Over the years I have amassed quite a collection of books on all topics pertaining to speech and language and developmental issues.  The following recommendations are  picks that provide further knowledge, insight and hands on practical guidance.

WHAT’S HOT

• No-Drama Discipline: The Whole-Brain Way to Calm the Chaos and Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind explores the ultimate child-raising challenge: discipline. Highlighting the fascinating link between a child’s neurological development and the way a parent reacts to misbehavior, No-Drama Discipline provides an effective, compassionate road map for dealing with tantrums, tensions, and tears—without causing a scene.

ADHD

• The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children by Ross W. Greene, PhD (Author) is a groundbreaking approach to understanding and parenting children who frequently exhibit severe fits of temper and other intractable behaviours.
• Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child Is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, and Energetic by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka (Author) will help you understand your child’s­ temperamental traits, discover the power of positive labels, cope with the tantrums and power struggles when they do occur, plan for success with a simple four-step program, develop strategies for handling mealtimes, sibling rivalry, bedtimes, holidays, and school, among other situations.
• Taking Charge of ADHD: The Complete, Authoritative Guide for Parents by Russell A. Barkley, PhD. (Author) helps make sense of your child’s symptoms, get an accurate diagnosis, work with school and health care professionals to get support, learn parenting techniques that promote better behavior, and strengthen your child’s academic and social skills.
• The ADHD Workbook for Kids: Helping Children Gain Self-Confidence, Social Skills, and Self-Control by Lawrence E. Shapiro, PhD. (Author) includes more than forty activities that can help your child with ADHD handle everyday tasks, make friends, and build self-esteem while he or she learns to overcome the most challenging aspects of the disorder.

AUTISM / ASPERGERS SYNDROME

• Asperger Syndrome and Adolescence – Helping Preteens and Teens Get Ready for the Real World gives an easy-to-understand synopsis of the social pitfalls children on the spectrum are likely to encounter along with tangible strategies that help to empower parents.
• The Social Skills Picture Book – Teaching Play, Emotion and Communication to Children with Autism appeals to the visual strengths of students on the autism spectrum with color photos of students demonstrating various social skills in the correct (and sometimes incorrect) way.
• The Social Skills Picture Book for High School and Beyond appeals to the visual strengths of students on the autism spectrum with color photos of students demonstrating various social skills in the correct (and sometimes incorrect) way.
• Fabric of Autism
  Based on personal experience and decades of study, this book offer an attempt at weaving all the many aspects of what we know into a cohesive synopsis of causes and symptoms as well as approaches and inspirations.
  
• The Reason I Jump :  The Inner Voice of a 13 Year Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida  (Author), KA Yoshida (Translator), David Mitchell (Translator), shares the insights and perspective through memoir of what it feels like to live with Autism.
• Mind Reading: The Interactice Guide to Emotions by Simon Baron-Cohen Mind Reading is a unique reference work covering the entire spectrum of human emotions. Using the software you can explore over 400 emotions, seeing and hearing each one performed by six different people.
• The Highly Sensitive Child Helping Our Children Thrive When the World Overwhelms Them by Elaine N. Aron (Author). Parents will find helpful self-tests and case studies to help them understand their sensitive child, along with advice on the challenges of raising an highly sensitive child.
• The Complete Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome by Tony Attwood (Author) examines causes and indications of the syndrome; the diagnosis and its effect on the individual; the perception of emotions; social interaction; mental health issues; the effect of AS on language and cognitive abilities, sensory sensitivity, movement and co-ordination skills; and career development.
• Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew by Ellen Notbohm (Author) delves into expanded thought and deeper discussion of communication issues, social processing skills, and the critical roles adult perspectives play in guiding the child with autism to a meaningful, self-sufficient, productive life.
• The Green Zone Conversation Book: Finding Common Ground in Conversation for Children on the Autism Spectrum by Joel Shaul (Author) provides a simple visual model to help children experience more success in finding common ground in conversation.
• The Social Success Workbook for Teens: Skill-Building Activities for Teens with Nonverbal Learning Disorder, Asperger’s Disorder, and Other Social-Skill Problems by Barbara Cooper, MPS (Author) and Nancy Widdows, MS (Author) includes forty activities you can do to recognize and use unique strengths, understand the unspoken rules behind how people relate to each other, and improve social skills.

DOWN SYNDROME

• Count Us In: Growing Up with Down Syndrome by Jason Kingsley (Author) and Mitchell Levitz (Author). Kingsley and Levitz share their innermost thoughts, feelings, hopes, and dreams, their lifelong friendship—and their experiences growing up with Down syndrome.
• Adventures in the Mainstream: Coming of Age with Down Syndrome by Greg Palmer (Author) chronicles two of the most important years in the life of his son, Ned, who has Down syndrome-the time when he’s making the transition from high school to work.

DYSLEXIA

• Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at Any Level by Sally E. Shaywitz, MD (Author) offers the latest information about reading problems and proven, practical techniques that, along with hard work and the right help, can enable anyone to overcome them.