RSETASCBooksOne of my favorite activities on Sunday afternoons is reading The Book Review section of the New York Times. After reading another list of “Best Books in Fiction”, I decided to come up with a list of the books in special education that have influenced me the most. In the future I’ll review, in more depth, why each of these books has resonated with me over the years.

  1. 1. Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon tells the story of parents of children with special needs. Solomon interviewed more than 300 families with “exceptional children” to write this book.
  2. Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz is a classic on dyslexia with information on causes and identification of dyslexia and different way of remediating it.
  3. A Mind at a Time by Mel Levine, a book for educators and parents on how to help students with learning difficulties.
  4. Differentiated Reading Instruction by Sharon Walpole and Michael McKenna gives practical strategies for teaching reading in the primary grades.
  5. Pre-Referral Intervention Manual by Stephen McCarney is great for new special education teachers, providing a comprehensive list of interventions for students with learning and behavior problems.
  6. Explicit Direct Instruction by John Hollingsworth and Silvia Ybarra is a wonderful guide for implementing Explicit Direction Instruction in diverse classrooms.
  7. Keeping A Head in School, another book by Mel Levine, is written for children who have learning disabilities. It is intended to help students understand why they learn differently.
  8. Common Core for the Not So Common Learner by Maria Dove and Andrea Honigsfeld is a book that provides teachers with the strategies they need to teach common core standards to students with learning difficulties.