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Beautiful Child

The Story of a Child Trapped in Silence and the Teacher Who Refused to Give Up on Her

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Beautiful Child

By: Torey Hayden
Narrated by: Susan Larkin
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Summary

In the tradition of David Pelzer's A Child Called 'It' comes the unsettling story of a mute, almost catatonic seven-year-old and the special education teacher who tries to save her from the silence and abuse of her world.

Hayden has chronicled experiences from her long career as a special education teacher in several books, including One Child and The Tiger's Child. Successes in this difficult and often frustrating field can be few and hard won, a fact which Hayden deftly illustrates while simultaneously offering hope and joy in small victories. This time she brings to life the story of a scruffy seven-year-old, Venus, who is so unresponsive that Hayden searches for signs of deafness, brain damage, or mental retardation. The author is relentless in her attempt to diagnose the cause of Venus's 'almost catatonic' state, which is punctuated by occasional violent outbursts. In this first-person narrative, Hayden also shares her own thoughts, worries, and reflections on the strained relationship with a mismatched classroom aide, creating a rich tapestry of the dynamics of a group of special needs youngsters and the adults who try to help them.

©2002 Torey Hayden (P)2013 Audible, Inc. Child Psychology Developmental Psychology Education Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Special Education & Disabilities
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As a teacher myself this look back into educational practices long gone fascinated me. Very detailed in its descriptions, Beautiful Child kept me intrigued with its dairy style run through of a more than challenge classroom with extraordinary students. This intense detailing did become cumbersome at times.
Vocal performance was also often laggy in places and sentence phrasing was placed oddly.

An informative look back into past education

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loved every part of this book, beautiful child.
recommend this book to everyone who likes to listen to a story that is full of hope and can do anything.

loved it

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.