Parents and Professionals Partnering for Children with Disabilities ─ A Dance That Matters

Fialka, a speaker, author, and social worker, Mikus, a psychologist, and new co-author Feldman, who has been a general and special educator, principal, and college instructor, draw from their study of partnership and the training of parents and professionals to describe how to build partnerships between parents of children with disabilities and professionals like teachers, home visitors, administrators, paraprofessionals, early interventionists, and therapists. Using the metaphor of dance, they aim to demonstrate the need to build these partnerships and the skills to form and maintain them, and illustrate concepts in the process of learning to "dance together," its phases, and the experiences of those who have done so. They provide strategies to maintain the relationship, detail situations where parents are labeled as angry or uninvolved and how to reframe them, and explore the benefits of exchanging feedback through written notes and verbal communication. The book is a revised edition of Do You Hear What I Hear? Parents and Professionals Working Together for Children With Special Needs (1999). It has additional vignettes, essays, and strategies. No index is provided. Annotation Ac2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)