Raising a child with special needs is a lifelong commitment that is as unique as each person who embarks on it.

Written by a variety of authors who share in this distinctive relationship, Chicken Soup for the Soul Children with Special Needs offers a glimpse into the lives of others who are on a similar path. These stories provide insight, comfort, and connection with others who have walked this powerful and transformational journey. The authors...

Listen 2 the kids as they talk about the inclusion of their friends with special needs in the classroom, on the playground and in the lunchroom. This brief study of the inclusion process in an exemplary elementary school accents the joys and challenges of everyday life. The culture of acceptance is evident throughout. This film is a "must see" for teachers, teachers in training, counselors, psychologists, parents and advocates for the education of...

"Melanie and Melvin may be twins, but they couldn't be more different. Melanie is LOUD and Melvin is quiet. Melvin likes frogs and Melanie loves MOTORCYCLES! When the twins learn that they will get their very own mobility scooters, Melanie is excited to race to school, but Melvin is worried he'll fall -- and that people will stare. And there's a problem: Grandma can't afford the scooters without selling one of Mom's treasured paintings, one of the...

Driving with Richard tracks the history of Deirdre and Carley who reveal with candour and humour how their expectations about motherhood were altered and how they have created lifestyles that fulfill their own needs. Laced with home movie footage of Richard's development as a child and concluding with the celebration of his eleventh birthday, Driving with Richard reveals two women whose vitality and commitment to their children and to each other has...

We produced this film over twenty-five years ago, at a time, when most people with disabilities were excluded from education and often warehoused in such institutional settings as hospitals for the mentally ill, adult residential centers and large group homes. Allowing people with disabilities into regular school classrooms, job sites and other community activities is known as mainstreaming or inclusion. Regular Lives, portrays early, successful...

On a remote Scottish island, Max loses his hearing in a boating accident. Struggling to make sense of his new life, and resenting being put into the 'special' class at school, he notices changes taking place after a new wind farm is constructed off the island's coast. People have become irritable and unpredictable, and acts of violence threaten to tear the community apart. For the turbines are being used to test out a new soundwave weapon. Unaffected...

When Peter Gwasdauskis, a child with Down syndrome, was mainstreamed into a public school, he had a lot to learn about dealing with differencesand so did his classmates. Filmed over the course of the third-grade school year, this 1992 Academy Award-winning documentary vividly captures Peters achievements and frustrations as he makes a place for himself among his peers. The program features interviews with Peters parents, teachers, fellow students,...

What happens when love runs out of time? For 92-year-old Mimi, who has spent much of her life caring for 64-year-old Dona, her daughter with an intellectual disability, it means facing the inevitable -- the likelihood that she will not outlive her daughter and the need to find her a new home. Filmmaker Sophie Sartain, Mimi and Dona's granddaughter and niece, respectively, captures the quirky and deeply connected mother-daughter duo at their most poignant...

When people meet Joe, they often treat him as Amazing Joe or Poor Joe. But can't he just be . . . Joe? One-legged Joe is 'amazing'. He knows this because wherever he goes people always tell him he's amazing. Amazing for sliding down the slide, for kicking a ball . . . even walking to get an ice cream, or even just eating an ice cream. Of course, being Amazing Joe is better than being Poor Joe . . . A groundbreaking picture book which explores how...

Ranch foreman Travis Taylor doesn't have time for opera singers on vacation. Especially bubbly beautiful ones like Lizzy Dalton. His heart was once broken by a country music diva--ignoring the warning signs this time around is a no-go. And the baby with special needs Lizzy is fostering only evokes the lingering trauma of losing Travis's own baby brother. But Lizzy's kisses, and the infant's sweet smile, make him dream of a family and happily-ever-after....