Building a Joyful Life with Your Child Who Has Special Needs

By Nancy J. Whiteman and Linda Roan-Yager

All parents want the best for their child, and for parents of children with special needs, this can mean that their own well-being is neglected. Drawing from their own experiences of parenting children with special needs, interviews and workshops with parents, and research findings, Nancy J. Whiteman and Linda Roan-Yager explore practical ways in which parents can develop a resilient and positive attitude towards caring for their child with special needs.

This book considers the challenges of caring for children with physical, developmental and mental health disorders and proposes methods such as learning to see events through your child's own eyes, celebrating their strengths and achievements and recognising how others can help your child. Chapters deal with key topics such as coping with a diagnosis, discussing support needs with a child's teachers and explaining a child's differences to their peers, and the authors stress the importance of parents building support systems for themselves and their children. Real stories from parents and example scenarios illustrate the common difficulties faced by parents of children with special needs, and the authors explain how painful thoughts may be identified and reframed through techniques grounded in cognitive behaviour therapy. Crucially, Building a Joyful Life warns against parents neglecting their own needs, and a range of exercises to be completed by parents will help them to find ways of regaining balance in their lives.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1843108410
• ISBN13: 9781843108412
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Helped me a lot

I've read quite a few books about special needs parenting, but this one is the perfect balance between positive messages & affirming the difficult feelings. After reading this book, I felt more at peace with my role in life. Not extatic, not depressed. Just a wonderful sense of calm. Both authors have daughters with special needs, & I think that makes the difference. I've dog-eared & underlined some great thoughts from this book that I know I'll be coming back to for a long, long time.

Immensely practical and Extremely Important

I just finished this book last night and it was excellent. The personal comments by the authors were both beautiful and insightful. I can only imagine how powerful they are in face-to-face workshops! This book touches on an area where parents don't get near the support they need....how to help themselves and their families move past a diagnosis and create the joyful life we all want for ourselves and our families. The authors start by describing their own deep need for this material and then go on to offer 200 pages of practical tips and exercises to help any parent create a more joyful life that fits their unique situation.

a book that really helped me

I am very glad I read this book. It has helped me become more self-aware, especially when I'm feeling worried or afraid. I love that it's written for and by parents. I kept reading the stories in it and feeling: I am among friends. I especially appreciate the book's technique of "reframing", which is a strategy for working with a range of thoughts and feelings. I realize that I have more control over my life than I thought I did. Most of this sense of change has been internal. But that affects everything else - my kids, our whole family, our school.

A book that fits all

This book is helpful for moms with any child, and especially for a mom with a child who has special needs. I love how the author talks about not finding a book that "fit" them. Thankyou for writing a book that fits all. I am doing a book club with another mom because of this awesome book.