The ABCs of Learning Disabilities, Second Edition, discusses major research findings on learning disabilities in children, adolescents and adults in language, memory, social skills, self-regulation, reading, mathematics, and writing, with an additional chapter on assessment. This concise primer is intended for use as an undergraduate introductory text to the field. Written with an evenness of tone, breadth, and depth, the conveys an engaging style meant to encourage the beginning student to identify the big picture and to be interested in conceptual issues as well as research findings.
* Undergraduate level text
* 90% new material
* Concise introduction to field
* Covers current concepts like removing the IQ-performance discrepancy formula in diagnosing learning disabilities
* New chapter on self-regulation and learning disabilities
* Whole school approach to social skills intervention

This book examines the mathematical difficulties in typical and atypical populations. It discusses the behavioural, educational and neuropsychological characteristics of people with mathematical difficulties, and educational interventions to prevent, diagnose, treat or ameliorate such difficulties. The book brings together studies from different disciplines, including developmental psychology, neuroscience and education, and includes perspectives from practicing teachers.
The book is divided into three major sections. The first includes chapters about the nature and characteristics of mathematical difficulties in the population as a whole, in relation to both psychology and education. The second deals with mathematical difficulties in children with other problems such as specific language impairment and dyslexia. The third discusses methods of interventions aimed at preventing, treating or ameliorating mathematical difficulties, and will include discussions of assessment and diagnosis.

Advancements in research in psychological science have afforded great insights into how our minds work. Making an Impact on Mental Health analyses contemporary, international research to examine a number of core themes in mental health, such as mindfulness and attachment, and provides an understanding of the sources of mentally ill health and strategies for remediation. The originality of this work is the embedding of psychological science in an evolutionary approach. Each chapter discusses the context of a specific research project, looking at the methodological and practical challenges, how the results have been interpreted and communicated, the impact and legacy of the research and the lessons learnt. As a whole, the book looks at how social environments shape who we are and how we form relationships with others, which can be detrimental, but equally a source of flourishing and well-being. Covering a range of themes conducive to understanding and facilitating improved mental health, Making an Impact on Mental Health is invaluable reading for advanced students in clinical psychology and professionals in the mental health field.

The field commonly known as "infant mental health" integrates current research from developmental psychology, genetics and neuroscience to form a model of prevention, intervention and treatment well beyond infancy. This book presents the core concepts of this vibrant field and applies them to common childhood problems, from attention deficits to anxiety and sleep disorders. Readers will find a friendly guide that distills this developmental science into key ideas and clinical scenarios that practitioners can make sense of and use in their day-to-day work. Part I offers an overview of the major areas of research and theory, providing a pragmatic knowledge base to comfortably integrate the principles of this expansive field in clinical practise. It reviews the newest science, exploring the way relationships change the brain, breakthrough attachment theory, epigenetics, the polyvagal theory of emotional development, the role of stress response systems, and many other illuminating concepts. Part II then guides the reader through the remarkable applications of these concepts in clinical work. Chapters address how to take a textured early developmental history, navigate the complexity of postpartum depression, address the impact of trauma and loss on children's emotional and behavioural problems, treat sleep problems through an infant mental health lens, and synthesise tools from the science of the developing mind in the treatment of specific problems of regulation of emotion, behaviour and attention. Fundamental knowledge of the science of early brain development is deeply relevant to mental health care throughout a client's lifespan. In an era when new research is illuminating so much, mental health practitioners have much to gain by learning this leading-edge discipline's essential applications. This book makes those applications and their robust benefits in work with clients, readily available to any professional.

Perception plays a key role in numerous aspects of life in contemporary society. By developing tools to effectively measure perception and spatial recognition, a range of relevant applications can be utilized. A Simplex Approach to Learning, Cognition, and Spatial Navigation: Emerging Research and Opportunities is an innovative source of scholarly material that presents a unique perspective on the convergence of game-based learning, empathy, cognition, and spatial understanding. Including a range of pertinent topics such as gender considerations, space representation, and user interfaces, this book is an ideal reference publication for academics, researchers, students, and educators interested in the role of spatial reference systems in education.

Improving Father-Daughter Relationships: A Guide for Women and Their Dads is essential reading for daughters and their fathers, as well as for their families and for therapists. This friendly, no-nonsense book by father-daughter relationships expert, Dr. Linda Nielsen, offers women and their dads a step-by-step guide to improve their relationships and to understand the impact this will have on their well-being. Nielsen encourages us to get to the root of problems, instead of dealing with fallout, and helps us resolve the conflicts that commonly strain relationships from late adolescence throughout a daughter's adult years. Showing how we can strengthen bonds by settling issues that divide us, her book explores a range of difficult issues from conflicts over money, to the daughter's lifestyle or sexual orientation, to her parents' divorce and dad's remarriage. With quizzes and real-life examples to encourage us to examine beliefs that are limiting or complicating the connection between fathers and daughters, this guide helps us feel less isolated and enables us to create more joyful, honest, enriching relationships.

Improving Father-Daughter Relationships: A Guide for Women and Their Dads is essential reading for daughters and their fathers, as well as for their families and for therapists. This friendly, no-nonsense book by father-daughter relationships expert, Dr. Linda Nielsen, offers women and their dads a step-by-step guide to improve their relationships and to understand the impact this will have on their well-being. Nielsen encourages us to get to the root of problems, instead of dealing with fallout, and helps us resolve the conflicts that commonly strain relationships from late adolescence throughout a daughter's adult years. Showing how we can strengthen bonds by settling issues that divide us, her book explores a range of difficult issues from conflicts over money, to the daughter's lifestyle or sexual orientation, to her parents' divorce and dad's remarriage. With quizzes and real-life examples to encourage us to examine beliefs that are limiting or complicating the connection between fathers and daughters, this guide helps us feel less isolated and enables us to create more joyful, honest, enriching relationships.

While describing and even celebrating some of the many benefits of drinking wine, beer and spirits (hard liquor) in moderation, Richard Thatcher's "Thinkin' Drinkin'" also shares an abundance of ideas and scientific evidence that, when taken together, add up to a cautionary tale about careless drinking. The book is informed by Thatcher's own troubled, early, and long-sustained experience with alcohol and his subsequent success at getting the problem under control. In addition, he brings a wealth of professional expertise to his writing task.

Dr. Thatcher draws upon various aspects of that accumulated knowledge to inform and provide guidance to help teens and young adults establish enjoyable, safe, worry-free approaches to drinking. These approaches can be readily adapted to any healthy lifestyle and can become good habits that last a lifetime. The author firmly believes that, if widely adopted, those "good habits" will save an enormous amount of heartache, emotional and physical injury, and many thousands of lives.

This book examines bullying and victimization at different points across the lifespan, from childhood through old age. It examines bullying at disparate ecological levels, such as within the family, in school, on the internet, at the work place, and between countries. This volume explores the connections between variations of bullying that manifests in multiple forms of violence and victimization. It also describes how bullying dynamics can affect individuals, families, and communities. Using a universal definition of bullying dynamics, chapters discuss bullying roles during different developmental periods across the lifespan. In addition, chapters review each role in the bullying dynamic and discuss behavioral health consequences, prevention strategies, and ways to promote restorative justice to decrease the impact of toxic bullying behaviors on society. The book concludes with recommendations for possible solutions and prevention suggestions. Topics featured in this book include: Mental health and the neurobiological impacts of bullying. The prevalence of bystanders and their behavior in bullying dynamics. The relationship between traditional bullying and cyberbullying. How bullying causes trauma. Sibling violence and bullying. Bullying in intimate partner relationships. Elder abuse as a form of bullying. Why bullying is a global public health concern. Bullying and Victimization Across the Lifespan is a must-have resource for researchers, professors, clinicians, and related professionals as well as graduate students in clinical child, school, and developmental psychology, social work, public health, and family studies as well as anthropology, social psychology, sociology, and criminology.

Filled with relevant, expert, and practical child-rearing information, this invaluable guide also helps parents understand and utilize parenting resources ranging from scientific research to Internet sites to the popular press. Taking up where the 2004 edition of The Educated Parent left off, Child Rearing in the 21st Century is a must-have guide to parenting best practices. Author Joseph D. Sclafani, a psychologist and family therapist, highlights the different approaches to child rearing and provides practical advice about which approaches work best and why. Topics covered range from the role of the parent as supporter/protector to the efficacy of daycare and the ways parents can prepare for and assist in a child's education. The book also looks at parenting after a divorce, at the importance of fathers in children's lives, and at such 21st-century issues as cyberbullying and the anxiety-producing effects of societal pressures. One of the unique aspects of the book is that it presents and explains expert knowledge from journals and research studies that are often inaccessible to the everyday reader. Centers of parenting advice such as the Internet and parenting magazines are evaluated as well. References stress tests for children Research results on how daycare affects children Tips on finding the best daycare placement Bibliographic sources at the end of each chapter Recommended resources for further reading

In this book, David Brandt examines the legal, psychological, and cultural issues relevant to understanding antisocial behaviour in adolescence. Based on his own research and a broad analysis of recent work in the field, Brandt identifies the factors that are common in cases of delinquency. The discussion considers the long-term effects of social issues such as poverty as well as psychological issues such as the high levels of stress and anxiety suffered during childhood by many delinquents. He shows how a failure to meet the developmental needs of children - at both the family level and at a broader social and political level - is at the core of the problem of juvenile delinquency. Brandt concludes with an inquiry into how best to prevent delinquency. Programmes that address the developmental needs of children, Brandt argues, are more effective than policing, juvenile courts, or incarceration.

How-and why-do humans develop as they do? This book clearly explains the key components of human development theories and describes how to compose novel theories regarding this age-old puzzle. As college students progress through bachelor's degree programs and then advance to their master's degree theses and doctoral dissertations, they are bombarded with studies of countless theories, often adopting some author's theory for interpreting information about human development, even when the theory does not precisely meet their needs. One way to solve the problem-a way especially tuned to the current classroom push for creative, critical thinking-is for the student to create his or her own theory. Unfortunately, even students as high as the doctoral level often don't understand how to create a well-ordered, workable theory of their own-a crucial gap in their "critical thinking" skillsets. This book is the solution to that specific problem. In these pages, in clear and detailed steps, is a complete explanation for developing a theory. The book addresses key topics such as attention to need, population, basic assumptions, key terms, causes and stages, interpreting evidence, and applications. Author R. Murray Thomas-a well-known and highly respected elder in the social sciences-also details five illustrative theories, covering their history and providing insights about how they were developed. This work will be valuable to students of psychology, human development, child development, and theory as well as those in other disciplines seeking an understanding of theory building. Succinctly describes the theory-construction process in language free from technical jargon that is accessible to college students or general readers interested in the nature and structure of theories Identifies the essential components that comprise theories-scientific explanations-of the human-development process, allowing readers to see how different thinkers address common concepts in their well-known theories Offers five new theories built according to the guidelines proposed in the explanation of human development theory components

Studies of language acquisition often asume that children will simply begin to learn language, without questioning what sets the whole process in motion. In How Children Learn to Learn Language, Lorraine McCune thoroughly examines the often-neglected topic of how children discover the possibility of language and demonstrates that pre-language development involves a dynamic system of social, cognitive, and vocal variables that come together to enable the transition to referential language. The relationship with a caregiver is integral to this development because language is a system of symbolic communication that can emerge only with children's recognition that they are separate from others. McCune sees language learning as constructed equally from needing to develop meanings and learning to produce the sounds sequences that represent them. In order for this dual construction to be effective, however, children must discover their capacity to refer to objects and events in the world by having their internal states of focused attention accompanied by an autonomic, physiologically based vocalization, which is the grunt that results from physical or mental effort. When the grunt is intensified and directed at a conversational partner, as when children attempt to convey an internal state, it becomes their first protoword.

Substance abuse, gambling, sexual promiscuity, violence, mental health problems, suicide: all are risky and dangerous consequences of adolescent instability. Through the implementation of psychological research and basic theories, Johnson and Malow-Iroff expertly assess each specific risk behavior as it correlates with demographics, socio-economic statuses, and cultural factors surrounding today's youth. In addition, this book provides resources for handling harmful situations facing adolescents, offering practical and straightforward methods to aid one in negotiating positive paths for those in distress. Parents, educators, and adolescents alike will only benefit from knowing the causes of adolescent risk-taking and the ways of preventing such behavior. Each chapter is devoted to a specific risk that many adolescents take throughout their teenage years. These include: drug abuse, gambling, sex, violence, and suicide. Johnson and Malow-Iroff discuss the mental health problems that lead to dangerous activities. Each topic explains the causes that lead to these risky behaviors, ways to prevent them, and advice that will be useful to parents and educators in addressing these issues.

What sparks a psychologist's interest in a certain phenomenon? Is it a symptom, a syndrome, a treatment, the usual, the exceptional, the group, the individual? An epistemologist, for example, focuses on the group and delivers group results. The clinician has to focus on the patient, although the patient may be perceived as one of a group (e.g., all patients with the same disease). The patient usually focuses on the clinician, but can take other opinions into account; especially, when the clinician is not considered to be the only authority. These dynamics - observable in therapy as well as in research - are critically reflected in this book, not only highlighting differences, but also commonalities individuals share: They all filter information and concentrate on certain aspects according to their socialization. They all have different expectations and can, yet, all deal with the same objective. Communication and building relationships seem to be vital - this book aims to support this quest by moving from the universal to the particular.

"Theory of mind" is the phrase researchers use to refer to children's understanding of people as mental beings, who have beliefs, desires, emotions, and intentions, and whose actions and interactions can be interpreted and explained by taking account of these mental states. The gradual development of children's theory of mind, particularly during the early years, is by now well described in the research literature. What is lacking, however, is a decisive explanation of how children acquire this understanding. Recent research has shown strong relations between children's linguistic abilities and their theory of mind. Yet exactly what role these abilities play is controversial and uncertain. The purpose of this book is to provide a forum for the leading scholars in the field to explore thoroughly the role of language in the development of the theory of mind. This volume will appeal to students and researchers in developmental and cognitive psychology.

Guided Cognition for Learning: Unsupervised Learning and the Design of Effective Homework details a new instructional design approach called Guided Cognition where homework tasks are designed to guide learners to engage in specific, observable cognitive events that are hypothesized to elicit underlying theoretical cognitive processes that result in learning. Outlining the results of twenty-six experiments completed over the course of eight years, the book tells a significant story about the generality of Guided Cognition instructional design to improve comprehension and recall by students of varying ages and ability levels.

There is a growing recognition in the learning sciences that video games can no longer be seen as impediments to education, but rather, they can be developed to enhance learning. Educational and developmental psychologists, education researchers, media psychologists, and cognitive psychologists are now joining game designers and developers in seeking out new ways to use video game play in the classroom. In Learning by Playing, a diverse group of contributors provide perspectives on the most current thinking concerning the ramifications of leisure video game play for academic classroom learning. The first section of the text provides foundational understanding of the cognitive skills and content knowledge that children and adolescents acquire and refine during video game play. The second section explores game features that captivate and promote skills development among game players. The subsequent sections discuss children and adolescents' learning in the context of different types of games and the factors that contribute to transfer of learning from video game play to the classroom. These chapters then form the basis for the concluding section of the text: a specification of the most appropriate research agenda to investigate the academic potential of video game play, particularly using those games that child and adolescent players find most compelling. Contributors include researchers in education, learning sciences, and cognitive and developmental psychology, as well as instructional design researchers.