This book presents a critical examination of the development of user involvement within research, and investigates the issues currently preventing a productive integration of Mad knowledges within research and practice. Drawing on social, linguistic and critical theories, it proposes the conditions needed to address the development of Mad epistemologies. The author's unique approach deliberately highlights her own positionality and draws on decades of experience as a service recipient, survivor, activist and researcher to illustrate the structural and symbolic barriers faced. Employing concepts including epistemic injustice, individualization, normalization and structural violence, it suggests a radically new way of articulating 'what's the matter with us?' In doing so, the book itself goes some way towards enacting the radical challenge to academic and epistemic hierarchies which, it is argued, will be required to further advance mad knowledges and user-led research. Crucially, it demonstrates how this approach can be both methodologically and conceptually rigorous. This novel work holds important insights for students and scholars across the humanities and social sciences; particularly those working in the areas of critical psychology, disability studies, Mad studies, feminist studies, critical race theory, and Queer theory.

This book advances a serious consideration of how the goals and practices of psychology can be informed and enriched by Buddhist traditions that transcend the individual to consider the interconnectedness of all things, and the responsibility we have towards the other. Individualistic and psychotherapeutic applications of Buddhism in psychology are examined, followed by a bold step into the community arena, with consideration given to the intersection between community psychology and Buddhist approaches to empowerment, social change, and prevention.

Future social work practice requires a holistic framework to deal effectively with the great social and economic disruptions of this unprecedented time. Innovation and creativity are indispensable to empowering social workers and social service organizations to make an impact on the lives of people and societies in today's world. This book provides a range of innovative practices of social work drawing from alternate theories and with a global orientation. It is forward-looking with a focus on social resilience, social inclusion and recovery. Using a strengths perspective, discussions in the chapters provide useful insights in restructuring social life and social services at the individual as well as community and societal levels for meeting the challenges of a new global era. The chapters draw on the experiences of the authors in their academic and practice engagements and focus on a variety of arenas of social work education and practice to enrich the understanding of the present and future of the field. Authors discuss theoretical and conceptual models to review social work education and practice of engaging in a fast-changing global era and complex contexts. Topics explored include: New Era for Social Work in the Global Future Remaking Social Work by Applying an Anti-oppressive Lens Vulnerability and Resilience of Refugee Women and Children Critical Green Social Work as Futuristic Social Work Practice Globalisation and the Future of Social Work Practice and Education Equipping Social Workers for a New Global Era Remaking Social Work for the New Global Era is an essential resource to inform practice, enrich teaching, and direct future research for social work academics, researchers, educators, students, and field supervisors, as well as social care, social work and social service practitioners in both clinical and policy settings. The book also would be of interest to mental health and community professionals in various practice contexts across the globe.

This volume reflects on how anthropologists have engaged in medical education and aims to positively influence the future careers of anthropologists who are currently engaged or are considering a career in medical education. The volume is essential for medical educators, administrators, researchers, and practitioners, those interested in the history of medicine, global health, sociology of health and illness, medical and applied anthropology. For over a century, anthropologists have served in many roles in medical education: teaching, curriculum development, administration, research, and planning. Recent changes in medical education focusing on diversity, social determinants of health, and more humanistic patient-centered care have opened the door for more anthropologists in medical schools. The chapter authors describe various ways in which anthropologists have engaged and are currently involved in training physicians, in various countries, as well as potential new directions in this field. They address critical topics such as: the history of anthropology in medical education; humanism, ethics, and the culture of medicine; interprofessional and collaborative clinical care; incorporating patient perspectives in practice; addressing social determinants of health, health disparities, and cultural competence; anthropological roles in planning and implementation of medical education programs; effective strategies for teaching medical students; comparative analysis of systems of care in Japan, Uganda, France, United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada and throughout the United States; and potential new directions for anthropological engagement with medicine. The volume overall emphasizes the important role of anthropology in educating physicians throughout the world to improve patient care and population health.

This volume argues for the development of a macro perspective within psychology that more effectively incorporates social structures, systems, policies, and institutions. The book emphasizes how social structures and systems can ultimately promote, or erode, psychological wellbeing. Macropsychology is concerned with "understanding up," or how we can influence the settings and conditions of the society in which we live. Psychology has traditionally been more interested in "understanding down," that is, with the behaviour of individuals and groups; in inter-psychic and intra-psychic and in neurological and biological processes. This volume argues that psychology can more effectively contribute at the macro or societa level, by addressing grand challenges and global goals, using big data, and intervening at the population level.Bringing together social, organizational, cultural, and health psychology research, the book demonstrates a broad range of areas benefitting from a macropsychology perspective, particularly areas integral to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Contributors address the value of macropsychological perspectives in addressing sub-topics such as: Mental health Personality traits and social structure Disability rights Food systems Humanitarian work psychology Macropsychology: A Population Science for Sustainable Development Goals aims to recognise and give impetus to a neglected perspective within psychology, and to inspire a paradigm-widening within the field of psychology, facilitating greater involvement with social justice and human rights.

This book provides a nuanced view of psychopathy by linking this syndrome to acknowledged DSM categories and exploring diverse theoretical perspectives for the conceptualization of this condition. While other volumes focus on the uniqueness of the disorder, this book highlights the heterogeneity of psychopathy and the implications of that heterogeneity for research and treatment. Directed to both clinicians and researchers, this volume aims to improve understanding and treatment for this complex condition.

* The only resource available that focus solely on using clay work within art therapy to help women with negative body image * The case studies presented were researched as part of a PhD, examining the benefits for women of exploring body image through clay work within art therapy practice. The results of the research point to clay work as a significant resource, providing a positive and contained way to find personal acceptance and develop a balanced view of their body/person as a 'whole' rather than as a collection of 'imperfect' parts * As well as delineating the results of the study - offering both clinical and practical implications - this book provides a full protocol for the research and evaluation methods carried out, enabling further replication of the intervention, research, and analysis by other therapists

Methamphetamine, made easily in clandestine labs from over-the-counter ingredients, can cause depression, rapid tooth decay, psychosis, sensations of flesh crawling with bugs, paranoia, skin lesions, and kidney damage. Still, use has spread nationwide. In this work, two experts on methamphetamine addiction and recovery explain why this drug has such a physical, psychological, and social draw for addicts, despite all the damage it causes. Vignettes from addicts take us inside the subculture of meth users. Authors Taylor and Covey explain why this drug and its addiction is different from other illicit drugs and why, therefore, the treatment needs to be specifically tailored in order to be effective.

Stephan Jenkins, singer for the band Third Eye Blind, says methamphetamine makes you feel bright and shiny, but it also makes you pathetically and relentlessly self-destructive, so much so that you will do unconscionable things to feel bright and shiny again. This drug, made easily in clandestine labs from over-the-counter ingredients, can also cause depression, rapid tooth decay, psychosis, sensations of flesh crawling with bugs, paranoia, skin lesions, and kidney damage. Still, use has spread nationwide from California to Maine, with known addictions now highest in the West, Midwest, and South. Treatment admissions for methamphetamine addictions have increased more than fivefold in the last decade, with a federal report in 2006 showing 136,000 known cases. Meth is particularly addictive to women because it causes rapid weight loss. The results, as shown in recent cover stories in "Newsweek, National Geographic," and "USA Today," are pain for far more than the abuser. Meth addiction also ravages life for spouses, children, and other family members, as well as communities.

In this work, two experts on methamphetamine addiction and recovery explain why this drug has such a physical, psychological, and social draw for addicts despite all the damage it causes. Vignettes from addicts let us see inside the subculture of meth users. Authors Taylor and Covey explain why this drug and its addiction is different from other illicit drugs, and therefore why the treatment needs to be specifically tailored in order to be effective. This book, focused only on the addiction avenues and paths to recovery, is a perfect companion to Covey's earlier book, "The Metehamphetamine Crisis" (Praeger, 2006), which details the emergence and history of this drug use in the United States, as well as the social and community effects, and criminal justice approaches, successes, and failures to date. This book at hand will appeal to meth abusers, their families, and professionals trying to aid recovery from this new scourge, including substance abuse treatment providers, health professionals, psychologists, school personnel, and criminal justice staff.

This ambitious and important second edition of the Handbook of Medical Neuropsychology takes an in-depth approach to the medical conditions and methods of neurorehabilitation. Comprehensive in scope and highly detailed in its coverage, the second edition, like the first, characterizes the effects of disease and the impact of interventions in the current state of advanced medicine at a level appropriate both for researchers and for clinicians. Featuring the most up-to-date information and quantitative research on cognitive neuroscience of autism, HIV/AIDS, cancer, head injury, respiratory diseases, endocrine diseases, early birth injury, dementia, and other disorders, the book handles theory, historical background, practical considerations, and controversial areas with evidence based disease indicators, clinical expertise, and real-world insight. It seeks to critique diagnostic and assessment tools specific to disorders. The new chapters in this inclusive second edition reflect the changes in prominent problems found in the clinic and provide worthy insights for research investigation in their review of: Substance use disorders. Nutrition in neurocognition and mental health. Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Traumatic brain injury in very early childhood. Cognitive functioning in asthma. The role of mindfulness in neurorehabilitation. The Handbook of Medical Neuropsychology, 2nd Edition continues to be an essential resource for the neuropsychology clinician, researcher, practitioner or graduate student. It will be stimulating and relevant reading for years to come.

This volume is about the normal development of adulthood, as weIl as its vieissitudes and the contributions of such development to psycho- pathology. The authors are psychoanalysts of great dinieal skill and perceptiveness, but while their focus is consistently a psychodynamie one, their conceptualizations about adult developmental processes are applicable to virtually all kinds of therapy. It is extraordinary how little attention has been paid to the effects of adult developmental experience on mental development. Obviously mental structures are not statie after the profound experiences of child- hood and adolescence, nor are they merely a template upon whieh adult experiences are processed. The authors dearly demonstrate that current adult experience always adds to, and interacts with, existing mental structure, whieh is itself the result of all preceding develop- ment. After a first section in whieh they examine life cyde ideas on de- velopment from antiquity to the present, they present their own work as it relates to adult experience and adult development. Their hypoth- eses about the psychodynamie theory of adult development are partie- ularly creative and an enormous contribution to the psychiatrie litera- ture and the dinical understanding of patients. Consistent with their views that development in adulthood is an ongoing and dynamic process, they elaborate their ideas that childhood development is fo- cused primarily on the formation of psychie structure while adult de- velopment is concerned with the continued evolution of existing struc- ture and its use.

This lucidly written textbook covers the historical background of clinical sociology as a field and its developing trends around the world. It addresses the urgent need for sociologists to develop a clinical approach in their effort to improve society, with the emphasis that clinical sociology should complement the work of other disciplines such as clinical psychology, social work, and social anthropology. This book discusses in depth the concept of clinical sociology itself and the obligations of clinical sociologists. It fills a gap in the literature which reveals a lack of discussion and consensus on the roles and responsibilities of clinical sociologists, therefore making an important contribution to clinical sociology, and sociology, more broadly. Graduate students, practitioners and professionals in the field of clinical sociology, social work and other related disciplines will find this book very useful.

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) has perplexed clinicians and researchers for many years. Despite recent advances in our understanding of and ability to treat this debilitating problem, many people with OCD do not benefit or benefit only marginally from existing treatments. Newer approaches and a better understanding of the pathogenesis of OCD are needed. One such approach that has shown considerable promise in recent years is cognitive therapy. Recent studies have found cognitive therapy to be an effective treatment for OCD, and research on cognitive theory for OCD is rapidly expanding. This volume assembles nearly all of the major investigators responsible for the development of cognitive therapy (and theory) for OCD, as well as other major researchers in the field to write about cognitive phenomenology, assessment, treatment, and theory related to OCD. Each chapter of the book is written by an expert in the area. The first section of the book describes the domains of cognition in OCD and the subsequent section outlines measurement strategies where the efforts of an international working group of scholars to develop measures of OCD cognition are described. Reviews of OCD cognitions in OCD spectrum disorders and in specific populations (for example, the elderly and children) are reviewed in following sections. Finally, the role of these cognitions and cognitive processes in treatment is described.

This book provides a definitive account of koro, a topic of long-standing interest in the field of cultural psychiatry in which the patient displays a fear of the genitals shrinking and retracting. Written by Professor A.N. Chowdhury, a leading expert in the field, it provides a comprehensive overview of the cultural, historical and clinical significance of the condition that includes both cutting-edge critique and an analysis of research and accounts from the previous 120 years published literature. The book begins by outlining the definition, etymology of the term, and clinical features of koro as a culture-bound syndrome, and contextualizes the concept with reference to its historical origins and local experience in Southeast Asia, and its subsequent widespread occurrence in South Asia. It also critically examines the concept of culture-bound disorder and the development of the terminology, such as cultural concepts of distress, which is the term that is currently used in the DSM-5. Subsequent chapters elaborate the cultural context of koro in Chinese and South Asian cultures, including cultural symbolic analysis of associations with animals (fox and turtle) and phallic imagery based on troubling self-perceived aspects of body image that is central to the concept. The second section of the book offers a comprehensive, global literature review, before addressing the current status and relevance of koro, clinically relevant questions of risk assessment and forensic issues, and research methodology. This landmark work will provide a unique resource for clinicians and researchers working in cultural psychiatry, cultural psychology, anthropology, medical sociology, social work and psychosexual medicine.

* Do you feel that no matter how hard you try it is never good enough?
* Do you spend too much time trying to get things exactly right in order to avoid criticism?
* Does it seem that at any minute people will find out that you are not really what you seem to be?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be struggling with perfectionistic tendencies. They can serve a positive purpose in your life. But having extremely high standards for yourself and others can leave you feeling let down -- over and over again -- when these expectations aren't met. As psychologist and researcher Monica Ramirez Basco explains, uncontrolled perfectionism can lead to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, fear of failure, and broken marriages and friendships.

In Never Good Enough Dr. Basco helps you understand why you feel driven to get things "just right" and shows you how to make the best of your perfectionism. Filled with practical advice, encouragement, and strategies for self-discovery, this invaluable guide includes Dr. Basco's own thirty-question self-test that will help you recognize and manage the negative side of your perfectionism. You will learn how to stop the struggle with yourself and others, how to evaluate your worth and performance in life, and how to replace the pursuit of perfection with peace of mind.

This monograph offers new insights into the connection between self-consciousness and emotion. It focuses on what fundamental "feelings of being" tell us about ourselves. The results enrich the philosophy of human affectivity and help shed new light on some pressing, current problems. The author seeks to understand self-consciousness as an affective phenomenon, namely as self-feeling. He identifies it as a pre-reflective, pre-propositional, bodily feeling that shapes our space of possibilities. It is the affective disclosure of individual existence. His account overcomes the difficulties of infinite regress and vicious circularity that reflective (or higher-order) accounts of self-consciousness struggle with. At the same time, it helps build a bridge between the basic level of self-consciousness and the higher level of more substantial thoughts about oneself. The title explores fundamental affectivity, Matthew Ratcliffe's theory of existential feelings, features of self-feeling, and appropriateness and inappropriateness in self-interpretation. It also considers the contributions of the Heidelberg School of self-consciousness to current debates. The title provides students and researchers with a unique look into such vital philosophical questions as: What is self-consciousness? How do we know ourselves? It will also appeal to a wider audience interested in self-consciousness and/or human affectivity since it does not presuppose knowledge of the jargon.

This book examines the similarities in children's short- and long-term development and adjustment when they have been separated from their parents because of larger institutional forces. It addresses the unique circumstances and the similarities faced by parents and children under three different institutional contexts of separation: parental migration and deportation, parental incarceration, and parental military deployment. Chapters describe the difficulties faced by families in each of these circumstances, along with the challenges in conducting research under the multidimensional and dynamic complexities of parent-child separation. Finally, the volume offers recommendations for creating supportive structures and interventions for families facing separation that can bolster youth well-being in childhood and beyond. Featured areas of coverage include: * Parental migration. * Parental incarceration. * Parental military deployment. * Undocumented migration and deportation. * Child-parent relationship and child resilience and adjustment. Parent-Child Separation is a must-have resource for researchers, professors, clinicians, professionals, and graduate students in developmental psychology, family studies, public health, clinical social work, educational policy, and migration studies as well as all interrelated disciplines, including sociology, criminology, demography, prevention science, political science, and economics.

Delusions, in their many different manifestations, are central to the concepts of madness and psychosis. Yet what causes them remains in many ways a complete mystery. McKenna's Delusions is the first comprehensive attempt to tackle one of the most arresting phenomena in psychiatry: an in-depth and critical review of what delusions are, the forms they can take and how they might be explained from both psychological and biological perspectives. Delusions covers key topics such as the clinical features of delusions, the disorders they are seen in, other oddities that resemble them in both health and disease, and the different approaches that have been taken to try to understand them. It is an essential book for psychiatrists and psychologists who work with delusional patients, as well as being of interest to neuroscientists engaged in research into major psychiatric disorders.

Since the early 1800's, children have been taught and encouraged to function as instructional agents for their classroom peers. However, it was not until the last decade that peer-mediated intervention was studied in a rigorous, systematic fashion. The purpose of this edited volume is to provide an up-to-date and complete account of empirical research that addresses the general efficacy of classroom peers as behavior change agents. As a result of various social and legal developments, such as the passage of Public Law 94-142 and its accompanying demand for indi vidualized instruction, peer-mediated interventions seem likely to prolif erate. As I have noted elsewhere (Strain, this volume), close adherence to the principle of individualized programming has rendered obsolete the "adults only" model of classroom instruction. Whether the utilization of peers in the instructional process comes to be viewed by school personnel as a positive adjunct to daily classroom practices depends in large mea sure on our ability to carefully design, conduct, and communicate the findings of applied research. I trust that this volume will function both to accurately communicate existing findings and to stimulate further study. My colleagues who have generously contributed their time and skill to this volume have my deepest appreciation. They have performed their various tasks in a timely, professional manner and, in my opinion, have provided considerable insight into the problems and potentials of peers as instructional agents."

Radically open-dialectical behavior therapy (RO-DBT) is a groundbreaking, transdiagnostic treatment model for clients with difficult-to-treat overcontrol (OC) disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, chronic depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Written by the founder of RO-DBT, Thomas Lynch, this is the first and only session-by-session training manual to help you implement this evidence-based therapy in your practice. As a clinician, you're familiar with dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) and its success in treating clients with emotion dysregulation disorders. But what about clients with overcontrol disorders? OC has been linked to social isolation, aloof and distant relationships, cognitive rigidity, risk aversion, a strong need for structure, inhibited emotional expression, and hyper-perfectionism. And yet-perhaps due to the high value our society places on the capacity to delay gratification and inhibit public displays of destructive emotions and impulses-problems linked with OC have received little attention or been misunderstood. Indeed, people with OC are often considered highly successful by others, even as they suffer silently and alone. RO-DBT is based on the premise that psychological well-being involves the confluence of three factors: receptivity, flexibility, and social-connectedness. RO-DBT addresses each of these important factors, and is the first treatment in the world to prioritize social-signaling as the primary mechanism of change based on a transdiagnostic, neuroregulatory model linking the communicative function of human emotions to the establishment of social connectedness and well being. As such, RO-DBT is an invaluable resource for treating an array of disorders that center around overcontrol and a lack of social connectedness-such as anorexia nervosa, chronic depression, postpartum depression, treatment resistant anxiety disorders, autism spectrum disorders, as well as personality disorders such as avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive, and paranoid personality disorder. In this training manual, you'll find an outline of RO-DBT, including history, research, and how it differs from traditional DBT. You'll also find a session-by-session RO-DBT outpatient treatment protocol, with sections that outline the weekly, one-hour individual therapy sessions and weekly two-and-a-half hour skills training classes that occur over a period of approximately thirty weeks. This includes instructor guidelines and user-friendly worksheets. The feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of RO-DBT is evidence-based and informed by over twenty years of translational treatment development research. This important manual-along with its companion book, Radically-Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (available separately), distills the essential components of RO-DBT into a workable program you can start using right away to improve treatment outcomes for clients suffering with OC.

Written for practitioners and policymakers, this book will help professionals across health, education, social care and juvenile justice services to understand the needs of young offenders and adolescents at risk of entering the criminal justice system. Developmental in approach, the textbook provides a comprehensive overview of forensic child and adolescent mental health, using cases to help clinicians link theoretical principles to practice and understand how mental health and neurodevelopmental impairment can relate to offending behaviour. With an emphasis on preventive initiatives, early intervention and the building of psycho-social resilience through the delivery of values based practice, this book highlights the need for comprehensive assessment for young people across multiple domains of their lives. This book is of interest to all clinicians working within mental health teams, practitioners working with children and adolescents, professionals involved with youth justice and medico-legal issues, and politicians responsible for establishing health and social policy.

This book examines how contemplative arts practice and a mindful approach to creativity, can be used to offer new possibilities for facilitating team creativity and collaboration in organizational settings. The author employs a qualitative, action research paradigm, using arts-based and ethnographic methods, to explore the perceived effects of a contemplative arts workshop process on team creativity and collaboration within an organization. The book demonstrates how a contemplative arts workshop process may be used to facilitate mindfulness, trust, communication, collaboration, and creative insights among teams and working groups. It explores each of these themes in depth and develops a model based on those findings. The model includes five elements: 1. Individual-Level Mindfulness, 2. Trust and Authentic Communication, 3. Team Cohesion and Collaboration, 4. Creative Ideation and Insights, and 5. Leadership: Creating a Culture of Innovation. Combining theory and practice, the book offers a series of mindfulness and contemplative arts exercises that facilitators can use to address each of the five levels of the model. This book weaves together contemporary psychological research on mindfulness and organizational creativity along with practical applications and contemplative arts exercises for practitioners and scholars of workplace creativity, management and organisational and industrial psychology.

One of the most fascinating problems in Behavioural Neurology is the question of the cerebral organization for language during childhood. Acquired aphasia in children, albeit rare, is a unique circumstance in which to study the relations between language and the brain during cerebral maturation. Its study further contributes to our understanding of the recovery processes and brain plasticity during childhood. But while there is a great amount of information and experimental work on brain-behaviour relationships in adult subjects, the literature about the effects of focal brain lesions in children is both exiguous and scattered throughout scientific journals and books. We felt it was time to organize a meeting where scientists in this field could compare their experiences and discuss ideas coming from different areas of research. A workshop on Acquired Aphasia in Children was held in Sintra, Portugal, on September 13-15, 1990, and attended by 44 participants from 13 differents countries. The atmosphere was relaxed and informal and the group was kept small to achieve this effect. It was a very lively and pleasant meeting. Some consensus was indeed arrived at concerning methodological problems, definition of terms, and guidelines for future research. The main contributions are collected in this book which, we hope, will serve the scientific community as a reference work on Childhood Aphasia. I, P.M., AC.C

This Open Access edited collection seeks to improve collaboration between criminal justice and welfare services in order to help prepare offenders for life after serving a prison sentence. It examines the potential tensions between criminal justice agencies and other organisations which are involved in the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders, most notably those engaged in mental health care or third sector organisations. It then suggests a variety of different methods and approaches to help to overcome such tensions and promote inter-agency collaboration and co-working, drawing on emerging research and models, with a focus on the practice in European and Scandinavian countries. For academics and practitioners working in prisons and the penal system, this collection will be invaluable.

This book presents the main theoretical and practical tools provided by behavior analysis to diagnose and treat substance use disorders. Based on the theoretical framework of radical behaviorism, first developed by B.F. Skinner, behavior analysis offers a distinctive biopsychosocial approach to substance use disorders by considering both the biogenetic and environmental influences on behaviors associated with substance use, enabling the development of more integrative and effective diagnostic, prevention, and treatment strategies at the individual and collective level. The volume is divided in three parts. Part one presents an introduction to core concepts in behavior analysis and related disciplines, such as behavioral pharmacology, and their specific applications in substance use disorders diagnostics and treatment. Part two shows how different types of behavioral-analytical clinical and social interventions can be applied in practice to treat substance use disorders, such as: Contingency Management Exposure Therapy Functional Analytical Psychotherapy (FAP) Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Therapy by Contingencies of Reinforcement (TCR) Motivational Interviewing Finally, part three covers special topics, such as the interfaces between neurosciences and behavior analysis on drug use and dependence, effects of substance use in romantic relationships and their relationship with violence against women. Behavior Analysis and Substance Dependence will be a valuable tool for clinical and health psychologists, as well as other health professionals and social workers dealing with substance use disorders, by presenting, in one single volume, an overview of the tools offered by behavior analysis to deal with this serious health issue.

This book presents a comprehensive guide to the design of playing robots and the related play experiences. Play is a natural activity for building and improving abilities, and it reveals important particularly for persons with disabilities. Many social, physical and cultural factors may hinder children with disabilities from fully enjoying play as their peers. Autonomous robots with specific characteristics can enhance the ludic experience, having implications for the character of the play and presenting opportunities related to autonomy and physical movement, the very nature of robots. Their introduction into play thus provides everybody, and in particular persons with disabilities, new possibilities for developing abilities, improving general status, participating in social contexts, as well as supporting professionals in monitoring progress. This book presents a framework for the design of playful activities with robots, developed over 20 years' experience at AIRLab - POLIMI. Part 1 introduces the play concepts and characteristics, and research results about play of children with different kinds of impairments. Part 2 focuses on implementing robots able to play. The design of playful activities is discussed, as well as the necessary characteristics for them to be useful in both general play and activities involving disability-related limitations. In Part 3, the defined framework is used to analyze possibilities involving robots available on the toy market, robots developed at research labs, and robots to be developed in the next future. The aim of the book is to give developers, caregivers, and users a set of methodological tools for selecting, exploring, and designing inclusive play activities where robots play a central role.