After decades of rapid evolution and groundbreaking research, the field of early intervention can be understood within a common framework: the Developmental Systems Approach (DSA). Created by a highly influential leader in the field, Michael Guralnick, this evidence-based, relationship-oriented, family-centered framework focuses on strengthening…

The DEC Recommended Practices provide guidance to families and professionals about the most effective ways to improve learning outcomes and promote development of young children, birth through age 5, who have, or are at-risk for, developmental delays or disabilities. "Interaction: Enhancing Children's Access to Responsive Interactions"…

Teenagers are presented with increasing degrees of freedom and exposure to risk in the current fast-paced electronic age. Teenagers challenge parents to help them find ways to overcome the risks around them. This book speaks to the parent child relationship and provides parents with insights on how to protect their children from the dangers around…

Teenagers are perplexing, intriguing, and spirited creatures. In an attempt to discover the secrets to their thoughts and actions, parents have tried talking, cajoling, and begging them for answers. The result has usually been just more confusion. Light is being shed on these mysterious young adults. What was once thought to be hormones run amuck…

This book presents groundbreaking strategies for psychotherapy with today's teens, for whom high-risk behavior, lack of adult guidance, and intense anxiety and stress increasingly come with the territory. Ron Taffel addresses the key challenge of building a therapeutic relationship that is strong enough to promote real behavioral and emotional…

This volume describes actual programs that are based on the idea that family connections are substantial resources for healing and recovery even when the family is a very troubled one. With a focus on severely damaged families, these programs attempt to keep children connected with their own families even when circumstances prevent their living…

This study examines effectiveness of preschool and family intervention in prevention of cultural-familial retardation. It attempts to resolve part of the complex of influences on early intellectual development in those born into seriously disadvantaged environments that could account for the increased risk for certain children to be identified as…

The book presents 13 papers that explore the intriguing and sometimes baffling phenomenon of children's capacity to deal with adversity. It is divided into three sections. The book's opening section provides an overview of stress research and coping strategies. Section 2 focuses on the determinants of competence and investigates the complex…

The reasons given for the apparent decline in family well-being include weakened family values, poor parenting, detrimental behavior of parents and young people, and social and economic forces in the larger society that make it difficult for families to perform their functions well. So great is the concern that some observers are convinced that…

Noting that millions of young American children are at-risk because they have been denied bonding and communication with a caring adult, this book serves as a call for national attention and provides a guide for developing the parenting skills needed by today's parents and child caregivers. The book contends that caregivers' qualifications must…

This book presents guidance for educators on recognizing and responding to different forms of child maltreatment as well as ideas on the formation of a school reporting protocol and a Child Protection Team. The 11 chapters are: (1) "Why Are Educators So Important in the Lives of Abused and Neglected Children?"; (2) "How Can We…

Noting that adopted and foster children may have suffered early traumatic experiences, often expressed in emotional and behavioral problems that become increasingly problematic as the child approaches adolescence, this book presents strategies to help adoptive and foster parents deal with their youngsters' troubling behavior and to make them feel…

Noting that the continuing need for services that support families is often met by home visiting, this guidebook compiles personal stories, relevant research, and practical strategies to allow social workers, educators, and other early childhood professionals as well as those who train home visitors to better understand the complex nature of this…

Based on the view that increasing numbers of mothers who do not fit a narrow traditional image are often maligned, misunderstood, or ignored, this book presents the stories of a diverse group of mothers whose life circumstances place them outside the mainstream. Chapters explore the lives of mothers of exceptional children and biracial children;…

This book provides early childhood educators with perspectives and tools that will enable them to strengthen parents and families during the child's earliest year of development. The 25 chapters are divided into 6 parts or themes. Part one focuses on understanding families as learners from an ecological and empathetic perspective, with the premise…