This book is designed to improve the education of elementary school children with low school-readiness skills (low SES children) by preventing their misidentification as learning disabled. It is built on the premise that the time and money spent on special education services will be better used if educators focus on the needs of children with low school readiness skills before their deficits become so great that neither intervention nor remediation will work, and before the childrenÆs self perceptions are so badly damaged that they quit trying to succeed and accept failure.Poverty Is NOT a Learning Disability challenges educators and parents to consider how low expectationsùa ôdeficit perceptionöùcan affect a child's achievement and stresses optimism as a central tenet of elementary schoolsÆ day-to-day teaching/learning programs and school-community relationships. The authors emphasize that an attitude of optimism is strongly connected to hope for the future and crucial to providing children with a positive vision of what they can accomplish. This resource also covers how to build trusting relationships throughout the school community, among teachers, administrators, the school staff, and parents.áChildren inevitably endeavor to fit the words, actions, and deeds of those around them into narratives of their own. The authors conveyáhow vitally important it is forámembers of the education community to work togetheráto ensure that youngstersáreceive a view of the future that inspires hope and validates the potential of each child.