After Disability: a Guide to Getting on with Life. Lisa Bendall, $19.95

More than 3.6 million Canadians are living with some sort of disability, with mobility-related issues affecting nearly one in ten people. After Disability is the practical Canadian resource guide for living fully with a sudden disability. It is geared to the rising number of adults who have experienced injury, stroke, disease, arthritis or the effects of aging. In a positive and reader-friendly tone, author Lisa Bendall offers valuable information, strategies, suggestions, resources and stories from men and women who have experience with disability-related issues. Topics covered include:

• Assistive devices and technology
• Accessible housing
• Financial concerns
• Health and health care
• Self-advocacy and the law
• Education and employment
• Sexuality, family life and parenting
• Sports, recreation and the arts
• Transportation
• Travel

Informative, accessible and empowering, After Disability is the first book of its kind and is an essential and valuable resource for Canadians learning to live with a disability.

Children with Traumatic Brain Injury: a Parents' Guide. Edited by Lisa Schoenbrodt, $30.95

Children with Traumatic Brain Injury is a comprehensive reference that provides parents with the support and information they need to help their child recover from a closed-head injury and prevent further incidents. Coping with traumatic brain injury (TBI) involves a complex process of readjustment to the changes in a once healthy child and affects everyone in the family. The effects of TBI can range from mild to severe and recovery can take from weeks to years. While TBI can happen to anyone, children, particularly teens, are susceptible. Children with Traumatic Brain Injury gives parents the hope and facts they need to improve the outcome of their child's recovery.

Confronting Traumatic Brain Injury: Devastation, Hope, and Healing.  William J. Winslade, $23.95

Confronting Traumatic Brain Injury explains what it is, how it is caused, and what can be done to treat, cope with, and prevent it.

William Winslade presents facts about traumatic brain injury; information about its financial and emotional costs to individuals, families, and society; and key ethical and policy issues. He illustrates each aspect with dramatic case studies, including his own childhood brain injury. He explains how the brain works and how severe injuries affect it, both immediately and over the long term. He tells about the lack of regulation in the rehabilitation industry and he offers recommendations for policy changes to lower the instances of traumatic brain injury (such as raising the minimum driving age) as well as practical steps that individuals can take to protect themselves from brain trauma.

Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath. Michael Paul Mason, $18.95

Head Cases takes us into the dark side of the brain in an astonishing sequence of stories, at once true and strange, from the world of brain damage. Michael Paul Mason is one of an elite group of experts who coordinate care in the complicated aftermath of tragic injuries that can last a lifetime. On the road with Mason, we encounter survivors of brain injuries as they struggle to map and make sense of the new worlds they inhabit.

Underlying each of these survivors’ stories is an exploration of the brain and its mysteries. Mason gives us a series of vivid glimpses into brain science, the last frontier of medicine, and we come away in awe of the miracles of the brain’s workings and astonished at the fragility of the brain and the sense of self, life, and order that resides there.

Islands of Genius: the Bountiful Mind of the Autistic, Acquired and Sudden Savant. Darold Treffert, $29.95

Savant syndrome is a rare condition in which individuals with developmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorders, have one or more areas of expertise, ability, or brilliance — "islands of genius" — that exist in contrast with their overall limitations. In this fascinating book, Dr. Darold Treffert looks at what we know about this remarkable condition, and at new discoveries that raise interesting questions about the hidden brain potential within us all.

Dr. Treffert explores the phenomena of genetic memory — instances in which individuals somehow "know" things they never learned; and sudden genius or "acquired savantism" — where a neuro-typical person unexpectedly and spectacularly develops savant-like abilities following a head injury or stroke. Showing that these phenomena point convincingly towards a reservoir of untapped potential — an inner savant capacity — within us all, he looks both at how savant skills can be nurtured, and how they can help the person who has them, particularly if that person is on the autism spectrum. A central colour section contains the extraordinary artwork of some of the savants who are mentioned in the book.

Islands of Genius will intrigue anyone who has ever wondered what makes the mind of a savant tick, as well as clinicians, parents, teachers, therapists, and others who care for and about, individuals with savant syndrome.

Music Therapy and Traumatic Brain Injury: a Light on a Dark Night. Simon Gilbertson & David Aldridge, $35.95

Music Therapy and Traumatic Brain Injury demonstrates how music therapy can be used to attend to the holistic, rather than purely functional, needs of people affected by severe head trauma. Divided into three parts, the first section provides an introduction to the effects brain injury has on a person's livelihood. The second is a comprehensive review of available literature on the use of music therapy in the neurorehabilitative setting. The final section examines three case studies designed according to 'therapeutic narrative analysis', an adaptive research method that uses interviewing and video, which focuses on the unique relationship between the professional and the patient.

This book will give clinicians key notes for practice and a vision of the integral role music therapy can have in the successful rehabilitation from brain injury.

My Stroke of Insight: a Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey. Jill Bolte Taylor, $18.50

On December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor, a 37 year old Harvard-trained neuroscientist, experienced a massive stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. Over the next four hours, Dr. Bolte Taylor observed her mind deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read or recall her life. It would take her eight years to recover.

My Stroke of Insight is a unique and inspiring tale that brings personal experience together with professional understanding. This is a valuable recovery guide for those touched by brain injury and trauma.

Non-accidental head injury is often referred to as being synonymous with 'shaken baby syndrome' (SBS) – a term which has attracted a great deal of controversy in recent years due to both disagreement about its cause and the reliability of eyewitness testimony. The authors investigate the existing evidence surrounding SBS and its recognition and construction, including medical versus social explanations and the difficulties involved in proving abuse. The authors argue for an examination of non-accidental head injury rather than SBS, as this term encompasses other forms of abuse as well as shaking, and caution against a blind acceptance of medical testimony, arguing that this may impede child protection agencies' ability to assess cases objectively and accurately. They also consider the effectiveness of prevention strategies in reducing the incidence of child abuse cases.

This insightful book will be essential reading for social workers, lawyers, health professionals, and those working with child protection agencies.

The visual tools in The Planner Guide help individuals with disabilities to "connect the dots" of social understanding and life skills. Adolescents, youth and adults will benefit from learning skills of organization that will help encourage independence in school, work, home, and community. The Planner Guide can be used effectively by individuals with a wide range of disabilities, including:

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Cognitive Impairments
• Learning Disabilities
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Any Cognitive or Social Challenges

It works as a curriculum base as well as a daily reference tool and includes nine color-coded sections:

The package comes with:

The materials support individuals on issues of personal safety, communication, self-advocacy, problem-solving, organizational and life skills, communication, relationships, education, independence and stress management.

The Planner Guide comes in a sturdy, zippered cloth case with carrying handles.

The Power to Spring UP: Postsecondary Education Opportunities for Students with Significant Disabilities.  Diana Katovitch, $30.95

The Power to Spring Up makes it clear that education and learning after high school are both possible and beneficial for students with significant disabilities, giving them better job opportunities and more fulfilling lives.

This guide to PSE options is designed for students ages 14 and up with a variety of disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders (ASD), Down syndrome, traumatic brain injury and cerebral palsy as well as for their families, advocates, and secondary school professionals. Not only does the author provide important practical information and guidance, she also inspires families, giving them renewed hope in their child’s future and the possibilities for them to continue learning and gaining independence into adulthood.