Sexuality: Your Sons and Daughters with Intellectual Disabilities

The readable style of this book immediately draws you in… this is an invaluable resource for parents. The test will be to see that parents get access to it. Professionals need to ensure that parents are made aware, so that this book gets into the hands of those who need it most. Those same professionals need to make sure they also learn from it.'

- Tizard Learning Disability Review

'It is loaded with practical suggestions, problem-solving strategies, innovative ways to manage behaviours, and 'real-life' stories that warm the heart. It is very well structured with and interesting mix of lay language and anecdotal evidence that in places is highly emotive, yet much of the other material is supported by reference to the literature and recent research. This style works well. It acknowledges that the experience of parents of children with disabilities is highly emotional: sometimes fearful and despairing; at other times full of hope. But it also recognises that parents need straight answers to straight questions. Can my son with Down Syndrome father a child? How do I teach the difference between behaviours that are acceptable in private but not in public. The underlying optimism in all this book says is rooted in reality, but this is not simple `political correctness' or Pollyanna optimism: its utterly positive value base carries the reader along and gives you the confidence to believe that even complex needs can be met and problem behaviours modified. [A] gem of a book…'

- Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Care

'Always high-minded, they unabashedly expose every secret and present every fact. Right from the start, they make it plain that persons with intellectual disabilities have the right to know everything about sex that so-called "normals" do. They claim that genital sexual activities can be described in six minutes, but healthy sexuality is a journey that begins at birth and ends at death.- There are few books on the market like this one that are so informative, good humored, and practical. It provides a multitude of fresh ideas and resources. It shares the experiences and anxieties of other parents. It provides gems of wisdom from other persons with disabilities. All this comes in one package.

Schwier's and Hingsburger's book forced me to see that the world in which we live is advancing rapidly, and some readers may feel the need to "get cracking" in order to keep up.'

- Mental Retardation

'This book also includes practical advice on raising disabled boys and girls, who are growing up to be men and women(the fact forgotten too easily). The reader learns a selection of practical strategies designed to help to direct emotional, physical and psychological development in people with learning disabilities the right way. It would be wonderful if a title like this is also available in Polish.'

- Wspolne Tematy

This warm and sympathetic book is designed to help parents build their children's self-esteem (whether their children are prepubescent or already adults) and educate them about sexuality and safety. It explains what to teach, when to teach, and how to teach. It addresses issues such as self-acceptance, values, parallel talk, privacy, appropriate behavior, abuse, physical and emotional development in the teen years, relationships, marriage, and parenting. The authors introduce 'guides'… individuals with disabilities and their parents …whose experiences serve as examples throughout the book. These guides, as well as the authors' anecdotes and conversational tone, make information that is often presented awkwardly (or not at all) easily accessible to parents. The information and the stories that show how much is possible for young people, regardless of their disabilities, will help parents to accept their children's sexual development and to interact with their children in ways that will allow them to develop into confident, aware adults. The authors also include answers to frequently asked questions and sections for parents to reflect and plan how to broach different issues with their children.