A Special Education: One Family's Journey Through the Maze of Learning Disabilities

The famous clothing designer recounts with tremendous candor her difficult and transformative acceptance of her daughter's lifetime of learning difficulties. At 35, newly married, pregnant and offered the chance to start her own knitwear label, Buchman was a hard-driven, perfectionist New Yorker determined to "have it all." But Charlotte, her first born, soon exhibited slow growth in movement and language, and at age four underwent a battery of tests that revealed she suffered from dyslexia, attention deficit disorder and a host of other developmental difficulties. Buchman and her husband were faced with coming to terms with having a "disabled child"—requiring not only special schools and a herculean patience but the courage to overcome the shame and guilt associated with acknowledging publicly that their life wasn't perfect. Moreover, Buchman recognized she tended to favor her needier child over her second "normal" child, although the siblings eventually excelled in areas that didn't compete with each other. With therapy and specialists to prepare her for the larger world, Charlotte, now in college, is well on her way to a productive life. Buchman's forthright memoir (and list of resources) will go far in lightening the pall surrounding children with special needs. (Mar.)