Special Kids: A Day at School

If starting school provokes anxiety in your average child, imagine how special-needs children feel. While there are some excellent books out there to soothe incoming kindergartners, many visual learners need to see what they can expect. From getting on a big yellow bus, to navigating a hallway filled with children at lockers, to visiting various classrooms and places in the school (including the library), Special Kids: A Day at School visually immerses children in a typical school day, while providing introductions to the alphabet, numbers, spelling and writing. Developed by John and Lori Sprecher for their autistic two-year old son, the Special Kids videos have been successfully used with children who have Down's syndrome, cerebral palsy, dyslexia and other special conditions. My only quibble was that, although I'm not a special education teacher, I do wonder about the value of showing vocabulary words in cursive writing for pre-school viewers. Aside from that qualifier, this is recommended for pre-school, kindergarten, primary grade, public library and day care center collections. Other titles in the series include: Body Parts & Grooming, Getting Ready, Numbers & Quantities, Spelling, The Alphabet and Things in a Day. Aud: K, E, P. (R. Reagan)