I Can't Stop! A Story About Tourette Syndrome. By: Holly L. Niner. Illustrated by: Meryl Treatner. (2005).

This is a book about a boy with Tourette's Syndrome. I first became interested in Tourette's Syndrome a few semesters ago when we were asked to read Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome Made Me the Teacher I Never Had, by Brad Cohen. This book is happy, and sad, and inspiring. Brad Cohen talks about his experiences with Tourettes Syndrome as a child and as an adult. It appals me the way he was treated in the classroom, not only by his peers, but by his teachers as well. Everyone wanted him to stop barking, and stop jerking around, and to just sit still and be quiet, but he couldn't. So when I saw the title, I Can't Stop: A Story About Tourette Syndrome, I just had to read it. You can read about special needs in text books, but when you read a real life story about someone with special needs, it becomes real to you. After reading about Brad Cohen, I just had to read more about Tourette's Syndrome, and this was my chance to do it, since there really are not that many books on it.

Nathan is the boy in this book that has Tourette's Syndrome. Much like Brad Cohen, Nathans teachers and classmates do not understand why he doesn't stop sniffing, or barking or jerking his head. Even his mother demanded him to stop, and could not understand why he wouldn't. They took Nathan to the doctors and the doctor said Nathan had Tourette's Syndrome. They were going to watch Nathan for a year and decide if he should go on medication or if his tics were improving. Nathan helped educate his classmates and teachers on Tourette's Syndrome. He felt more comfortable now that people knew he couldn't control his tic, and were not making fun of him all the time. He became closer with classmates and made some good friends. Now, even when kids who did not know Nathan made fun of him, he didn't care because he had friends now, and he knew that the other kids were only making jokes because they did not understand. Nathan became strong with the support of his friends and family. He might not have control of his tics, but he had control of his life, and he wasn't going to let his tics or anyone else ruin his fun. This was a great story, and the book had a lot of good information.

About the Author: Holly L. Niner grew up in Newberg, New York. She is a Speech Therapist with a passion for books. She now lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana with her husband, Keith, and her two children, Evan and Beth. She also wrote Mr. Worry: A Story About OCD, because her son has OCD and she wanted to have a book that would teach about OCD that would children and adults could read and learn to understand about OCD.
http://www.hollyniner.com/bio.htm

Genre: Special Needs
Theme/Skill: Informing readers about Tourette's Syndrome.
Grade Level: It is recommended for grades K-4 but it should be read by all ages. Everyone should be more informed on special needs.

Pre-reading Activity: Go around the room and have everyone tell one thing about themselves that they think is different then other people or extra special. Class discussion on how everyone is similar and different, but that everyone is special.

Post-reading Activity:  Students should discuss what they learned about Nathan. How did they feel about the story? If they were friend's with Nathan would they understand his tics? Were all different. When people found out Nathan could not control his tics, they were more accepting of him.

My Brother Sammy. By: Becky Edwards and David Armitage. (1999).

My Brother Sammy, by Becky Edwards and David Armitage is a story that all children should read.The book is about a boy, and his brother Sammy, who is Autistic. The boy describes his feelings he has about Sammy, and about the things about Sammy that he does not understand. People are afraid of what they don't understand. If we teach people about special needs at a young age, they will understand more and be more accepting. This book was special to me because I have a child with special needs. Much like Sammy, he doesn't play the same way other children play, and he acts differently, and gets upset easily. When he was younger the difference between him and other children was obvious, but as he gets older, he seems a little less different than the other children. He's learning how to socialize, and through therapies, his world has opened up. I could really relate to this book though, looking back, not understanding why he was acting different than the other children. I now know that he is special, and I wouldn't change him for the world. He's so smart, he's so creative, and he's an all around great kid. When he gets upset by loud noises, we give him earplugs; when its a sunny day, we give him sunglasses; we buy him socks without seems and make sure all the tags are cut out of his clothes. He's different than the other children, but there is nothing wrong with him. Now that we are learning to control some of his sensory issues, he's really coming out of his shell and has been making a lot of friends. His friends know that he gets upset easily, and that he needs help in gym class, and they also know he's fun to play Pokemon with and and to color with. Its when kids are not exposed to people who are different than them that they become scared of those who are different.

The book My Brother Sammy  is all about accepting Sammy for who he is, not wanting to change him. He might play differently, but he's still a lot of fun!

Genre: Special needs, character education

Theme/Skill: Accepting and understanding differences.

Grade level: Kindergarten and up.

Pre-reading activity: Class discussion: What is your favorite thing to play? What are your brother/sister/cousins/friends favorite things to play? Do you always like to play the same things? What is your favorite color? What is your favorite food? Discuss the similarities and differences between the class. Is it okay that we like different things? Is it okay to be different?

Post-reading activity: Everyone should draw a picture of their family. Some families are big, some families are small, but we all love each other. Post everyones' family pictures so students can see the similarities and differences between families.

Mr. Worry: A Story About OCD. By: Holly L. Niner. Illustrated by: Greg Swearingen. (2004).

I was very interested to read Mr. Worry: A Story About OCD for two reasons. The first is that I have never seen a book like this on OCD before, and the second reason being that my best friend's son has OCD, and he is my son's best friend, so we are very close with him, so I have a personal interest to find out more about OCD. I first of all liked the fact that the author, Holly L. Niner has a son with OCD and that is why she chose to write this book.She starts the book with a note to parents and teachers, teaching a little bit about OCD. This is very important, because I always hear people talk openly about having OCD, when clearly they don't. I don't think people understand that just because you like to have a clean house, does not mean you have OCD. OCD is much more severe, their worrying thoughts and obsessions will consume much of their lives. This book is about Kevin, and his life with OCD. Kevin had rituals he had to do before he went to bed, Kevin had to ask questions to double check things over and over again, even if he should have known the answer. He names his obsessions, Mr Worry. In this book, Kevin tries to over come his OCD. In the end he says that when Mr. Worry calls, Kevin tells Mr. Worry that its nonsense and not to call again. That was his way of overcoming the OCD.

About the Author: Holly L. Niner grew up in Newberg, New York. She is a Speech Therapist with a passion for books. She now lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana with her husband, Keith, and her two children, Evan and Beth. She wrote Mr. Worry: A Story About OCD, because her son has OCD and she wanted to have a book that would teach about OCD that would children and adults could read and learn to understand about OCD.

http://www.hollyniner.com/bio.htm

*I also want to mention, that when I googled lesson plans for teaching students about special needs (I searched in a variety of ways), I had a hard time finding anything. Usually, if you google a topic for a lesson plan, you will get a laundry list of sample lesson plans. I think teaching students about special needs is very important. I know it is not part of a curriculum, but I was surprised at how difficult it was to find anything. Luckily, I have my own ideas!

Genre: Special needs, character education.
Theme/Skill: Everyone is different. We should not be afraid to be ourselves, and we should embrace others for their differences.

Grade Level: 1-4

Pre-reading activity: Class disscussion on what makes us different. Everyone is diferent. Make a variety of graphs of favorite color, types of ice cream, eye color, fair color, etc. Students will see that many students have similarities and differences, and that some students may have the same eye color, but not like the same type of ice cream, etc. Then have a clas discussion about all the differenes we can see in the graphs.. Students will learn to appreciate their differences.

Post-reading activity:  Disscuss: What is something that was difficult for you to learn how to do? Was there every anything that you did that you wanted to be able to stop doing? Kevin had to teach his brain not to want to do certain things. I want you to write about something you had to teach yourself to do. I want you to write about how you felt when you were trying, how long it took you to do, and how you felt when you accmomplished it.

My Sister, Alicia May. By: Nancy Tupper Long. Illustrated by Shennen Bersani. (2009)

I really enjoyed reading My Sister, Alicia May, by Nancy Tupper Long. It is a story about a girl named Rachel, and her sister, Alicia May who has Down Syndrome. Alicia May is a very friendly, very lovable little girl. Rachel discussed that Alicia May is a lot like other kids; she likes dogs and horses, and she loves to paint her toenails and watch for bugs, especially ladybugs. Rachel does not always play with Alicia May, because she has her own friends. Sometimes Alicia May really annoys Rachel, some days Rachel is really sick of watching out for Alicia May. But by the end of the book Rachel says to her mama, "I wish everyone had an Alicia May. But then Alicia May wouldn't be special would she?" Rachel loves Alicia May, she loves her for who she is, she loves her for all her differences, and even though Alicia May annoys her sometimes, she feels lucky to have someone like Alicia May in her life. I really loved this book. It was beautiful!

Genre: Special Needs, Character education

Theme/skill: We all have special talents and interests

Grade level:

Pre-reading activity: Teacher should talk about someone with special needs that they know. Maybe the person is in a wheel chair, maybe the person is deaf or blind, or maybe the person has Autism. Teacher should make a point of talking about the things that the person with special needs likes, just like any other kid. Ask students if they also like these things. Its important for students to feel like they can relate people with special needs. It makes them seem less different.

Post-reading activity: Students should be assigned to work with a student that they do not always work with/ are not close friends with. Students will interview their partner to find out their partners special interests, what they like to do on the weekend, what their favorite foods are, what they are scared of, etc. Students should then present their partner to the class. This is a  great way for students to learn about one another.It's a great community builder!

Nancy Tupper Ling won the Writer's Digest Grand Prize and the Pat Parnell Poetry Award. She lives in Walpole, Massachusetts, with her husband Vincent and their two daughters.