Ordinary Families, Special Children: A Systems Approach to Childhood Disability

by Milton Seligman and Rosalyn Benjamin Darling

Book Overview

This popular clinical reference and text provides a multisystems perspective on childhood disability and its effects on family life. The volume examines how child, family, ecological, and sociocultural variables intertwine to shape the ways families respond to disability, and how professionals can promote coping, adaptation, and empowerment. Accessible and engaging, the book integrates theory and research with vignettes and firsthand reflections from...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1606233173
• ISBN13: 9781606233177
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Guilford Publications
• Length: 434 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.7" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Special needs children, families: A Much neglected concept.

I have been in a graduate counseling program for three years and I am amazed that the topic of families w/exceptional children receives no consideration.This book fills a huge void in our field. The presence of a special needs child in a family has a huge impact on the (a)overall functioning of the system, and (b)the individuals, and the subsystems. These authors utilize a robust body of empirical research along w/good ole' fashioned wisdom and common sense from families, as well as their own to offer the practioner a guide for dealing with this population. In reading this book you'll have a sense of what a family, and its individual members go through when there is a child w/exceptional needs. A vastly under-explored, discussed topic brought alive by two very wise and caring professionals.