Scientists admit that they do not understand yet how infants acquire their abilities and love of music. What they do know, however, is that much of the brain development in the first six years of a child's life is devoted to the learning and retaining of music and language. It appears that children have an open window, which allows them to…

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is one of a group of behavioral disorders called disruptive behavior disorders (DBD). These disorders are called this because children who have these disorders tend to disrupt those around them. ODD is one of the more common mental health disorders found in children and adolescents. This paper discusses the…

Human Needs and Intellectual Disabilities identifies the 12 human needs most relevant to the lives of people with intellectual disabilities, autism and related developmental disabilities. It includes detailed, practical suggestions for caregivers or parents interested in the happiness, quality of life, and self-determination of their loved ones or…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) "Nation's Report Card": Reading Scores Flat for Fourth Graders; Eighth Graders Improve by One Point; (2)…

The impact of parental mental health difficulties on the developing child is well evidenced and documented. In this article Kate Olliver-Kneafsey, Ev Thornton and Wendy Williamson suggest that despite the difficulties young people face when parental mental illness is a feature of family life, it is not all gloom and doom, and give some important…

Tips for childcare and babysitting with special needs children are divided into the categories of physical handicaps, epilepsy, mental impairment, general safety, and general babysitting suggestions. Also provided is an information sheet that parents of special needs children should complete to alert the babysitter to special needs and emergency…

Describes bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, examining how it is treated; what parents can do (e.g., have the child evaluated, network with other parents, and request a meeting with school staff to determine necessary accommodations); and what teachers can do (e.g., be patient, learn about the disorder, educate fellow staff members,…

This bibliography for families lists 44 print resources on mental health and mental illness published from 1987 through 1994. The list is organized into the following categories: directories and bibliographies, other print resources, and information in Spanish. The names, addresses, and telephone numbers of publishers are provided at the end of…

Nine fact sheets relevant to children's emotional well-being are presented in this document. The first fact sheet, "Teenagers with Eating Disorders" focuses on anorexia nervosa and bulimia. The second fact sheet, "Children and Grief" describes age-related responses to death, and ways of coping with a death in a family that…

This set of seven issue briefs considers six important community-based services for children with serious mental or emotional disorders that some states provide as mandated rehabilitation services under the federal Medicaid law. The materials are designed to help state policymakers develop appropriate rules for covering community-based services…

Nationwide, there are some 1,055,000 young people under the age of 18 who have hearing loss according to statistics from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (http://www.nidcd.nih.gov). Reported rates of psychiatric disorders for children who have hearing loss range from 15.4% to 54% (Hindley, 1997). Selected…

This publication presents papers and reprints of articles aimed at family members of persons with mental illnesses. After an introductory chapter, the second chapter reviews definitions of mental illness, and discusses what is known about medicating such conditions as well as the relationship of substance abuse to mental illness. The next chapter…

"Every Child" is Australia's premier early childhood publication, aimed at anyone involved in the care and education of children from birth to eight years--in particular child care professionals, teachers, child care students and the parents of young children. Published quarterly, it contains informative and entertaining articles on such…

This book provides a guide to more than 180 drugs used for children. An introduction precedes the four major sections of the guide. Section 1 provides an overview of pharmacology and therapeutics in chapters on the basics of pharmacology, the language of pharmacology and therapeutics, compliance, side effects, medications in school, and drug…

The manual provides information and suggestions to parents of youth with psychiatric disabilities, based on the program at Thresholds, a psychiatric rehabilitation center in Chicago, Illinois. The manual includes case examples, exercises, and space for parent responses. Chapters have the following titles and topics: "The Importance to You of Your…