This important volume comprehensively explores the development of psychiatric disorders in 2- to 6-year-olds, detailing how the growing empirical knowledge base may lead to improved interventions for young children and their families. Leading contributors examine advances in the conceptualization and diagnosis of early-onset disruptive disorders, mood and anxiety disorders, eating and sleeping disorders, autism, and other clinical problems. Promising treatment strategies are described, including developmentally specific behavioral and play therapies, and available evidence for their effectiveness is presented. The database on preschool psychopharmacology is also reviewed. Throughout, the discussion is grounded in the many recent advances on normative developmental processes in the preschool period. This book contains three sections. Section I, Normative Development in the Preschool Period, contains the first three chapters: (1) Social Development: Psychological Understanding, Self-Understanding, and Relationships (Ross A. Thompson, Rebecca Goodvin, and Sara Meyer); (2) Emotional Competence: Implications for Social Functioning (Susanne A. Denham); and (3) Cognitive Development (Amy K. Heffelfinger and Christine Mrakotsky). Part II, Mental Disorders Arising in the Preschool Period, continues with the next eight chapters: (4) Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Kenneth W. Steinhoff , Mark Lerner, Audrey Kapilinski, Ron Kotkin, Sharon Wigal, Robin Steinberg-Epstein, Tim Wigal, and James M. Swanson); (5) Oppositional Defiant Disorder (Carol M. Rockhill, Brent R. Collett, Jon M. McClellan, and Matthew L. Speltz); (6) Eating Disorders (Irene Chatoor and Deepa Khushlani); (7) Anxiety Disorders (Helen Link Egger and Adrian Angold); (8) Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Clinical Guidelines and Research Findings (Michael S. Scheeringa); (9) Sleep Disorders (Melissa M. Burnham, Erika E. Gaylor, and Thomas F. Anders); (10) Mood Disorders: Phenomenology and a Developmental Emotion Reactivity Model (Joan L. Luby and Andrew Belden); (11) Attachment Disorders (Brian S. Stafford and Charles H. Zeanah); and (12) Autism Spectrum Disorders, (Somer L. Bishop and Catherine Lord). Part III, Assessment and Intervention in the Preschool Period, presents the final chapters: (13) Neuropsychological Assessment (Christine Mrakotsky and Amy K. Heffelfinger); (14) Psychopharmacology (Joan L. Luby); (15) Play Therapy: Integrating Clinical and Developmental Perspectives (Anne Leland Benham and Carol Fisher Slotnick) (16) Using Play in Child-Parent Psychotherapy to Treat Trauma (Patricia Van Horn and Alicia F. Lieberman); and (17) Early Intervention for Autism (Susan Faja and Geraldine Dawson).