On Their Own: Creating an Independent Future for Your Adult Child with Learning Disabilities and Adhd: A Family Guide

by Anne Ford, John-Richard Thompson, Sally E. Shaywitz

Book Overview

An indispensable guide to the special challenges faced by parents of learning-disabled children as they enter adulthood, by the author of Laughing Allegra, a leading activist and parent of an adult child with LD. In 2003 Anne Ford (great-granddaughter of Henry Ford) published Laughing Allegra , about the struggles of raising her learning-disabled daughter, and received a flood of letters from parents of children with LD, ADD, and ADHD, many expressing...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1557047251
• ISBN13: 9781557047250
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Highly recommended read for LD parents

I can't say enough about how informative this book is for parents of LD kids who are just about to turn 18. A great source of info that is hard to find. Her other book, "Laughing Allegra", is also an incredible read for those with younger kids, especially those who live in New York.

The best

Such a crucial, scary time..."on their own." You wonder if it can ever happen successfully. Very knowledgeable, ungarnished yet helpful and hopeful.

Not just another self help book.

I was worried that I would be bored by all the language specific jargon so commonly used by professionals in books like these, but the insight and personal account of dealing with learning disabled adults kept me totally engrossed for the entire book. I wish more books about dealing with disabilities were written with such a human voice.

On Their Own by Anne Ford

This is the book every parent of an adult child with LD should read, especially in those times when you feel so hopeless and that no one truly knows what you are going through. As the parent of an adult son with learning disabilities I can honestly say that On Their Own has changed the way I think about my son and his future. Most of all it has given me hope that he has a future at all! The book helped us see the whole person with all their strengths and weaknesses. Nothing is sugar-coated here, and parents of adults with LD will find many points where'll they'll nod in agreement and realize that yes, after all someone truly does understand what we are going through. I absolutely loved Anne Ford's previous book Laughing Allegra. In that book, I felt she spoke to me personally as we followed her step by step while raising a child with LD. On Their Own continues the story, but it is a much more hands-on approach and with a great deal of practical information. Even so, I found it as readable as Laughing Allegra, with many insights and anecdotes that separate it from so many other dry academic books in this field. Parents of adult children with any disability will benefit greatly from On Their Own