HIGHLAND PARK, IL - - A nationally recognized special parenting expert, Highland Park author Judith Loseff Lavin, will speak in Deerfield at the Deerfield Square Barnes & Noble, 728 N. Waukegan Road, at 2 p.m., Sunday, March 10. The Deerfield event is one of dozens around the nation at which Lavin addresses parents, educators and healthcare professionals about the numerous parenting challenges of raising children with special needs.

Recently interviewed on NBC-TV’s Today Show and on the CBS Radio Networks (500 stations in the U.S.), she discusses these emotional and practical challenges faced by 40,000,000 American parents, including herself, who have children with special needs. Special parenting of children with physical, emotional or mental challenges of any kind, requires an extraordinary amount of attention, discipline, love and understanding, according to Lavin. If these parents receive extra support and guidance at each step along their parenting journey, they can triumph, she adds.

Following her speech, the former writer for the Chicago Sun-Times and mother of a daughter with special challenges, will sign copies of her widely acclaimed book, Special Kids Need Special Parents (www.specialkidsbook.com). The 307-page resource guide, which may be the only one of its kind, will soon go into its fifth printing since it was published less than a year ago. In the book, Lavin offers insights, support and advice on a wide variety of topics. These range from how to cope with stress and strengthen a marriage (government studies report a divorce rate of more than 75 percent in special families) to finding the right therapist, parenting healthy siblings and understanding the reactions and behavior of grandparents. She also talks about how to deal with teasing, particularly during Winter when teasing escalates and how to recognize and seek treatment for a child’s depression.

Lavin gleaned these tips and wisdom from her own experience and from hundreds of interviews with parents and family members, physicians, educators, attorneys and therapists. Numerous celebrities, prominent experts and authors are quoted in her book, including Academy Award-winning actress Marlee Matlin, Major League baseball player Jim Abbott and master violinist Itzhak Perlman, all of whom have triumphed over their disabilities.

Following are some noteworthy reviews of Lavin’s book:

• Publishers Weekly - - Lavin’s book combines compassion and considerable first-hand research.
  
• Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People - - A wise and helpful book….
  
• Tim Shriver, president and CEO of Special Olympics, Inc. - - … a touching, spiritual and very personal account…. a helpful how-to guide for parents on a broad array of topics.
  
• Dr. Charles Berde, director of Pain Treatment Services at Children’s Hospital of Boston and Harvard Medical School professor - - a valuable compass and road map for families of children with special needs….
• Actor Stacy Keach, who had cleft lip and palate and serves as honorary chairman of the American Cleft Palate Foundation - - Judy Lavin shows all of us the way to hope and happiness…. this book will be a positive guiding influence for special kids and parents for many generations to come.
  
• Parenting expert Adele Faber, who co-authored How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and Listen so Kids Will Talk - - Parents will be grateful for this honest compassionate guide…(A) wealth of useful information.

To RSVP for the Sunday, March 10 Barnes & Noble event in Deerfield, e-mail: ginadgurke@aol.com. For further information about Lavin’s speaking schedule or to inquire about booking her for your organization, e-mail: judylavin@specialkidsbook.com.

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