Editorial Review :

Dale Borman Fink, the author of the only book on inclusion of youth with special needs in after school child care, now presents the first book to examine the experiences of children with disabilities participating in youth programs alongside their typical peers. Using a case study technique, he probes into the issues and dynamics that influence the increasing participation of kids with disabilities in such activities as Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and park and recreation programs.

Customer Review :

Inclusion is More Than Nondiscrimination

This is a great text for those interested in the cause of children with disabilities. "Making a Place" is easy to read, with detailed descriptions of real children and their families. Throughout its pages, the author challenges us to look again at how to make our communities more accessible.

Of particular interest to me was the discussion of "inclusion as nondiscrimination" (pp.178-179). Treating children "the same" is not the core commitment of inclusion. Rather, it is providing each child with the opportunity to access and participate in the activities of his or her age group. Dale Fink's book provides practical ideas for moving forward in achieving this goal.

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1. ISBN13: 9780195339727
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

For individuals who have suffered a spinal cord injury, it is a struggle to know how to assess and cope with such a life-changing event. The coping strategies that a person employs can have an enormous impact on their mental well-being and long-term health. Approach focused coping, in which the individual accepts and seeks to understand their condition, results in a sense of mastery, self-efficacy, and post traumatic growth. Conversely, avoidance focused coping can lead to anxiety, depression, self neglect, and substance abuse problems. Approximately 50% will meet the diagnostic criteria for depression at 6 months post injury. Research shows that those with depression will have a poorer outcome and shorter life-span.

Coping effectiveness training (CET) aims to improve skills for assessing stress, teaching a range of coping skills that can be used to tackle stress, and provide an opportunity for interaction with others who have similar experiences of spinal cord injury. CET includes the identification of effective and ineffective responses to stress, especially those that are particularly unhelpful, such as disengagement, general avoidance, long term denial, and the expression of extreme emotion. By encouraging individuals to think critically about their behaviour in response to stressors, CET helps people avoid unproductive ways of coping.

Like all TreatmentsThatWork programs, this treatment is evidence-based. In the author's clinical studies, CET has proven to successfully reduce levels of depression and anxiety in individuals with spinal cord injury, and also resulted in changes in negative self-perception and improved self-efficiacy. The intervention consists of seven, 60-75 minute sessions run two a week in small groups of six to nine people. By working in small groups, participants are able to share experience and build a community, reducing the sense of isolation that often results from sever injury. A corresponding workbook provides monitoring forms, homework exercises, and other user-friendly techniques to continue the work outside of therapy.

TreatmentsThatWorkTM represents the gold standard of behavioral healthcare interventions!



· All programs have been rigorously tested in clinical trials and are backed by years of research


· A prestigious scientific advisory board, led by series Editor-In-Chief David H. Barlow, reviews and evaluates each intervention to ensure that it meets the highest standard of evidence so you can be confident that you are using the most effective treatment available to date


· Our books are reliable and effective and make it easy for you to provide your clients with the best care available


· Our corresponding workbooks contain psychoeducational information, forms and worksheets, and homework assignments to keep clients engaged and motivated


· A companion website (www.oup.com/us/ttw) offers downloadable clinical tools and helpful resources


· Continuing Education (CE) Credits are now available on select titles in collaboration with PsychoEducational Resources, Inc. (PER)

Customer Review :

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Editorial Review :

This book is a culmination of Janice Morse's eight years of research into patient falls and their prevention. It includes the authoritative Morse Fall Scale for predicting the likelihood of a patient falling, and, more importantly, how it can be implemented in a comprehensive fall prevention programme. The author addresses the issues of creating a safe institutional environment, measuring the fall and resulting injury rates in institutions, and the use and effectiveness of patient restraints, bed alarms and bed design.

Customer Review :

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Editorial Review :

The heart of this book consists of thirteen, riveting, in-depth stories of people who fought back with courage, humor, and a positive attitude. In doing so, they have provided valuable guidance for you, the readers of this inspiring work.

• The seriously ill, their friends and family will gain priceless advice on coping, dealing with depression, how to partner with the medical profession, the tremendous value of self-help groups and the vital importance of attitude.
• Those with disabilities will learn how others have successfully played the hand they were dealt and managed to live successful, fulfilling lives. The disabled and those with serious illnesses can learn from each other. There are no silver bullets buried in these pages, just the sound, useable experience of others.
• Caregivers, be they family, friends, or health professionals will gain great insight from the in-depth stories of survivors, the bereaved, and those who died with grace and even style.

Customer Review :

You've Gotta Fight Back!

They are some of the most disheartening and utterly devastating words in the world: You've got ... Life will never be the same again. Suddenly, the day to day issues that used to cloud your mind seem petty. Everything becomes about the pain, disease, the condition, or the disability.

When dealing with a serious illness, injury, or disability it's really difficult to stay positive. Often just the thought of fighting back and living each day to the fullest seems much too overwhelming. Still, that's exactly what we must do.

You've Gotta Fight Back! is filled with inspiration and heartwarming stories about people who pushed the limits. Some took it as a challenge when the doctors gave them months to leave, extending their lives for decades through pure will. Others took control of their health issues, asked questions, and made choices that worked for their situation. All of these stories are genuine, showing that we all have good and bad days but the most important thing is to never give up.

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Encouraging, no-nonsense book

Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (11/07)

When confronted with truly life-changing circumstances, such as serious illness, injury or disability, most people find the situation extremely overwhelming and horrifying. Most of us think that something of the kind will never happen to us or our nearest and dearest, and when it does we do not know where to turn to and how to react.

Mr. Eldredge's "You've Gotta Fight Back!" is an inspiring and very much no-nonsense book about fighting back when confronted with such adversity in life. Through more than a dozen touching and encouraging true life stories of people afflicted by different diseases, conditions or accidents we learn about their way of dealing with their conditions. We learn about different approaches to life-changing events and how different people learned to accept the changes and/or learned how to fight back. One of the simple, yet very profound insights in fighting back and being happy again is the so-called triumvirate of happiness: someone to love, something to do and something to look forward to. Even if we are not in a perilous situation at the moment, we would do well to remember those three simple rules.

Some of the most valuable advice I found in this book dealt with coping with the situation and how to make the best out of it. While the book is never mindlessly cheerful and it never promises any miracles, it clearly illustrates how it is possible to find happiness and fulfillment even under such extremely adverse conditions. It underlines the importance of working together with the doctors and other medical professionals; of having a positive outlook and attitude, of finding ways and means to still live life to the fullest, of finding humor even in the worst situations and more. Another segment of the book that I found very valuable was all the parts dealing with the role of caregivers, who are oftentimes forgotten or at least overlooked in the struggle.

My favorite part of the book is the author's affirmations which I've copied on a card to carry with me. I do not know anybody who could not benefit from this: "I'm going to be a happy person. I will think happy, positive, enthusiastic thoughts and push out anxiety, fear, hatred, depression, and feelings of inadequacy. I'm going to enjoy life. I will try to make somebody else happy each day. I'm going to love my family and friends and know that they love me. I'm going to be a very confident person. I have a lot of successful experience, so I have every reason to be confident of myself and my ideas. I'm going to remember always that happiness is a state of mind, not a set of circumstances. I make my own happiness in my own mind and my own unhappiness in my own mind. I choose to be a happy person."

"You've Gotta Fight Back!" is an extremely valuable book for anybody needing encouragement and guidance while in a difficult situation. Written in a fluid, easy-to-read style, it should find a permanent home on your bookshelf - to help you, your family or your friends if help should be needed.



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Encouragement for those who are ill

The most amazing thing is the human spirit and it's power. In "You've Gotta Fight Back!," Dirk Eldredge gives testimony to the ability of people who are faced with a variety of health and life challenges to beat the odds and overcome or manage their conditions. With detail and compassion, he tells the stories of a number of people who had the courage and insight to study, research, and work hard, and make the most of the life challenge they were facing. He also lauds supportive spouses, caretakers, family members, and friends for the role they play in helping these challenged people. For a person who has been diagnosed with a serious illness, this book can give hope and encouragement.

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bad fighting technique

"You've Gotta Fight Back! Winning with Serious Illness, Injury
or Disability" by Dirk Chase Eldredge

The author of this book takes all the way until chapter 5 to
really show how "you've gotta fight back." This is the chapter
most connected to what the book is supposed to be about.
It's the hard knocks of how diet, exercise, and relationships can all
be altered by a new diagnosis. And make no mistake, such a diagnosis
can be difficult even for someone who's been used to some sort of
chronic illness; the difficulty lies in the fact that the illness is
new. What you do with that diagnosis, getting yourself moving around,
and changing your mindset to "I'm gonna do this!", are key to getting
yourself better faster, according to Mr.Eldredge.

What can you do? Again, take charge of what you now have. Understand your new illness. Zero in on the important things, like the information about it. But stop yourself from thinking about unimportant stuff; for example when I find that little voice in my head putting me down I tell it "STOP." Think about things you can change, (NOT what you can't). Lastly, to sum all of this up, think of modifying your behavior either through therapy or talking to a friend.

To get to the good parts, like chapter five, you need to read through
a long prologue about why Mr.Eldredge was qualified to write it. I
don't know if that was necessary to put in. At least not so large a
prologue; what does he have to say other than the writer is someone
who's lived through a severe bout of illness/disability?


It's also difficult to see what his point exactly is reading through most of this rambling book. Sure, there are stories of hardship that are hard to read and to take and they can make a person shake the head in amazement. However, they are not as gripping stories as they could be, because they go all over the place, telling the entire story of a person's issues with illness and their own family's difficulties.

However, if you can read through the rambling stories, Mr. Eldredge does have some useful information. Within the stories are bits of information about different ways a patient can take charge of what they have, and their treatment. When that happens, as the author notes, that patient will have a faster recovery. He includes five steps to how to do this: for instance in chapter two, five steps are discussed for it, including taking charge of your space and time, especially important for those of us in hospitals or rehab clinics for any length of time.

I agree with Mr.Eldredge in chapter 7 that a patient must learn all they can about their illness to become as well as possible. In my own experience, I've found that the "informed patient" is not always popular among doctors or in hospitals, but indeed, it's much better for a person to know as much as he or she can and ask questions, get involved in his or her care, as possible.

The part of the book I truly did not understand was chapter 10, where the author actually says that the next three chapters will profile people who've fought unsuccessful battles against illness. Is this supposed to be inspirational? As the author says at the start of chapter 10, "each loss left a legacy of courage and determination." Maybe so, but I don't see why three chapters need be devoted to it. If the message is "you've gotta fight back" and then sometimes you lose, then give it one chapter. He also does not give his own reasoning for these chapters till they are done with. If I were reading this book just to read it, I would have
no clue why he was putting them in, not really. Put the
information about them before they start, and maybe it would make
sense.

Chapter 16 returns to the focus of the book; it discusses how you can help yourself by helping others. Psychologically, this is very beneficial, yes. The author tells how self-help groups can be helpful, because you get to talk with others with similar issues, and sometimes be able to exchange possible solutions. This can help for people with illnesses, addictions and injuries.

Truly, if you sift through the long tales of illness and everything else, you can find some bits of information as well as a few inspirational tales. There is, for instance, the story of the young woman with quadriplegia who learned to paint and donated her work to Christopher Reeve. He then had the paintings made into ties, and these were sold by J.C.Penny. Then there are the humorous tales of someone trying to get her medical equipment through customs around the world.

Sure, there are those stories. And there is some useful information. But the amount of stuff to get through to get to it is in my mind not worth trying to read this book. It's like going through a dumpster full of various kinds of garbage, from old furniture to cans to car parts, where you know there's some treasure, but you have to get through all of that to find it within the scattered mess. That's the real "fight" in this book.

Rating :

Fight back with help from this book

Reviewed by Randy A. Lakin for RebeccasReads (11/08)


This is Dirk Chase Eldredge's third book, and I have to say that "You've Gotta Fight Back" is a must for anyone who has suffered from a critical Illness, injury or disability. In this book, Eldredge lays out several different stories of individuals, families and their friends who have had major life altering illnesses or injuries. In the first story, Eldredge tells the story of an individual who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is often referred to as Lou Gehrig's Disease, and ALS for short. Normally someone with ALS will live for two to five years, but this person lived twenty-five years. The story unfolds around the whole family, his wife and the children, one of whom does not handle the news of her father having ALS very well.

The last story in the book is about the writer's son, a former functioning alcoholic and drug user. Functioning alcoholics are able to perform their job and go through the everyday motions of life without being detected, but eventually everyone saw through Dirk, Jr.'s facade except his father. After he hit bottom and his wife left, Dirk, Jr. finally turned to AA. With the help of Alcoholics Anonymous, he was able to put his life back on track, and he now devotes his time to helping others overcome the same problems he once suffered from.

Another area Eldredge covers is the caregiver, a group of people that often get overlooked. It is hard being a caregiver in this day and age. This is the one person sees the most changes in a patient, and usually has no one to turn to. I personally am a caregiver to my wife, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's at the age of 46. I take good care of her, but it is hard to see her shake and lose her memory. All the doctors tell us is that they usually do not see something like that in someone her age, and, boy, that really helps!

In conclusion, I would recommend this book to anyone who has or knows someone who has a serious illness or injury. The author has hit the target with this book. I personally have a failed back fusion in my lumbar area with scar tissue entrapping the nerves in my lower back and down both legs. I am also on morphine daily for the pain. I truly enjoyed reading this book and I think you will too. This book lets you know you are not alone in the world, and would make a great addition to anyone's library or even as a gift to someone who suffers from an illness or injury.


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Editorial Review :

Though he enjoys life with his family and attends school, Howie, a child with cerebral palsy, wants more than anything else to be able to move his wheelchair by himself.

Customer Review :

A Wonderful Book

This book is great. It went straight to my heart. Having a child who is a lot like "Howie" I really appreciated this book. When it talks about all of the things Howie can't do it is clear to other readers that some kids with disabilities cannot do the things we take for granted. It is clear and not candy coated. It is nice to finally read a book where the main character has some very significant disabilities instead of just the minor ones you usually read about.

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WORST BOOK ABOUT DISABILITIES EVER

I am studying to be a special education teacher so I thought this book, from what I knew about it would be a great book to have in my classroom library... I got the book in the mail today and read it... I was very disappointed. The first half of the book focuses on what Howie CAN'T DO which puts a very negative connotation on disability for children who dont know about disability. Finally in the second half of the story we hear about Howie's dream to be able to push his wheelchair as fast as his friends can which after all the talk of what he cant do makes his accomplishment not seem like that big of a deal... which to a kid with a disability is a HUGE deal. The pictures are also very out of date... the wheelchair Howie is in, today would be motorized and there are other kids in the class who have leg braces which would not look like that anymore which for kids would be very misleading because it wont look like any kids they see with disabilities.

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Too bad I couldn't give it a zero

I really have to disagree with the other reviewers here. I find this book to be totally insensitive to children with disabilities. It is filled with discussion about what Howie "can not do at all" and though he does manage to push his wheelchair by himself eventually, he is still depicted as a quite depressed, pathetic little boy. I can't help but think that if people are praising Howie Helps Himself, that they must have never had the opportunity to see the many positive examples of books which include characters with disabilities. Try Seal Surfer by Michael Foreman instead.

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Howie is for everyone

My 6 year old son has cerebral palsy and he and I both found Howie's story to be very inspiring. Howie is severly physically handicapped. The story is about Howie's frustrations and triumphs as he struggles to become more independent. My son is not in a wheel chair so he has begun to appreciate how fortunate he is to be able to do many things that Howie cannot. The book also helped him developed empathy for those less fortunate than him.

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My child with CP loves it

My daughter is 4 and is fascinated by this book. She wants to read it over and over. It is the only book I have found about a child in a wheelchair. I wish there were more about kids with disabilities.

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