Friday, March 28, 2014

Unlocking the Social Potential in Autism by Karina Poirier - Book Blast

Unlocking the Social PotentialUnlocking the Social Potential_Final_ShadowsTo your dismay, your child has received a diagnosis of autism. Along with this alarming news comes the barrage of emotions that suffocates you like an avalanche— denial—confusion—depression—guilt. You want to fix your child; you have a million questions; and you want answers immediately. Autism is a journey in which the child and her family navigate challenges and experience achievements along the way. To guide you in this rewarding journey, Dr. Karina Poirier offers her expertise in this book that parents will find incredibly useful. In this book, you will find the answers you’ve desperately been seeking. Dr. Poirier has provided in simple, easy to comprehend language, an overview of child development, a descriptive explanation of how autism affects each developmental area, and guidelines for advancing your child’s functioning in all developmental domains. You will appreciate the multitude of hands-on, full-color sample lessons for teaching social and emotional skills, language, problem-solving and decision making, and play skills to children with autism.
Publisher: Social Cognition Publications | Irvine, CA
Color: Full-color illustrations
Pages: 300
ISBN (Print): 9780988798205 ISBN (Digital): 9780988798212
Available: March 2014
Available at: http://www.socialcognitionpublications.com/

Improving social and communication skills in children with autism

Dr. Karina Poirier, author of Unlocking the Social Potential in Autism, says that understanding a child’s unique needs is the key step to dealing with concerns and developing their strengths. “Bring everything into the light. The worst thing you can do,” she said, “is to ignore the issue. Parents can help their children learn how to communicate better and develop social skills that will help them thrive later in life. Get help early, identify the specific issues you are facing, ask questions, learn everything you can, and devise a concrete and detailed strategy for engaging your child so key skills are developed and strengthened”.

Here are her answers to some key concerns that parents of a child with autism are faced with.

Q: My child can sit through a learning task on the iPad or television; however, he becomes restless and fidgety when working with a teacher. Why?
A: Your child’s attention system is reactive. Consider how much children learn from viewing television. Teachers struggle to get children’s attention when an activity does not include the sensory kaleidoscope children are used to receiving when sitting in front of the television.
Key Action: Children must be taught at an early age how to develop the mental tools (attend, remember, think) to engage in deliberate and self-directed learning experiences with an adult’s guidance.

Q: My child does not respond appropriately to mood changes in others (e.g., when a peer’s mood changes from happiness to distress). Why?
A: Your child may be lacking the ability to read nonverbal cues. Children with autism often have impaired ability to read, interpret, and process social and emotional messages. Children who are unaware of others’ thoughts and feelings risk not developing the sense of self.
Key Action: Treatment to teach the child the emotional codes that are part of the social experience. The child needs to develop the ability to understand other peoples’ emotions from their facial expression, tone of voice, and body posture. The child should be taught to recognize and interpret how people around him think and feel.
 
Q: My child has difficulty with describing his/her day at school, recounting an experience, or relaying a message. Why?
A: Delayed recall skills utilize episodic memory. Episodic memory allows us to remember past events and share these events with others. In other words, it is how we engage in reciprocal conversations with others. Episodic memory produces a conscious awareness of events that have occurred at any one time; it enables people to remember what happened to them in the past or to conceive the future.
Key Action: Effective treatment is required for the child to learn about memory strategies and to practice remembering. Through repetition, the child develops not only better recall of past events, but also the skills to communicate the memory of the event to peers or adults during a conversation.

Q: My child is verbal and has good command of language; however, he has trouble initiating conversation with others and taking turns during a conversation. Why?
A: Children with autism have difficulties in social initiation and social-emotional understanding. Engaging in a reciprocal conversation with others requires the development and interaction of memory, information processing, and expressive communication skills—all of which are pervasive deficits of children with autism. It is not that these children do not desire involvement with their peers. On the contrary, they do have the desire to be socially engaged with others; however, the dilemma lies in the fact that these children lack knowledge of social norms.
Key Action: Effective treatment that emphasizes social norms and rules, and teaches children how to process social information by distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant information in a social situation. Initiating and maintaining a conversation requires a person to have social knowledge, which is knowledge of event schemas.
 
Q: How much play time is appropriate to include in my child’s learning routine?
A: For a young child, teaching through play is extremely important. Play gives children something to do with their ample free time; it also serves the important purpose of honing children’s physical, social and emotional development. Play does not occur spontaneously in children with autism the way it does for typical children.
Key Action: Investing significant time teaching through play focuses the child on developing fine and gross motor skills, interpreting the social cues of other children and adults, and responding to those social cues appropriately. Play can be used to develop the ability to interact with, explore, and, ultimately master their surroundings. Play is an essential part of the learning process, and its ability to mimic real-life scenarios makes it an ideal way to stimulate overall development.

About the author:

Karina Poirier, Psy.D., BCBA-D Dr. Karina Poirier is the Director of the Center for Social Cognition , a board certified behavior analyst at the doc-toral level (BCBA-D), and a certified cognitive educational therapist. Her clinical practice is devoted to providing outstanding individuals and group therapy that improves social and cognitive outcomes for individuals with autism, ADHD, Traumatic Brain Injury, and related disorders. Learn more at www.drkarinapoirier.com.

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Monday, March 10, 2014

Transcendent by Olivia Hardin - Release Day

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"Olivia Hardin takes a character we hated in a previous book and somehow makes him a hero we love. That's no small feat. Transcendent captures perfectly the tension and temptation of falling in love in the midst of turmoil and intrigue. . .it's a story that will linger in your heart."

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"Olivia Hardin weaves a wonderfully emotional story of love, redemption, and political intrigue in Transcendent. Be prepared to transcend your own expectations."

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To the Women on the Hill McKenna is a spy who sails the nightwind to keep close tabs on her people. In truth, McKenna is a double operative, an integral part of an underground rebellion. The Women are secretly bleeding the fae of their powers then banishing them to the Island Anethemusa; but the Dissenters, rebels who suffer under the crushing power of the Women, mean to put an end to their reign.

When McKenna happens upon a talking weasel, she knows she’s found the perfect envoy for her covert mission. Robin Weir’s punishment for a life of betrayal is to be stripped of his magic and exiled as an animal in a foreign realm. He’s used to dirty jobs and subterfuge so becoming McKenna’s errand boy should be a simple task.

But things heats up when Robin finds he has the power to shift into a man again. For McKenna the pet she’s invited into her home now wants nothing less than to possess her heart, body and soul. With the uprising at the ready, lives could be lost if McKenna can’t balance her separate identities of spy, rebel and lover.

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Friday, March 7, 2014

A Lady's Plight by Katy Walters - Promo

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ALadysPlightLady Isabella Winton waits years to marry her fiancé, but Lord Alexander Fitzroy, a reformed rake, always finds an excuse to delay the nuptials.
With the marriage set for the next month, Fitzroy tells her he is needed in Belgium almost immediately. He warns her it may be dangerous for her to accompany him. Isabella suspects he is bluffing. Brussels is the centre of a social whirl. She looked forward elaborate dinners and extravagant balls. Fearing Fitzroy may have returned to his rakish ways, she insists on travelling with him. Isabella is unaware that Lord Everard Ladness, heir to a dukedom, is obsessed with her and will go to any lengths to possess her.

Buy on: Amazon (UK) | Amazon (US)

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Meet the author:

I live in a Sussex village near to the Regency towns. Before writing a novel, I visit one of them to soak up the elegance of the architecture, trying to enter the atmosphere of those far-gone times. Whilst walking through narrow cobbled streets, I imagine horse drawn carriages rollicking past, of ladies in Empire fashion, of feathered bonnets and velvet pelisses, of nankeen breeches and starched cravats. Even today, the same bay fronted shop windows replete with mullioned windows yawn over narrow pavements. The only changes being the wares; an empire dress swapped for a top and miniskirt. Best of all, is stepping down rickety steps into an oak beamed tearoom, with a leaning floor, where log fires crackle in open grates, the air filled with the rich aroma of tansy and cinnamon cakes. Katy has a BA(Hons)Psych, BA Eng.Lit and Creative Writing, MA. Hon Doc. for research into complementary methods of pain control.

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Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Undeniable by Tawdra Kandle - Review

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cover At last. . .the sizzling spin-off from The King Series

UNDENIABLE: The Serendipity Duet Book One

For Rafe Brooks, running from a broken heart means losing himself in alcohol and women. Lots of women, none of whom will remember him, since he has the ability to manipulate their minds and make them forget. Numbing the pain works until he meets an irresistible redhead with secrets of her own. She offers him the opportunity to join forces with an organization that will use his powers for good rather than his own amusement. Jocelyn rocks his world with her unapologetic passion and makes him believe for the first time he just might survive heartbreak. When a mission takes the two of them undercover to infiltrate a commune with suspicious activity, they discover it's just the tip of a plot to cause world-wide anarchy. Hiding their extraordinary powers and real identities is crucial to staying alive. For Rafe and Jocelyn, when life is uncertain, love is undeniable. Buy on: Amazon Barnes & Noble Smashwords

My Thoughts: Every time I open one of Tawdra's books I get so wrapped up I forget the rest of the world. It's a really good thing my kids still nap. Undeniable is the first in The Serendipity Duet, a spin-off from The King Series. I loved The King Series, and I wasn't sure how this book would compare. It turns out that Undeniable is on a different level from The King Series. It is intense and exciting, and sexy.

Ever since I finished The King Series I have wondered about Rafe. I loved him in those books and I always wondered. Tawdra is insanely awesome for writing his story. She also did his story so much justice. I love seeing inside his head and learning more about him. Rafe is sexy and fun. He was spending so much time just trying to forget that the gradual build up of his feelings for another girl was really great. I was cheering him on the whole time. Jocelyn is awesome. I love her spunky attitude about everything. I also appreciate her caution and her honesty in the book. It's what Rafe needs. She's a strong female character, which Tawdra has a real knack for writing. She isn't needy or whiny, and I love that about her.

The settings in this book are awesome. I loved the descriptions of New Orleans and the life that Rafe leads there shortly. I also loved the setting in the country. The other thing I always enjoy is the powers all of the people possess. This book really upped that. I was especially interested in how Jocelyn's powers would play out.

I have to say Rafe really stole my heart. I felt so much for him by the end of this book. Enough to have a brief moment of "WHY!?!" at Tawdra. Now I'm just waiting for the next book, because I can't even imagine where things could possibly go next. I just have to say, Read This! Read The King Series first if you want some background (and because it's awesome, too), but definitely don't miss out on Undeniable.

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About the Author

-2Tawdra Thompson Kandle lives in central Florida with her husband, children, cats and dog. She loves homeschooling, cooking, traveling and reading, not necessarily in that order. And yes, she has purple hair. You can follow Tawdra here…FacebookTwitterWebsite

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Monday, March 3, 2014

Spartanica by Powers Molinar - Review

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Ty and Marcus Mitchell are average middle school brothers growing up north of Chicago until one night when they’re hurtled through an inter-dimensional gateway to a parallel world defined by its multiple moons and planet-wide apocalypse. As they struggle to figure out where they are and how to get home, the boys encounter refugees of “the last day” from the distant city of Atlantis and a mysterious girl called Bellana, the sole survivor and resident of the devastated city of Spartanica. Ty and Marcus soon learn they only have seven days to get home. But before they can leave, they must battle through long-extinct predators, track down the elusive Professor Otherblood, and rescue a new friend from certain death. Is all of this insanity just Ty’s overactive imagination or are the brothers truly on the brink of being stranded on the brutal wasteland known as Spartanica?

My Thoughts: I always love reading a book that I hope to be able to pass on to my book loving children one day. Spartanica is different from other books for my kids. I tend towards princesses and brave little girls. Spartanica can introduce my kids to the amazing world of sci-fi, and with a book like this I think they will love that world.

Spartanica moves quickly through two brothers experience in a parallel world. Everything is fast and exciting as the story goes along. I didn't want to put it done as I waited to find out what could possibly come next. I loved how engaging the characters are. Their personalities shine through in the story. I also love their personal growth. Finding strength in a scary situation can be hard, and it was great to read how these characters did just that.

I loved the descriptive details of this parallel world. I loved learning along with Ty and Marcus about this new world. The fast paced action and daring rescue missions were captivating. I think middle grade readers right up to adults will enjoy reading this book. I cannot wait for the next book, so I can find out what happens!

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Author Bio:

Powers Molinar grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago and earned engineering and business degrees at the University of Iowa. While he works as a process engineer and project manager during the day, his passion is writing science fiction. His first novel, Spartanica, is the culmination of several year's of part-time effort mostly late at night and on weekends when he wasn't enjoying time with his wife and kids, all of whom were big helpers getting Spartanica written. Powers believes every kid has the potential to become exceptional. In addition to being a blast to read, he truly hopes his books spark kids' imaginations and inspire them to read more and maybe even become writers. Being a solid reader is a foundational piece of leading an exceptional life. Powers hopes his books can be part of that foundation for as many kids as possible.

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I received an e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.