 Contact the UCC pastor at ddgreenes@hotmail.com or 765-939-2984. This engaging story opens up the difficult theme of being different in ways that are easily related to by both children and adults - a great vehicle to open up sharing about a topic that is often avoided, and needs to be discussed with sensitivity. Loretta Gula, Reviewer The web site also has the text of this book.

Twelve easy-to-read Turtle Books provide a non-threatening, storytelling bridge of understanding with friends and siblings of children with physical and mental disabilities. Jason & Nordic Publishers PO Box 441 Hollidaysburg PA 16648 814-696-2920 See curriculum resources at www.jasonandnordic.com.

Patricia McMahon, text, and John Godt, photography Homesdale, PA: Caroline House of Boyds Mills Press, Inc., 1995 This is David's story as he goes to kindergarten in a local public school.

Written by Gina and Mercer Mayer Racine, Wisconsin: Golden Books Publishing Co., Inc., 1992 One of a serieis of books about disabilities attitudes

Written by Lorraine Aseltine and others Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman & Co., 1986 A frustrated deaf boy who feels alone, afraid, mad, and sad until Brian, 17 and wearing hearing aids, visits his classroom. - Vera Losh, Reviewer

Tricia Brown, text, and Fran Ortiz, photography New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1982 If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this book tells volumes about special children. - Vera Losh, Reviewer

Paul has adjusted to artificial limbs. Written by Bernard Wolf Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1974 Spanish edition: No sientan lástima por Paul, trans. Ximena Lois (Philadelphia: Libros Lippincott en Espanõl, 1977).

Written by Patricia MacLachlan New York: HarperCollins, 1999 A wonderful story of a little boy who pays attention to the perspective of his grandfather, who is blind, and learns that the world is much more than that which can be seen with the eyes.

Robert Perske's mystery (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1990), unfolds a story about how caring is born, giving life to all individuals rather than thinking about them as a group. Perske reveals in the lives of two teens living with severe cerebral palsy "the countenance of two people committed to being the very best people they can be." Interspersed throughout is a wealth of wisdom: "The best networkers seem to be incurable optimists. . . . A true network springs from the heart"; "One should never hold back the good music that is in people," says Perske. Otherwise they will live and die with the best talents unrecognized; and "People who don't know them will tend to see them as weaker and less than they are. At other times they are perceived as super persons with special insights and powers. Both views are unfair." Vera Losh, reviewer From UCC DM Newsletter Archive

Written by Rosalynn Carter & Susan Golant Times Books.
This book is useful for clergy, families, social workers, doctors, and consumers. The book covers descriptions of different mental illnesses and gives step-by-step suggestions on what to do after a diagnosis: seeking the best treatment, evaluating health care providers, managing the workplace, financial and legal matters, and more. Additionally, how to cope with the impact on the family, as web as connecting with the right support are discussed. Included is an excellent 20 page list of references. Cloth-348 pp. From UCC DM Newsletter Archive, Book Beat

Opening the Church to All God's Children Written by Brett Webb-Mitchell About the dance of relationship between those our society has labeled "disabled" and "non-disabled." Many in the church recognize the need for more education, information, and building changes and much has been accomplished through more accessible programs and worship experiences. This sense of mission, openness, and willingness are not as welcoming for those who are autistic, mentally retarded, seizure disordered, mentally ill, cerebral palsied, dyslexic, or who suffer from other communication disorders. Brett Webb-Mitchell says the church "adopts strategies and approaches framed by the [secular] world but not necessarily by the Gospel of God." We ignore discussion of mind, body, and spirit, let alone God. He challenges us to welcome all children of God into our lives because Jesus told us to do so. Those with disabilities often best teach us the ways of the body of Christ that will lead us to the reign of God. This book challenges the church biblically, theologically, and practically to "dance with disabilities." Reviewed by Robert L. Loffer Cleveland: United Church Press, 1997 From UCC DM Newsletter Archive, Book Beat