Best books about adhd parenting
10 Parenting Books About ADHD and LD
Blond girl and mother reading book1 of 11
Happy, Healthy, and in Charge of ADHD
Parenting a child with ADHD or a learning disability can be overwhelming at times, but with the right tips, tricks, and insider knowledge, it doesn’t have to be. We’ve gathered together a list of the best ADHD parenting books for understanding and managing your child. With the right help, you can put your child on the path to being healthy, happy, and in charge of their ADHD or LD.
Taking Charge of ADHD book cover2 of 11
Taking Charge of ADHD
Children with ADHD don’t always respond to traditional discipline and parenting methods, and difficult symptoms can make whole families feel like they’re at the end of their rope. In this straightforward book — now in its third edition — Dr. Russell Barkley offers an 8-step plan for proven parenting. Inside, you’ll learn how to use positive attention, effective incentives, and calm consistency to manage ADHD symptoms — and reconnect with your child.
Buy Taking Charge of ADHD: The Complete, Authoritative Guide for Parents (#CommissionsEarned)
8 Keys to Parenting Children with ADHD book cover3 of 11
8 Keys to Parenting Children with ADHD
Understanding why our kids need to chew gum while practicing piano or squish a stress ball while working on homework makes a big difference in establishing realistic expectations, rewarding positive behavior, and advocating on our kids' behalf. Cindy Goldrich's 8 Keys to Parenting Children with ADHD focuses on developing and strengthening effective interpersonal skills in both parents and children as a way to improve conflict resolution, reduce chaos, and build self-esteem. It's an invaluable resource; after all, the more informed we are as parents, the more support and understanding our kids will receive!
Buy 8 Keys to Parenting Children with ADHD (#CommissionsEarned)
[Get This Free Download: The All-Time Best Books on ADHD]
The Misunderstood Child book cover4 of 11
The Misunderstood Child
Children with learning difficulties — like ADHD, dyslexia, or sensory processing disorder — struggle to explain what’s going on in their head, and why they feel “different” from their peers.
In The Misunderstood Child, Dr. Larry Silver starts to explain what these “atypical” children might be feeling — from the genetics of learning disabilities to the most recent neurological research behind his claims. Armed with this timely resource, parents can work to understand their child’s difficulties and become effective advocates for them, in school and in life.
Buy The Misunderstood Child (#CommissionsEarned)
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The Explosive Child
In Ross Greene's excellent book, The Explosive Child, he introduces a paradigm for understanding children with ADHD, sensory processing challenges, oppositional defiant disorder, and similar conditions: When children misbehave, it's often because the demands of the situation exceed what they are developmentally able to handle. To help these "inflexible" kids, Greene developed Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS), a parenting method in which parents and kids solve problems together.
The book is easy to follow and the system straightforward to implement; many parents who struggled with their child's defiance describe Greene's book as a "lifesaver," providing hope when they were at the end of their parenting rope.
Buy The Explosive Child (#CommissionsEarned)
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What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew
Rather than dictate strict discipline instructions for parents of children with ADHD, Dr. Sharon Saline’s affirming book focuses on becoming an empathetic communicator. She provides insights into the minds and feelings of children with ADHD, and offers guidance for interpreting kids’ verbal and behavioral communication. What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew promotes and powers parent-child collaboration designed to enhance cooperation, closeness, and productivity. Dr. Saline’s book provides a roadmap for reducing family stress and improving loving connections.
Buy What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew (#CommissionsEarned)
The Out-of-Sync Child book cover7 of 11
The Out-of-Sync Child
Sensory processing disorder (SPD) manifests in many small, sometimes maddening ways.
Itchy tags may be unbearable. Loud music intolerable. Perfume simply sickening. Whatever the symptoms, SPD makes it difficult to interact with your daily environment, which impacts how you relate to others, study and learn, participate in sports and group activities, and follow your dreams. In The Out-of-Sync Child, Carol Stock Kranowitz offers first-person accounts of life with SPD, outlines concrete strategies for teachers, parents, and children to implement together, and provides a unique perspective: that SPD might in fact be a gift.
Buy The Out-of-Sync Child (#CommissionsEarned)
[8 Perfect Books for Reluctant Readers (Even Yours!)]
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The Complete Guide to Special Education
This comprehensive resource outlines the IEP process step-by-step, from the initial testing to annual checkups. It includes valuable worksheets, checklists, and sample forms for parents or teachers to use, making the special education process easier for everyone involved and ensuring children get the best help possible.
The newly revised second edition includes up-to-date coverage on testing procedures, autism spectrum disorder, and more.
Buy The Complete Guide to Special Education (#CommissionsEarned)
Smart but Scattered Teens is a great book for parents of ADHD children to read9 of 11
Smart but Scattered Teens
Guare and Dawson, mental health experts who work with special-needs students, give step-by-step strategies to promote your teen’s independence by building executive skills: brain-based abilities needed to get organized, stay focused, and control impulses. The book’s plan — assessing a teen’s executive skills, using conflict-free tips to bolster them, and knowing when to fade your supervision before they rebel — is clear and motivational.
Buy Smart but Scattered Teens (#CommissionsEarned)
A New Understand of ADHD in Children and Adults is a great book for parents of children with ADHD.10 of 11
A New Understanding of ADHD in Children and Adults
Brown presents a new, broader definition of ADHD, which recognizes executive function impairments as the true underpinnings of the disorder, and demonstrates how this “new understanding” is more accurate than the symptoms-driven diagnostic criteria in the DSM-V.
Brown’s book is relevant for both adults with ADHD and parents of kids with ADHD. He busts myths about the condition, addresses new causes and treatments, and makes it easy for a layperson to understand new ADHD research.
Buy A New Understanding of ADHD in Children and Adults (#CommissionsEarned)
The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan is a great book for parents with ADHD and dyslexia children to read11 of 11
The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan
Author Ben Foss uses easy-to-apply analogies, his own life experiences with dyslexia, and many tools to help parents empower kids with dyslexia and other LDs to maximize their learning, feel confident, and become advocates for themselves. Foss challenges traditional beliefs about reading and learning. His paradigm may seem revolutionary, but most of his suggestions are just plain common sense.
Buy The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan (#CommissionsEarned)
Parenting Books about ADHD: Next Steps
- Read: Turn the Page — 10 Great Books About ADHD
- Download: The ADHD Library for Parents
- Discover: Introducing Easy to Love but Hard to Raise
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However, all products linked in the ADDitude Store have been independently selected by our editors and/or recommended by our readers. Prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication.
My Top 10 Books for Parents to Understand a Child with ADHD
One of the most common questions I get is: "One of my kids has ADHD. What books should I read to learn more?" Today, I pulled together my top 10 books on ADHD for parents.
1 My Top 10 Books for Parents to Understand a Child with ADHD
Some of these are highly targeted to ADHD kids. Some of them deal with ADHD in all ages, child through adult. Many of them deal with common co-occuring issues you may have noticed in your child, like sensory processing challenges, pathological demand avoidance, or oppositional defiance disorder. And, I included a couple of parenting books that are written for a general audience, but that I think apply particularly well to mixed-neurotype families.
- Want more parenting support for your neurodivergent child? Check out my These Books Will Make You an Expert on Collaborative and Gentle Parenting list on Bookshop.
- We talk about parenting all the time on the Neurodiverging Podcast.
- I also offer Parent Coaching sessions. Learn more on my Life Coaching page.
- Looking for more books on neurodiversity in general? Check out my list here!
This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one of my affiliate links and make a purchase, I may receive a commission for referring you. Please know that I only recommend resources and products that I believe in personally.
My Top 10 Books for Parents to Understand a Child with ADHD
1)
8 Keys to Parenting Children with ADHD by Cindy GoldrichBuy on Bookshop | Buy on Amazon
"Combining expert information with practical, sensitive advice, the eight 'key' concepts here will help parents reduce chaos, improve cooperation, and nurture the advantages―like creativity and drive―that often accompany all of that energy.
Herself the mother of an ADHD child, Cindy Goldrich’s methods are tested not only in her daily work counseling other parents but also in her own home. Tactics for calm, collaboration, consistency, establishing consequences, and 'parenting the child you have' deliver effective support for out-of-control children and overwhelmed parents alike."
Danielle's note: I would highly recommend this book to folks who are relatively new to what ADHD is, what it looks like, or how to handle and support a child with ADHD. The book is laid out well, easy to understand, and based on the current science and educational psychology of ADHD. I can personally attest that a lot of these methods work astonishingly well.
2)
Transforming the Difficult Child: The Nurtured Heart Approach by Howard GlasserBuy on Bookshop | Buy on Amazon
"Transforming the Difficult Child brings to life a new way of shifting intense children to a solid life of success.
The Nurtured Heart Approach puts a refreshing spin on both parenting and teaching and reveals new techniques and strategies that create thoroughly positive behaviors."
Danielle's note: I have mentioned this book in so many podcast episodes and other recommendation lists now that a lot of you are probably sick of hearing about it. If it's new to you, though, let me just let you read this quote from a review I wrote on Goodreads when I first read it in 2018:
"I have one kid who's autistic and one kid who definitely has sensory issues and may very well be diagnosed with more things when she is older (update: combined type ADHD as of 2020). [We struggle with] a lot of defiance, a lot of testing, control issues, high anxiety, many screaming tantrums that can last an hour, etc. I'm autistic with SPD and anxiety too, so we all ended up triggering and exhausting each other, and the older the kids got, the worse it was all getting ... I was at the end of my rope last year, right before she turned 3 years-old, and feeling very hopeless about being able to parent her at all, much less parent her successfully.
Nothing I tried worked, a lot of what I tried made things worse, and I was just exhausted and burned out all the time. It was affecting our whole family, and I felt lucky if we made it 5 hours without an hour-long tantrum over something unexpected and insignificant.
[This book] totally saved our lives. I implemented some of the simpler suggestions, like using fewer words and gentle, but direct command-form language, right away, and they worked! It was amazing! She started doing the things I asked her to do at least some of the time! Over time, I was able to change how I was responding to the tantrums and other challenges, and we saw huge progress in my daughter's ability to talk through issues, and tell me what was making her anxious, instead of just immediately tantruming. Since we listen to her and try to work with her to solve the issue once we know what it is, she's begun to have more trust that we're on her side and will help her, and since she feels more connected, her overall behavior is so much better.
I would not have been able to make these changes without this book, and I'm really grateful for it."
I recommend this book to every family. It saved mine.
3) The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children by Ross W. Greene
Buy on Bookshop | Buy on Amazon
"An experienced therapist offers groundbreaking and compassionate techniques for helping chronically inflexible children, who suffer from excessively immoderate tempers, showing how brain-based deficits contribute to these problems and offering positive and constructive ways to calm things down."
Danielle's note: I had already recommended this book to several people even before I'd finished it way back in 2017, and have continued to recommend it widely. The author assumes that kids are doing their best, and that kids who "explode" are missing the skills that help them to adapt to changing situations.
The book then offers methods of problem-solving so that parent and child can work together to improve the situation for everyone, reducing tantrums.
The method is similar to those I've seen in other books, but the explanations of what's going on from the child's point of view are superior. The book also has very good, accessible advice for how to apply these methods to neurodivergent kids (ADHD, autism spectrum, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, etc.), and kids who don't speak, generally assuming that all kids can contribute to identifying and solving their problems themselves, which I deeply appreciate.
4)
Conquering Chronic Disorganization by Judith Kolberg
Buy on Amazon
"Chronic disorganization is disorganization that undermines a person's quality of life and recurs despite traditional self-help efforts. Conquering Chronic Disorganization is filled with real-life stories of people who used simple, innovative and fun organizing methods proven in the field to end clutter, mismanagaed time and paper pile-ups in the home or office.
"
Danielle's note: This is a slim, older volume that you can often find used. The author, Judith Kolberg, is the founder of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization, and her book is full of creative advice for creating and maintaining organizing systems that you and your child can actually use. This book is 100% neurodivergent friendly and there's no shaming here. I love it and recommend it to clients literally every week.
(Bonus Book)
Add-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life: Strategies That Work from an Acclaimed Professional Organizer and a Renowned Add Clinician by Judith Kolberg and Kathleen NadeauBuy on Bookshop | Buy on Amazon
"A professional organizer and a renowned ADD clinician join forces to present this guide that addresses the unique needs of adults with ADD. It offers organizing advice that ranges from self-help to utilizing the help of nonprofessionals to using professional assistance.
"
Danielle's note: By the same author as Conquering Chronic Disorganization above, this book is more recent, easier to find and certainly specifically targeted toward ADHD/ ADD folks. I have not personally read this one, but if you can't find the original title, this is probably worth checking out!
5)
Reset Your Child's Brain: A Four-Week Plan to End Meltdowns, Raise Grades, and Boost Social Skills by Reversing the Effects of Electronic Screen-Time by Victoria Dunckley
Buy on Bookshop | Buy on Amazon
"Dr. Victoria Dunckley has pioneered a four-week program to treat ... Electronic Screen Syndrome (ESS). Dr. Dunckley has found that everyday use of interactive screen devices — such as computers, video games, smartphones, and tablets — can easily overstimulate a child’s nervous system, triggering a variety of stubborn symptoms. In contrast, she’s discovered that a strict, extended electronic fast single-handedly improves mood, focus, sleep, and behavior, regardless of the child’s diagnosis.
It also reduces the need for medication and renders other treatments more effective."
Danielle's note: I offer this recommendation with many caveats, so read on:
Author Victoria Dunckley wants to claim that all screen time is dangerous, and although she has some science to back her up, most of it is from tiny studies with tiny populations and who knows what funding or controls. Although I agree that extended screen time can dysregulate all of us to some degree, Dunckley really doesn't want to talk about all of the ways that screens (and the apps running on them) are literal lifesavers for a lot of disabled folks.
I barely functioned for years because I couldn't keep track of a physical calendar, to do list, phone numbers, addresses. Now I have a smart phone, and I'm not going to claim that it's good for me in the sense that good food and exercise are good for me, but I also couldn't be a person in the world with friends and a marriage and children who are fed and clothed and well-loved without that phone.
If you are struggling with your family's screen time, or considering that screens are causing your kids some behavioral issues, read this book, get some ideas, and figure out how to reduce or remove screen time from your day-to-day, whether you use Dunckley's exact plan or not. I do believe that some people, and especially kids, are much more prone to screen addiction and screen-related behavioral issues than others. But is the science behind this overwhelmingly convincing? No. And Dunckley's personal experience, while very valuable, is with an at-risk population with comorbidities, and so can't translate to a general population.
I don't feel like this is a very balanced approach, nor honestly particularly helpful in a society (where educational systems and work environments and even mall directories) depend on screens. But if you're struggling and other approaches haven't worked, you might be exactly the audience for this book.
6)
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine MazlishBuy on Bookshop | Buy on Amazon
"Here is the bestselling book that will give you the know-how you need to be effective with your children.
Enthusiastically praised by parents and professionals around the world, the down--to--earth, respectful approach of Faber and Mazlish makes relationships with children of all ages less stressful and more rewarding."
Danielle's note: This book has been around for almost 40 years, and there's a reason that this is a classic! This is a general book that's not specifically for neurodivergent families, but it has some great tips for working with children who are demand-avoidant, anxious, or rigid. I highly recommend this book to all parents, along with Faber's other classic book, Siblings Without Rivalry: How to Help Your Children Live Together So You Can Live Too (buy on Amazon | Bookshop), if you have more than one child.
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Scatterbrain: How the Mind's Mistakes Make Humans Creative, Innovative and Successful by Henning Beck
Buy on Bookshop | Buy on Amazon
"Remember that time you screwed up simple math or forgot the name of your favorite song? What if someone told you that such embarrassing 'brain farts' are actually secret weapons, proof of your superiority to computers and AI?
In Scatterbrain, we learn that boredom awakens the muse, distractions spark creativity, and misjudging time creates valuable memories, among other benefits of our faulty minds.
Throughout, award-winning neuroscientist Henning Beck’s hilarious asides and brain-boosting advice make for delightful reading of the most cutting-edge neuroscience our brains will (maybe never) remember."
Danielle's note: Many parents struggle with shame around their neurodivergent traits, and can inadvertently shame their children for those traits as well. It can be easy to become caught up in all the things we can't do, and all the ways we fail. But many of the executive functioning challenges ADHD folks have are just magnified versions of normal brain functioning, not failures at all. I love Scatterbrain for being an accessible, easy-to-understand explainer for why our brains do the things they do. It's a reframe that we all need to hear sometimes.
8)
You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!: The Classic Self-Help Book for Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder by Kate Kelly and Peggy RamundoBuy on Bookshop | Buy on Amazon
"There is much literature about children with Attention Deficit Disorder.
This work focuses on the experience of adults with the disorder, combining practical information and moral support. It explains the diagnostic process and distinguishes ADD symptoms from normal lapses in memory, lack of concentrations, and impulse behavior, and addresses: how to achieve balance by analyzing one's strengths and weaknesses; how to get along in groups, at work, and intimate and family relationships - including how to decrease discord and chaos; mechanical aides and methods for getting organized and improving memory; and professional help, including medication and therapy."
Danielle's note: If you're new here, you may not know that I was identified with autism as an adult, after my first child was diagnosed. Many, many neurodivergent adults are learning their identities quite late in life, after a child, friend, or family member is diagnosed. This book is a classic for explaining what ADHD is and what it isn't, and it offers a lot of ideas around treatment options that are helpful for adults as well as children.
Like Scatterbrain above, it also offers a much-needed reframe; your "failures" are not happening because you're not trying hard enough! You just don't have the tools you need for success . . . yet.
9)
The Out-Of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder by Carol KranowitzBuy on Bookshop | Buy on Amazon
"The Out-of-Sync Child broke new ground by identifying Sensory Processing Disorder, a common but frequently misdiagnosed problem in which the central nervous system misinterprets messages from the senses. This newly revised edition features additional information from recent research on vision and hearing deficits, motor skill problems, nutrition and picky eaters, ADHA, autism, and other related disorders."
Danielle's note: Sensory processing disorder, aka sensory integration disorder, sensory overwhelm, or sensory overload, commonly co-occurs with ADHD, ADD, autism, and several other neurodivergent profiles.
If you ADHD-er is easily overwhelmed by lights, sounds, or touch, is excessively clumsy, has trouble eating, or stims constantly (ADHD-ers stim too!), they may be dealing with sensory challenges. Read this book and Sensational Kids below, and get an occupational therapist involved as soon as you can. We also have a short explainer on SPD here, with further resources for adults.
Although I haven't had the chance to read this one yet, the same author has also written The Out-Of-Sync Child Has Fun: Activities for Kids with Sensory Processing Disorder, and several friends have reported enjoying it. Buy on Bookshop or Amazon.
10)
Sensational Kids: Hope and Help for Children with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) Lucy Jane MillerBuy on Bookshop | Buy on Amazon
"Imagine, for a moment, that you are a parent of a child with no visible disability, but whose experiences of everyday life present constant challenges.
What may be typical activities for most people-eating, dressing, making friends, taking a spelling test, responding to a hug-are a struggle, often resulting in social, emotional, and academic problems.
This is the bewildering and largely uncharted world of Sensory Processing Disorder-a complex brain disorder affecting one in twenty children. Dr. Lucy Miller, the best-known SPD researcher in the world, is that voice: warm, clear, and upbeat, Dr. Miller identifies the disorder and its four major subtypes, provides insight into assessment and diagnosis, and suggests treatment options and strategies, including the importance of occupational therapy and parental involvement."
Danielle's note: Along with The Out-of-Sync-Child above, this is THE recommended book for parents supporting a child with sensory processing challenges, and if you have an ADHD-er, you probably also have a child with sensory processing challenges.
What books would you recommend to parents who want to understand a child with ADHD? Let me know in the comments below!
ADD(H) and children: a selection of books for parents and educators
A child's hyperactivity raises many questions for parents.
And not only individual consultations of specialists, but also specialized books for parents of children with ADHD will help answer them. We offer a list of books that have already become interesting to parents, educators and teachers of hyperactive children.
The problem of hyperactivity is very relevant and interdisciplinary. This monograph is one of the first attempts to implement an integrated approach not only at the level of theory, but also at the level of its practical application. The book presents the experience of doctors, psychologists and teachers. The book covers many important topics that will be of interest to both specialists working with this problem and parents of hyperactive children. Prevalence and causes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Signs of the disease and associated disorders. Diagnosis and various treatments for ADHD. Training program for parents and children. Education and remedial activities for a child with ADHD.
The book will help you learn to understand "difficult" children, choose the best ways to interact with them.
The authors offer specific recommendations for identifying symptoms of hyperactivity, aggressiveness, anxiety, autism in children.
The book contains a detailed description of practical techniques, games and exercises that contribute to the adaptation of such "problem" children, as well as advice to parents.
Children with various manifestations of CNS pathologies have certain developmental features that are typological in nature and are most pronounced with the onset of intense intellectual activity at primary school age.
MMD are the mildest forms of cerebral pathology arising due to a variety of reasons, but having the same type, unexpressed, blurred symptoms, and appearing as functional disorders that normalize as the brain grows and matures [22]. With MMD, there is a general slowdown in the rate of brain growth.
Thus, with MMC, the following deviations can be expected, compared with the age norm:
1. Rapid mental fatigue and reduced performance (in this case, general physical fatigue may be completely absent).
2. Sharply reduced possibilities of self-management and arbitrary regulation in any kind of activity.
3. Severe disturbances in the child's activity (including mental activity) during emotional activation (not only negative, but also positive).
4. Significant difficulties in the formation of voluntary attention: instability, distractibility, difficulty concentrating, lack of distribution, problems with switching, depending on the predominance of lability or rigidity.
5. Decrease in the volume of operative memory, attention, thinking (the child can keep in mind and operate with a rather limited amount of information).
6. Difficulties in transferring information from short-term memory to long-term memory (the problem of strengthening temporary connections).
7. Incomplete formation of visual-motor coordination (children make various mistakes and inaccuracies when quickly translating visual information into a motor-graphic analogue, i.e. when copying and copying, do not notice inconsistencies even with subsequent comparison).
No advice, but this is the best book to destigmatize people with the syndrome and their environment. The author has been working on the topic for more than 30 years, a doctor in a boarding school for children with ADHD.
In this book, renowned ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) expert and practicing psychiatrist Edward Hallowell offers an effective plan for dealing with the greatest problem of our time - loss of productivity. Dr. Hallowell provides useful and scientifically based recommendations for achieving a high concentration in the chaos of distractions and constant overload.
The book is intended for anyone who wants to do more at work and maintain high productivity no matter what.
In this book, experts Edward Hallowell and John Ratey share up-to-date and evidence-based information about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The authors consider issues such as myths and truth about the disease, modern methods of treatment, useful methods of struggle, parenting a child with ADHD, and many others.
The book contains "live" stories of people with this diagnosis, which inspire and allow you to look at ADHD from a different angle. Use the recommendations of the authors, and you will be able to take advantage of the attention deficit disorder and achieve your goals!
The book includes detailed information on how to help a child with ADHD at home and in the community (kindergarten, school, clubs, etc.). It also tells about the causes, degrees and forms of ADHD. The book also dispels myths about this disease.
Articles on the topic
- Summary: A. Tsvetkov “Neuropedagogy for teachers: how to teach according to the laws of the brain”
- Summary on Igor Namakonov’s book “Crossfit of the brain: How to prepare yourself for solving non-standard tasks”
- Types of play exercises for children with ADHD
- Reading with comments: what and how?
- Uncomfortable children, or What is hyperactivity
- Wimmelbuch: how to read and how to work?
- Technological map of the educational quest on the example of the literary monoquest: “Gogol travels in time”
5 books about families with children with special needs
How are the parents of such children different from the rest and can they feel happy
When a special child appears in a family, life changes forever.
Parents will have to accept the new situation, doubt, look for like-minded people and pave the way forward. What will be the meaning of family life now, what will it be able to rely on? There are many questions that arise for everyone who experiences such changes, and many of them already have answers. For example, in books authored by parents who have experience in raising special children. These books will help you find guidance, support, resolve doubts, be a source of inspiration or practical advice, help you believe that life, although difficult, goes on.
Irina Lukyanova Extreme motherhood. Happy Life with a Difficult Child (Nicaea, 2019)
This is a book about children who are difficult for parents to deal with. What does it mean? Educator and writer Irina Lukyanova, mother of a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), explains that she wrote the book “for parents who are out of control. Who thinks they're doing everything wrong. Who endlessly asks himself questions: “Is he generally normal with me?” It is about inattentive, hyperactive, impulsive children who find it difficult to study and it is difficult to behave well.
In the introduction to "Extreme Motherhood", psychologist Lyudmila Petranovskaya calls children with ADHD "a little bit special": they and their parents were pitied and wanted to help.”
The parents of such children are in a difficult position. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often looks like a spoiled child or a lack of upbringing. Few people can understand what is really happening with a child.
Irina Lukyanova knows all parental difficulties from personal experience and understands the situation from the inside. She gave mothers of "difficult" children a real comforting textbook. The book talks in detail and calmly about how ADHD is viewed by medicine, offers options for organizing home life with a "difficult" child, discusses how to interact with school and how not to go crazy raising hyperactive children.
Elizaveta Zavarzina-Mammi “The Adventures of Another Boy. Autism and Beyond (Corpus, 2014)
“You want me to move and talk like you, so that I have the same thoughts and actions as you, but I am different and will never be like that.
” This was written by the hero of the book "The Adventures of the Other Boy" at the age of 23. His name is Petya, Pietro Mammy. He has an autism spectrum disorder. Together with his mother, father and sister Polina, he lives in France, where the family moved from Russia.
The book was written by Petya's mother, Elizaveta Zavarzina-Mammy. “Would we like Petya to be different? the author asks. — Of course, our main desire is to make life easier for him, not to have to constantly fight with his problems so that he can fulfill his dreams. But we wouldn't want to change his personality for anything."
"Adventures" is dedicated to how the family fought for the liberation of Petya's personality, so that he could express himself, like any other person, regardless of neurological disorders. They are written for parents who are confused and do not understand what is happening with their child, and for people who want to learn more about autism.
And also for those who want to know how to be happy when circumstances try to make you unhappy — and what kind of “adventures” you have to go through to make it happen.
Svetlana Beilezon “Our indefatigable ark. Experience of overcoming adversity” (Center “Narnia”, 2007)
“Our children's health is seriously impaired. They need to be treated, taught, adapted to life. Can't cope alone. But who will understand us if we ourselves do not find and understand each other, if we do not reach out to each other?" These lines were written by Svetlana Beilezon, the mother of a child with a psycho-intellectual disability. Svetlana's son is already many years old - and he is a grown man for a long time, but his mother is still next to him. His name is Yura, he is a poet, an artist, an amazingly gentle person.
In the book "Our Tireless Ark" Svetlana Beilezon was one of the authors and compiler. In addition to the story of her family, there are 10 more stories here. They are about families that faced adversity, but gradually overcame it thanks to the fact that children, unlike the rest, taught them to enjoy every day. No story is alike - family stories are unique, just like each of us.
“It is important to remember that each of us is just a person… And that in fact there is no watershed between them and us, because at any moment each of us can lose the right to choose. It's not them, but we all yearn for lifelong care, warmth, attention, recognition. We all".
Usually in annotations to books they write: "Addressed to specialists (students, schoolchildren, children from 3 years old, everyone who is interested in the topic)". In the description of The Indefatigable Ark, there is only one characteristic of the audience: "Intended for the caring reader."
Marina Ivanova "Letters from Kovrov" (Terevinf, 2013)
Where do you find joy when it seems that there is absolutely nothing to rejoice at? This is told by Marina Ivanova from the city of Kovrov, Vladimir Region. She is the mother of two daughters. The eldest, Masha, was diagnosed with a rare genetic Rett syndrome.
“Letters from Kovrov” are really letters that Marina wrote to the staff of the Moscow Center for Curative Pedagogics for several years.
Here they were greatly valued, they were collected as a precious evidence of what could be otherwise: not only a "disabled child" and the unbearable burden of being, but play, creativity, love that help a family where there is a child with a difficult course of the disease.
Maria Berkovich (herself a psychologist, defectologist, teacher and author of a book about special children) explains to readers which book they are holding in their hands: “Once upon a time, I thought that Marina Ivanova’s letters were about raising a child with developmental disabilities . And I'm a little afraid that future readers, even before they open the book, will think the same thing. So, probably, my task, as the author of the preface, is to tell future readers: no, this is not a book about children with developmental disabilities ... These are letters about life. Not about life with a disabled person, but just about life in all its manifestations. About how we create it ourselves. About the fact that the fullness of life does not depend on its external diversity.
If we want, we can turn our life into an amazing journey. And no external circumstances can interfere with this.”
The meaning of "Letters from Kovrov" can be described with the words "to be near". To be close to your child and rejoice when there is such an opportunity. And this can be learned from the author.
Bela Kafengauz "A child with a hereditary syndrome: an experience of education" (Practical Medicine, 2008)
The girl Sonya, the author's daughter, is the first person in Russia who was diagnosed with the rarest diagnosis of Smith-Magenis syndrome. It occurs in one of 15-25 thousand people. The disease affects the mental and physical development of the child, causes sudden mood swings. In the life of a family where there is a child with such a hereditary syndrome, there is a lot of anxiety, doubt, and difficult experiences. But this life gives the experience of a special love for a child - persistent, thoughtful, analyzing, striving for the absolute, when nothing is required in return, and his happiness becomes the main thing, despite the circumstances.
“Despite the misfortune that has befallen us and all the difficulties that have arisen in connection with this, I have never felt and do not feel unhappy. Tired, confused, exhausted to the point of losing strength - yes, but unhappy - no. How did it happen? I have thought about this many times and now, it seems to me, I am ready to tell.
And almost immediately shares his findings with other parents of special children: “Whatever type of parenting you choose, your path will not be easy and you must be ready for it. Expand your circle of contacts. Do not close yourself and do not hide your baby from others. Let everyone get used to him and see how dear he is to you and how much you love him. Look for helpers around you - among relatives, friends, doctors, teachers, neighbors. Share your experiences, don't be ashamed. There are a lot of good people around us, you just need to meet them. And never turn down an offer of help. Appreciate and respect your child. Remember that half of the traits inherent in his genotype are yours.
