My children's school is a CTT school—a Collaborative Team Teaching school—so all the classrooms are made up of about 1/3 special education students and 2/3 general education students. We also have a sister site, a school that is just for kids with Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Sometimes these kids progress enough to be in a CTT classroom, and then they come over to the main site and join a CTT class.
Most of the time this whole thing works really well, but as with everything, there are sometimes difficulties. A CTT classroom can be overwhelming for a kid on the autistic spectrum, and kids can be jerks, and parents can be jerks, and life can just be a bit tricky. Suffice it to say that my kid came home one day to report that some other kids were setting up an "I hate Glenn*" club and what should she do about it?
Which is why I ended up on a committee that's supposed to help the school deal with some of these issues.
Right now we're working on a letter that is supposed to help parents figure out how best to answer their own kids' questions and concerns about this stuff in our school, and someone had the excellent idea to append a list of books about autism, and difference, and friends to the letter.
Which is where you guys come in. I don't want these books to be bad. I want them to be helpful and amazing and interesting. I also (while I'm asking) am hoping that we can find books for a range of ages, from picture books to YA novels. So for all those of you who have asked us for recommendations, we are returning the honor: send titles, authors, appropriate ages and all (and heck, if you're a publisher send a book, just click on the review policy link to the left there to see how).
And thanks.
*Not his real name. Just a way to relieve the great anger I feel towards Glenn Beck.
