Although there is a general agreement about the need for limits, structure, and guidance in a child's life, there is a strong difference of opinion among many professionals about the best ways to meet these needs. Some believe in more educational approaches, explaining to children the "why" of it, while others favor very firm disciplinary…

In this article, the author discusses the assessment of children's year-end profiles. The key to creating a profile that will benefit parents as well as other teachers is to make sure it includes the most critical areas of development. It should also reveal the child's true range of functioning, including those areas in which he is strongest, even…

From a developmental-structuralist perspective, describes stages of child development; presents operational criteria to help the clinician categorize infants and young children whose behavioral and emotional patterns may fall outside the expectable, normal range; and illustrates the diagnostic approach with five case studies. (RH)

To meet ordinary pre-school expectations, a child has to have acquired the ability to focus and attend to another person and to engage easily and warmly--exchanging simple, friendly gestures, smiles, head nods, emotional expressions, and meaningful sounds. He or she must be able to communicate, show another person what she wants and take the next…

This article outlines six primary stages of a child's development. These basic functions show the way mental capacities work together as a team. Cognitive, motor, language, emotional, and social skills act together to help the child learn to deal with the world. Helping a child through these stages and fostering these core capacities requires a…

This paper applies a developmental structuralist approach to the classification of adaptive and pathologic personality organizations and behavior in infancy and early childhood, and it discusses implications of this approach for preventive intervention. In general, as development proceeds, the structural capacity of the developing infant and child…

Presents an overview of a developmental structuralist model based on integration of psychoanalytic and Piagetian developmental psychology. Includes discussion of patterns and insights from a clinical-descriptive intervention study of multirisk families and suggests lines for future research. (RH)

Presents an integrated clinical approach, based on a developmental, structuralist framework, to classify adaptive and pathological personality organizations and behaviors in infants and preschool children. (Author/DB)

This article describes a dynamic, developmental model to be used to guide assessment and intervention in children with autism. The Developmental, Individual-Difference, Relationship-Based model conceptualizes the child's functional emotional developmental capacities, individual differences in sensory processing and modulation, motor planning and…

Noting the transition children make from sheltered family life to the harsh "playground politics" of grade school, this book is designed to provide parents of grade-school children with specific information on understanding and helping children at each phase of this critical period between the ages of 5 and 12. Chapter 1 introduces…

Noting that although there have been admirable initiatives in public health, education, pediatrics, and the law to improve the lot of children, few have tried to identify the fundamental requirements of a healthy childhood, this book explores seven needs of infants and young children and their families that provide the fundamental building blocks…