Preschool Children with Inadequate Communication

Preschool Children with Inadequate Communication
Author: Autism and Language Disorders Nosology Project
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 320
Release: 1996-01-16
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9781898683070

Multidisciplinary volume addressing the practicalities of assessment of ineffective communication in the preschool child.

From Neurons to Neighborhoods

From Neurons to Neighborhoods
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 610
Release: 2000-11-13
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309069882

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.

Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8

Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 587
Release: 2015-07-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309324882

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

Autism

Autism
Author: Steven Hyman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 570
Release: 2013-10-08
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1136800808

First published in 2001. This is Volume 2 in a series on the science of mental health and focuses on Autism. It begins with an overview presentation of a case and a recent consensus description of diagnostic instruments for autistic-spectrum disorders. This is followed by recent epidemiologic data. Epidemiology has an enhanced prominence in studies of autism because there is an unresolved controversy about the incidence of new cases of autism. In some surveys the incidence of autism appears to be increasing, and the controversy is over whether this is a true observation or whether greater diagnostic awareness is leading to the apparent increase. This volume attempt to resolve the conflicting data as if autism is indeed on the rise, there must be a new, significant environmental risk factor, which has to be identified with a view to prevention.

Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children

Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 449
Release: 1998-07-22
Genre: Education
ISBN: 030906418X

While most children learn to read fairly well, there remain many young Americans whose futures are imperiled because they do not read well enough to meet the demands of our competitive, technology-driven society. This book explores the problem within the context of social, historical, cultural, and biological factors. Recommendations address the identification of groups of children at risk, effective instruction for the preschool and early grades, effective approaches to dialects and bilingualism, the importance of these findings for the professional development of teachers, and gaps that remain in our understanding of how children learn to read. Implications for parents, teachers, schools, communities, the media, and government at all levels are discussed. The book examines the epidemiology of reading problems and introduces the concepts used by experts in the field. In a clear and readable narrative, word identification, comprehension, and other processes in normal reading development are discussed. Against the background of normal progress, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children examines factors that put children at risk of poor reading. It explores in detail how literacy can be fostered from birth through kindergarten and the primary grades, including evaluation of philosophies, systems, and materials commonly used to teach reading.

Autism

Autism
Author: Gregory R. Bock
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2005-01-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0470869372

This book draws together contributions from some of the leading investigators in the field of autism to consider specific problem areas in current research. Each contributor brings expertise from a different field, providing a balanced view of the whole spectrum of study of this disorder. It covers four main areas: Twin and family studies indicate that the heritability of the underlying liability to autism exceeds 90% and point to a multifactorial causation, involving a relatively small number of susceptibility genes. The book discusses this issue in detail, along with the problem of why some additional symptoms are associated with autism while others are not. New techniques are available for examining the neurobiology of autism. The book contains results from imaging studies showing the contributions of different brain regions to autism. It includes neuropathological data and examines the neuropharmacology of autism. There is considerable discussion concerning the fundamental psychological deficit in children with autism. There is good evidence that "Theory of Mind" deficits are associated with autism and this issue is discussed in the book, as are other competing possibilities. The most important practical question facing medical and psychological practitioners is how to help children with autism. The evidence relating to possible psychological or psychiatric interventions for rehabilitation of children with autism is examined in detail. Drug treatments have generally been disappointing in this field and there is one chapter devoted specifically to this problem. The book focusses ultimately on intervention studies and so is of practical relevance to people interested in helping autistic children. In addition, it provides a very convenient summary of the principal controversies which currently exist in research on autism.

Parenting Matters

Parenting Matters
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 525
Release: 2016-11-21
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309388570

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

The Wiley Handbook of Developmental Psychopathology

The Wiley Handbook of Developmental Psychopathology
Author: Luna C. Centifanti
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 560
Release: 2017-08-24
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 111855454X

The Wiley Handbook of Developmental Psychopathology offers a concise, up-to-date, and international overview of the study of developmental psychopathology. Examines the cognitive, neurobiological, genetic, and environmental influences on normal and abnormal development across the lifespan Incorporates methodology, theory, and the latest empirical research in a discussion of modern techniques for studying developmental psychopathology Considers the legal, societal, and policy impacts of changes to diagnostic categories in the light of the transition to DSM-5 Moves beyond a disorder-based discussion to address issues that cut across diagnostic categories

Neuropsychological Evaluation of the Child

Neuropsychological Evaluation of the Child
Author: Ida Sue Baron
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2003-10-02
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 019972671X

This essential desk reference will meet the demand for a broad and convenient collection of normative data in child neuropsychology. In a clearly written, well-organized manner, it compiles published and previously unpublished normative data for the neuropsychological tests that are most commonly used with children. Far from being a raw collection, however, it integrates concepts and models central to the neuropsychological assessment of children into the discussions of data. All these discussions have a practical, clinical focus. As background, the author considers the current status of child neuropsychology practice, test models, behavioral assessment techniques, observational data, procedures to optimize child evaluation, communication of results through the interpretive session and report writing, and preliminary assessment methods. Then she reviews the tests and data under the broad domains of intelligence, executive function, attention, language, motor and sensory-perceptual function, visuoperceptual, visuospatial and visuoconstructional function, and learning and memory. Written by a seasoned practitioner, this book will be an extraordinary resource for child and developmental neuropsychologists, clinical psychologists, child neurologists, and their students and trainees.

The Early Childhood Care and Education Workforce

The Early Childhood Care and Education Workforce
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2012-02-10
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 030921937X

Early childhood care and education (ECCE) settings offer an opportunity to provide children with a solid beginning in all areas of their development. The quality and efficacy of these settings depend largely on the individuals within the ECCE workforce. Policy makers need a complete picture of ECCE teachers and caregivers in order to tackle the persistent challenges facing this workforce. The IOM and the National Research Council hosted a workshop to describe the ECCE workforce and outline its parameters. Speakers explored issues in defining and describing the workforce, the marketplace of ECCE, the effects of the workforce on children, the contextual factors that shape the workforce, and opportunities for strengthening ECCE as a profession.