From a subject close to my heart, a work of love and understanding in a titled book formed. Watching and listening to my daughter led me to become a voice and advocate for children who struggle daily with sensory issues and their journeys with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Emelie was the inspiration for me to pen this book. She had shown me insight into her world that I felt compelled to write and keep safe. Around her twelfth birthday, I was rereading these jewels and realized a pattern was established. Had I been more aware of these things when she was a younger age, I could have assisted my daughter through the challenges and daily struggles with sensory issues. Piecing together the written memories, a message was there, ready and waiting to be heard. As Emelie shared her voice with us, we wanted to share her voice with you. From a child's perspective, this book shows insight into the daily challenges and issues that are abounding around children living with sensory issues and/or Autism. It's her voice crying for understanding from those who can't understand and shouting support for those who may feel they are alone. From the adult perspective, it's a guide into one child's world. Emelie's voice to adults is that seeking patience, compassion and understanding. She's asking adults to look deeper into the experiences of the children in their lives and see it through the eyes of that child. While each child with Autism and sensory issues is in a unique and diversified situation, to even have the notion or inkling of what may be happening, I believe would have helped anyone in their interactions with Emelie.

Each title in the twelve-book Think About . . . series opens with a helpful letter to parents and educators explaining ways to use the books with their kids. This title explores body and facial expressions in animals and people. Waves, smiles, frowns, hugs, kisses, handshakes, and common greeting expressions are featured.

For over 25 years, the Greenhaven Press Opposing Viewpoints Series has developed and set the standard for current-issue studies. With more than 90 volumes covering nearly every controversial contemporary topic, Opposing Viewpoints is the leading source for libraries and classrooms in need of current-issue materials. Each title explores a specific issue by placing expert opinions in a unique pro/con format. The viewpoints are selected from a wide range of highly respected and often hard-to-find sources and publications. By choosing from such diverse sources and including both popular and unpopular views, the Opposing Viewpoints editorial team has adhered to its commitment to editorial objectivity. Readers are exposed to many sides of a debate, which promotes issue awareness as well as critical thinking. In short, Opposing Viewpoints is the best research and learning tool for exploring the issues that continually shape and define our turbulent and changing world.

Series of essays about issues surrounding treatment of the mentally ill with violent tendencies.

"When I was diagnosed Paranoid Schizophrenic it I felt as though a lightning bolt had struck me. It shattered my world. I was put into a mental asylum. I was labeled. I was shunned. My friends fell away. I was walled by a screen of prejudice and fear from the general public. Was this to be a life sentence? Was there a way to escape from the straitjacket of serious mental illness? This is my story, the story of how I learned to survive. Is it success? You be the judge."

"The Twinkie Bin" is the story of a teenage girl struggling to survive an unhappy and destructive home life as well as the pressures inherent in growing up. The main character desperately wants to be a successful, good kid. But there are so many issues, and there is too much pain. Without supportive adults in her life, she is unsure of what to do. She turns to alcohol.
Her drinking sends her out of control, spiraling down a path of self-destruction. She winds up in an adolescent drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. She is unable to open up to the counselors there. Her life becomes increasingly unhappy rather than better. Depressed and suicidal, she is transferred to a mental hospital. She hits hard when she lands in The Twinkie Bin - a pivotal event in her young life. "The Twinkie Bin" is a powerful and heart-wrenching adolescent survival story. It courageously addresses teen issues such as drinking, depression and parental conflict. The novel takes the reader on an emotional journey through an honest account of teen angst. "The Twinkie Bin" is a poetic memoir with a message of hope.

There is a wide range of sanctions used by the criminal justice system to punish criminal offenders including death, imprisonment and community supervision. All of these sanctions involve a social institution exerting direct social control over an individual either through loss of life or liberty or via constant supervision. And even after a prison sentence or community supervision term has ended there are continuing penalties, for while a prison term may be completed the label of "convicted felon" last a lifetime. A unique Florida law affords judges the discretion to withhold adjudication for felony offenders sentenced to probation. This sentencing option allows offenders to avoid the label of "convicted felon" and retain all rights normally lost upon felony conviction within the state of Florida, including the right to vote and carry fire arms. This book investigates the individual and social contingencies which impact the withholding of adjudication from a social threat and social control perspective.

While there has been considerable research on lesbian and/or gay parenting, very little research has focused on how the children of lesbian and gay parents negotiate between their family identity and the definitions of family imposed by society. Families headed by gay and lesbian parents do not fit into a "traditional," ideologically-driven definition of family - rendering them virtually invisible due to their lack of representation in the media, school curriculum, and "normal" society. This book is an exploration of the concept of family as it was defined by six early adolescents and their lesbian parents. In an era with increased political and social tension surrounding issues of gay and lesbian marriage rights and validity for same sex parents, this qualitative study explored how these youth experience the disjunctures between their family identity and the definitions of family imposed by the larger society. The authors of this study, informed by queer theory and inquiry, conclude that identity is not realized through definitive and rigid boundaries but within and between these locations. This book is addressed to counselors, educators, and researchers interested in understanding, and even promoting, social justice for those living in diverse family structures.

"Adolescent Depression: Outside/In" is an innovative book for adolescents, parents, and clinical professionals. Keena, a licensed addictions and mental health counselor, takes her readers inside the depressed adolescent's imagination, and insecurities.

Using a combination of narrative, poetry, and prose, Ms. Keena has taken her personal experiences with depression and has woven a masterful work. Through her own experiences, Ms. Keena has shown a way to understand the sense of lost helplessness of depressed adolescents. She then shows us the path towards hope and recovery.

This book will help adolescents, parents, and clinicians understand the difficulties and challenges that can arise as the treatable illness of depression begins to emerge in adolescence.

Samuel M. Silverman, MD
Fellow of the American
Psychiatric Association