"Knowing how to manage money is a life skill which goes beyond being able to identify coins and bills. This colorful workbook has three sections with 33 lessons that explain how to keep records of money spent and received, develop a budget on a limited income and manage a checking account. The workbook is designed to be used by a teacher and a student working together and the lessons are organized with the teacher plan on one page and the activity on the opposite page. The lesson are broken down into precise steps with clear and simple language and can be repeated as often as necessary until the student understands the concept and is ready to move to the next lesson. Additional worksheets and forms are included on the CD-ROM and can be printed out for future use."
-Down Syndrome News, Volume 34, #1

"Natalie Hale is a reading consultant and a parent of an adult with ADHD and Down syndrome. This guide is her third revision on banking/budgeting. Its aim is to assist teachers or parents of students with special needs to achieve a greater appreciation of plus, minus, how to fill in a cheque book, and how to budget. The American spelling of cheque as check may or may not bother your client.

The content is wordy yet the graphics are clear, with color codes to denote spending and saving categories. The teacher guide is on the left side and the student info is on the right with bigger print and more graphics. There are practice exercises for using calculator and cheque book. A CD is included to make more copies of the enlarged cheque book summary. There is an informative section about what happens when you spend more money than you have. It features 'comic graphics and talks about the bad news' that comes with insufficient funds. It is well done and quite useful. Debit card use and security is succinctly illustrated, with the choice of use left to individuals and their helpers.

I recommend this book to therapists who have clients needing a review of basic money management."
-Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, December 2011, 78(5) 327

"Natalie Hale created this workbook and CD to help teens and adults with special needs learn to manage money. As a parent of an adult with Down syndrome, Ms. Hale knows first hand that learning to manage money is an essential life skill. As a reading consultant, she is expert at developing tools families and educators can use to teach individuals with learning disabilities or developmental delays the skills they need to live independently. While written at a third to fourth grade level, each lesson was designed for an individual working with a parent, teacher, or other adult.

There are three sections: Keeping Records, Keeping a Budget, and Keeping a Checking Account. Each section has separate lessons. A first grade reading and writing level is recommended. Students will also need a calculator. The type size is large, color-coded, and the graphics are colorful and engaging."
-Newsline (Federation for Children with Special Needs), Fall 2010

"Although geared for youth and adults with cognitive challenges, Natalie Hale’s Managing My Money is a wonderful teaching tool to equip all adolescents with the practical skills to manage their personal finances independently.

Presented in textbook format, the book covers three main headings: Keeping Records, Budgeting, Managing a Checking Account. Each topic is introduced and reinforced via short lessons that gradually build upon one another. Practice problems following each lesson help readers to generalize acquired knowledge to real-life situations. For instance, in the section on keeping records, readers are instructed to think of money earned in either plus or minus terms. ‘Last night you went to the movies; your ticket was $8. Plus or minus?’ ‘You just found $5 in your room that you had lost. Is that a minus?’ are just two examples of how readers are taught to think critcally and concretely about money as something that can enter or leave their wallets.

Large, straightforward text and vibrant graphics enhance each concept, and the pages are free of clutter and distractions. A color-coding system helps facilitate readers’ understanding of the concepts; red is equated with minus, for example, and green represents plus. In addition to the numerous blank sample forms within, Managing My Money includes a companion CD loaded with additional forms for practicing budgeting and check-balancing.

In order to facilitate the incorporation of Managing My Money into special needs classrooms and educational curricula, Hale includes teaching plans for educators on left pages throughout, while right-hand pages are intended for students.

Although certain topics (such as checking accounts) in Managing My Money may not apply to everyone, knowing how to keep track of incoming and outgoing finances, the foundational lesson taught in this book, is a skill for life—one which will serve to provide readers with independence and a sense of responsibility as they draw upon the book’s lessons in their daily transactions."
-Exceptional Family, Winter 2010

"The point of this book is not to teach mathematics, that's what the calculator is for, but to understand the concepts behind managing money. When you progress through the entire manual, you've gone from training to execution and learned how to open a checking account and set up a budget with real money."
-NATHHAN/CHASK NEWS, Spring/Summer 2011

"Many adults with developmental delays find understanding and managing money to be very challenging. Ms. Hale, the mother of a child with Down syndrome, oppositional defiant disorder, and ADHD, has organized this workbook and CD into smaller units that make comprehension easy. Written at a third grade level, the book explains that money we receive is a PLUS and money we pay out is a MINUS, and money is finite. Students need not know how to do math--a calculator will perform that task--and need only be able to write at a first grade level to benefit from the lessons in this book. The accompanying CD contains worksheets and ledger pages for students to practice. The goal is for students to learn how to keep a budget, keep records, and open and manage a checking account."
-Mile High Down Syndrome Association's Down's Update, January/February 2011

"Money management is an important independent living skill for adults with Down syndrome, autism and other intellectual disabilities, yet it is also one of the most challenging to learn. Managing My Money is a proven workbook that teaches banking and budgeting to teens and adults who have learned to use a calculator and have prerequisite maths and handwriting skills. Divided into three sections, this spiral bound book explains how to:

• Keep money records with a unique color-coded system for recording payments ands deposits and calculating account balances on an adapted ledger form
• Keep a budget on a limited income using a budgeting form that separates expenditures into needs, wants, and savings
• Manage a cheque account by writing cheques and by recording withdrawals, deposits, balances on a color-coded register
Intended to be studied together by a teacher (parent, aide etc) and student, Managing My Money includes 33 student lessons organized into three parts. Left-hand pages contain teacher instructions and right-hand pages contain the student lessons. This allows the pace of learning and the level of repetition to be adjusted to each individual’s learning style and needs. And the handy CD-ROM makes it easy to print out additional worksheets and forms after the student has completed what’s provided in the book."
-New Zealand Down Syndrome Journal

"My daughter with Down syndrome uses Managing My Money to write and record checks, balance her checking account, and follow a budget. Math has always been a challenge for her, but she has had great success with this system, which allows her to independently keep track of her money and expenses. I highly recommend it for teenagers or young adults with intellectual disabilities who want to learn banking and budgeting basics."
-Jackie Holcombe, parent, advocate, and mayor of Carey, North Carolina

"This book is a great tool for teaching students with developmental disabilities about money. Written for the students themselves (with additional material for the teacher or helper), it is very user-friendly with large type, plenty of white space, and color-coded forms. Managing My Money focuses on one of the most important factors that keep students with developmental disabilities from living independently."
-DeAnna Horstmeier, Ph.D., Former Faculty at The Ohio State University, and author, Teaching Math to People with Down Syndrome and Other Hands-on Learners, Books One and Two

"Written by a reading consultant and the parent of an adult with Down’s syndrome and ADHD, this updated spiral ring workbook and CD-ROM is intended to assist parents, teachers, and caregivers with their special needs children to help them gain more independence in transactions involving money and bank accounts. Divided into three sections, the enlarged types and colorful illustrations are combined with worksheets and reality based scenarios.

Since special needs children often have difficulty with abstract concepts, this book reinforces the concepts of finite money (my money), money spent as being gone (minus) and money received from allowance, gifts or paychecks (plus). The concepts are geared to those with reading abilities at the first grade reading level, basic math skills, and the ability to use a calculator. The workbook is to be used with a teacher/parent and student together using the worksheets provided for reinforcement.

Part One reviews keeping records and opportunities to practice with identifying where money comes from and where it is spent. Part Two covers keeping a budget and dividing expenditures into wants, needs and savings. Part Three is devoted to opening and keeping a checking account, keeping a check register and using a debit card. In addition to the visually engaging illustrations and worksheets, a CD-ROM is included so that the child can print out multiple copies of the forms with which to practice.

This book is highly recommended for consumer health libraries that maintain a special needs section, and would serve as a useful tool to educators, parents and children in order to better equip them for the financial challenges that they will face. Of special note is that the colorful examples help to make concrete the often difficult world of abstract numbers."
-CAPHIS Consumer Connections