This year’s special needs Valentine treat isn’t chocolate, but it’s the next best thing for me.  Different Dream Parenting: A Practical Guide to Raising a Child with Special Needs made the Special Needs Book Review’s list of the Top 20 books on parenting or teaching children with special needs!

The Special Needs Book Review’s Top Twenty List

If you’re looking for a good read, here’s the complete list.

1. Uncommon Beauty: Crisis Parenting from Day One by Margaret Meder
2. Your Child’s Motor Development Story: Understanding and Enhancing Development from Birth to Their First Sport by Jill Howlett Mays
3. The Common Sense Guide to Your Child’s Special Needs: When to Worry, When to Wait, What to Do by Dr. Louis Pellegrino
4. Optimistic Parenting: Hope and Help for You and Your Challenging Child by V. Mark Durand, Ph.D.
5. What Children Need to Be Happy, Confident, and Successful: Step by Step Positive Psychology to Help Children Flourish by Jeni Hooper
6. Growing an In-Sync Child: Simple, Fun Activities to Help Every Child Develop, Learn, and Grow by Carol Kranowitz, M.A. and Joye Newman, M.A.
7. From Rattles to Writing: A Parent’s Guide to Hand Skills by Barbara A. Smith, MS, OTR/L
8. Different Dream Parenting: A Practical Guide to Raising a Child with Special Needs by Jolene Philo
9. Happy Mealtimes with Happy Kids: How to Teach Your Child About the Joy of Food! Practical and Surprising Tips from a Pediatric Feeding Specialist by Melanie Potock, MA, CCC –SLP
10. Special Diets for Special Kids, Volumes 1 and 2 by Lisa Lewis, Ph.D.
11. The Kitchen Classroom: 32 Visual GFCF Recipes to Boost Developmental Skills by Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer
12. Behavior Solutions for the Inclusive Classroom: A Handy Reference Guide by Beth Aune, Beth Burt, and Peter Gennaro
13. More Behavior Solutions In and Beyond the Inclusive Classroom: A Must Have for Teachers and Other Educational Professionals by Beth Aune, Beth Burt, and Peter Gennaro
14. The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students by Jessica Minahan and Nancy Rappaport
15. Gardening for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Special Educational Needs: Engaging with Nature to Combat Anxiety, Promote Sensory Integration and Build Social Skills by Natasha Etherington
16. Defying Mental Illness: Finding Recovery with Community Resources and Family Support by Paul Komarek & Andrea Schroer 
17. Sam Feels Better Now! An Interactive Story for Children by Jill Osborne
18. Nix Your Tics! Eliminate Unwanted Tic Symptoms: A How-To Guide for Young People by Dr. Duncan McKinlay
19. Unthinkable: A Mother’s Tragedy, Terror, and Triumph through a Child’s Traumatic Brain Injury by Dixie Fremont-Smith Coskie
20. Adopting a Child with Trauma & Attachment Disruption History: A Practical Guide by Theresa Ann Fraser

To read more about each book, go to Special Needs Book Review.

Your Special Needs Book Picks?

Are your favorite special needs books from 2012 on the list? If not, leave a comment to add your picks to the mix. Thanks!

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