Grateful parents and professionals worldwide have welcomed this essential guide to the highly recommended Floortime approach for treating children with any of the autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Now available in paperback, Engaging Autism includes new, exciting information on neuroscience research into the effects of this approach, plus guidance for parents navigating the controversies surrounding the treatment of autism. Unlike approaches that focus on changing specific behaviour, Greenspan's program promotes the building blocks of healthy emotional and behavioural development. He shows that, remarkably, children with ASD do not have a fixed, limited potential, and may often join their peers to lead full, psychologically healthy lives. The Floortime approach can also be applied at any age,including early infancy, when the first signs of risk for ASD may appear,so that preventing the full development of autism becomes a real possibility.

Because so many people have vital roles to play in helping infants and young children with sensory processing difficulties interact with their environments and the significant people and relationships in them, authors, Susan A. Stallings-Sahler and Gilbert M. Foley, have written this book for a broad multidisciplinary audience of service providers, researchers, and policymakers serving infants, young children, and their families. Highlighting the intersection of sensory processing, sensory processing disorders, and infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH), the book is targeted to a wide array of disciplines from the therapeutic, educational, medical, and psychosocial fields. Practitioners who work in a variety of settings will find it meaningful - neonatal intensive care follow-up programs, early intervention programs, preschools, developmental and mental health clinics, IECMH programs, child life programs, social service agencies, and child care centres. Parents and family members may also find the contents helpful in understanding and caring for their child with sensory, self-regulatory, and social-emotional challenges in ways that will also enhance their relationships and family life.This book is designed to help readers achieve the following goals: Understand the sensory development of infants and young children as well as how the tapestry of sensory processing, self-regulation, and social-emotional capacities become interwoven as development and the child's personality emerge. Understand and appreciate how sensory processing and self-regulation are intimately linked and contribute to social-emotional development and the broader construct of IECMH and psychopathology. Explore the fundamental neurodevelopmental and neurophysiological underpinnings of sensory processing and its influence on attention, movement, self-regulation, attachment, and IECMH as well as areas where dysfunction may occur. Learn about assessment and intervention approaches designed to promote young children's self-regulation, adaptive behaviour, social-emotional development, and mental health through enriching interactions and goodness-of-fit with the physical, relational, and social world. Become aware of new scientific evidence, directions, and outstanding questions in both basic and applied research relevant to this aspect of practice with this unique population.

Clinical psychologist Serena Wieder Ph.D. redefines the building blocks of development and the challenges that derail a child's functioning and learning. For Wieder, vision and space -- what is seen by the eyes, transformed by the mind and experienced as movement, plays a crucial but heretofore underestimated crucial role in the development of a child's thoughts and feelings. Co-author Harry Wachs, O.D., a pioneer of developmental vision therapy, offers therapy focused on visual/spatial aspects of development supporting cognition. Based on decades of experience, Wieder and Wachs guide therapists and parents in interventions for use at home, school and therapy offices involving affect based Floortime approaches and other problem-solving experiences, addressing unrecognized challenges that often derail life competencies, learning and development. A new step-by-step Manual presents tools to develop visual/spatial learning. This groundbreaking book changes the way parents and therapists understand child development and work to promote each child's potential in meaningful ways.

Stanley Greenspan, internationally known for his work with infants, young children, and their families, and his colleague, nationally recognized child psychologist Serena Wieder, have for the first time integrated their award-winning research and clinical experience into a definitive guide to raising children with special needs. In this essential work they lay out a complete, step-by-step approach for parents, educators, and others who work with developmental problems. Covering all kinds of disabilities--including autism, PPD, language and speech problems, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and ADD--the authors offer a new understanding of the nature of these challenges and also specific ways of helping children extend their intellectual and emotional potential.The authors first show how to move beyond labels to observe the unique profile--strengths and problems--of the individual child. Next, they demonstrate the techniques necessary to help the child not only reach key milestones but also develop new emotional and intellectual capacities. Greenspan's well-known "floortime" approach enables parents, as well as clinicians, to use seemingly playful interactions that help children actually move up the development ladder and often master creative and abstract thinking formerly thought beyond their reach. Including vivid case histories, the book also offers deep and compassionate understanding of the stresses and rewards involved in raising a child with special needs.whose amazing work with autistic and other special needs children is nationally known, and his colleague, child psychologist Serena Wieder, have integrated a lifetime of research and clinical practice into a single, comprehensive guide for parents. Covering all kinds of disabilities--including cerebral palsy, autism, retardation, ADD, PDD, and language problems--the book offers specific ways of helping all children reach their full intellectual and emotional potential.First the authors show how to move beyond the label and observe the strengths and problems of the particular child and the key milestones that must be reached. Next, they move step by step through the techniques necessary to help the child reach these milestones and show how to tailor these to each child. Finally, with a deep and compassionate understanding they outline the marital, educational, and social stresses and rewards in raising a special needs child.