Preschool Children With Inadequate Communication

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

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.

Deals with communication skills.

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.

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.

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 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