Special Children, Challenged Parents  

"I wrote Special Children, Challenged Parents to deal with issues that no other book about disability deals with, especially a major male dilemma:

Men, including myself, have a hard time facing things they can't fix," says Dr. Robert A. Naseef. "Men feel powerless, inept, sterile. We can't simply work harder to fix our child's disability. Instead, as we struggle with the grief and darker side of what it takes to face our broken dreams about our child, we must deal with our powerlessness."

According to Dr. Naseef, "Fathers as well as mothers can go through a process that leads from grief to hope, from isolation to relatedness, from emptiness to fullness, and from shame to pride. This process can be long and arduous, but it can also be heartfelt and inspiring."

Special Children, Challenged Parents is a singular book because it offers the views of a man who is a psychologist and the father of a child with autism. This volume addresses the issues of all parents with special-needs children, and it focuses specifically on the issues and needs of fathers. Special Children, Challenged Parents not only helps men to open up in their own way, it also helps women to get a glimpse inside the psyche of men. Couples can also use this book to connect and communicate better when their marriages seem ready to crumble from strain.

In the words of James May, Project Director, National Fathers' Network: "With enormous insight and eloquence Bob Naseef blends his understanding as a psychologist with his real life experience of raising a son with autism. The result is a book which moves and teaches us at the same time--an intelligent, authentic, and impressive achievement."

Joan F. Goodman, Ed.D., University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and author of When Slow is Fast Enough, had this to say: "Never have I read a book that combines so profoundly the experiences of a father—agonizing, embarrassing, frustrating, exhilarating, sometimes even blissful—with the insights of an experienced therapist and the wisdom of a scholar."

The book is receiving praise from many disability organizations. The National Psoriasis Foundation wrote that "the honesty and compassion with which it is written translates easily to any condition."

The book is available through your local bookseller or through the VHL Online Bookstore http://www.vhl.org/bookstore.

As printed in the VHL Family Forum 7:4, December 1999.  For permission to reprint, please contact VHL Family Alliance, editor@vhl.org. Further information is available from the VHL Family Alliance, info@vhl.org.