Child Development, First Edition: A Practitioner's Guide (Clinical Practice with Children, Adolescents, and Families) - Hardcover

"This is an outstanding book. Davies' Child Development is going to become that well-worn book on the shelf in the office, bearing signs of frequent use long after the practitioner leaves graduate school. As a teacher of social work, I have been disappointed in other books on human development because they've lacked what Child Development has as its strength--teaching practitioners how to think about a person developing in interaction with their environment. Strongly based in attachment theory, Davies develops the transactional-ecological model to demonstrate the course of child development. Using concepts like protective factors, risk factors, and scaffolding, the practitioner gains rich developmental detail, an understanding of interferences in development and excellent suggestions for interventions. Davies is a natural storyteller so his case examples are a lens on childhood, illustrating his themes perfectly. He understands the need to read and interpret the child through the mediums of words, behavior, and play while never losing sight of the larger social context. His appendices, tables, and summaries will prove invaluable to the practitioner. The book is a pleasure to read: wise, human, and critically and theoretically balanced with practice applications in abundance. I will be using this book as the child text in my courses and I'll keep it close at hand in my clinical practice." --Sallie M. Foley, MSW, Professor, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor "This beautifully written book will help all of us--from students to seasoned practitioners--to recognize when a youngster's behavior is signaling a need for family intervention, and to support the progress of all infants and children toward optimal growth and resiliency. It will be required reading for our trainees and will be available as a resource for all of our intervention staff." --Kathleen Baltman, MA, Parents & Children Together (PACT), Department of Sociology, Wayne State University "This volume contributes in a very important and clear way to our understanding that a solid, thorough grasp of childhood development is crucial to appropriate clinical practice with children and their families. Davies embeds child development in a useful attachment paradigm as well as in a broad environmental context in which risk and protective factors are carefully and thoughtfully arranged. He traces the course of development in chapters that describe relevant issues and achievement in relation to age, and alternates these with chapters that illustrate the significance of that understanding to appropriate clinical practice. This helpful juxtaposition is transactionally enriching. Throughout, his clinical examples, brief and long, are compelling, intelligent, and continuously instructive." --Jeree H. Pawl, PhD, Director, Infant-Parent Program, Department of Psychiatry, San Francisco General Hospital "This is an outstanding book. Davies' "Child Development" is going to become that well-worn book on the shelf in the office, bearing signs of frequent use long after the practitioner leaves graduate school. As a teacher of social work, I have been disappointed in other books on human development because they've lacked what "Child Development" has as its strength--teaching practitioners how to think about a person developing in interaction with their environment. Strongly based in attachment theory, Davies develops the transactional-ecological model to demonstrate the course of child development. Using concepts like "protective factors, risk factors," and "scaffolding," the practitioner gains rich developmental detail, an understanding of interferences in development and excellent suggestions for interventions. Davies is a natural storyteller so his case examples are a lens on childhood, illustrating his themes perfectly. He understands the need to read and interpret the child through the mediums of words, behavior, and play while never losing sight of the larger social context. His appendices, tables, and summaries will prove invaluable to the practitioner. The book is a pleasure to read: wise, human, and critically and theoretically balanced with practice applications in abundance. I will be using this book as "the" child text in my courses and I'll keep it close at hand in my clinical practice." --Sallie M. Foley, MSW, Professor, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor "This beautifully written book will help all of us--from students to seasoned practitioners--to recognize when a youngster's behavior is signaling a need for family intervention, and to support the progress of all infants and children toward optimal growth and resiliency. It will be required reading for our trainees and will be available as a resource for all of our intervention staff." --Kathleen Baltman, MA, Parents & Children Together (PACT), Department of Sociology, Wayne State University "This volume contributes in a very important and clear way to our understanding that a solid, thorough grasp of childhood development is crucial to appropriate clinical practice with children and their families. Davies embeds child development in a useful attachment paradigm as well as in a broad environmental context in which risk and protective factors are carefully and thoughtfully arranged. He traces the course of development in chapters that describe relevant issues and achievement in relation to age, and alternates these with chapters that illustrate the significance of that understanding to appropriate clinical practice. This helpful juxtaposition is transactionally enriching. Throughout, his clinical examples, brief and long, are compelling, intelligent, and continuously instructive." --Jeree H. Pawl, PhD, Director, Infant-Parent Program, Department of Psychiatry, San Francisco General Hospital "This is an outstanding book. Davies' Child Development is going to become that well-worn book on the shelf in the office, bearing signs of frequent use long after the practitioner leaves graduate school. As a teacher of social work, I have been disappointed in other books on human development because they've lacked what Child Development has as its strength--teaching practitioners how to think about a person developing in interaction with their environment. Strongly based in attachment theory, Davies develops the transactional-ecological model to demonstrate the course of child development. Using concepts like protective factors, risk factors, and scaffolding, the practitioner gains rich developmental detail, an understanding of interferences in development and excellent suggestions for interventions. Davies is a natural storyteller so his case examples are a lens on childhood, illustrating his themes perfectly. He understands the need to read and interpret the child through the mediums of words, behavior, and play while never losing sight of the larger social context. His appendices, tables, and summaries will prove invaluable to the practitioner. The book is a pleasure to read: wise, human, and critically and theoretically balanced with practice applications in abundance. I will be using this book as the child text in my courses and I'll keep it close at hand in my clinical practice." --Sallie M. Foley, MSW, Professor, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor "This beautifully written book will help all of us--from students to seasonedpractitioners--to recognize when a youngster's behavior is signaling a need for family intervention, and to support the progress of all infants and children toward optimal growth and resiliency. It will be required reading for our trainees and will be available as a resource for all of our intervention staff." --Kathleen Baltman, MA, Parents & amp; Children Together (PACT), Department of Sociology, Wayne State University "This volume contributes in a very important and clear way to our understanding that a solid, thorough grasp of childhood development is crucial to appropriate clinical practice with children and their families. Davies embeds child development in a useful attachment paradigm as well as in a broad environmental context in which risk and protective factors are carefully and thoughtfully arranged. He traces the course of development in chapters that describe relevant issues and achievement in relation to age, and alternates these with chapters that illustrate the significance of that understanding to appropriate clinical practice. This helpful juxtaposition is transactionally enriching. Throughout, his clinical examples, brief and long, are compelling, intelligent, and continuously instructive." --Jeree H. Pawl, PhD, Director, Infant-Parent Program, Department of Psychiatry, San Francisco General Hospital , .."the content should prove useful to students and more seasoned practitioners of Psychiatry; as well as other mental health care professionals, Douglas Davies writes in an easily readable style with clinical examples well integrated throughout his presentations of theory and discussions of developmental stages from infancy through pre-adolescent ages....its strength lies in its concise presentation and excellent integration of theoretical concepts and clinical applications. The emphasis on the transactional nature of development may also be useful to those who have not received much prior training about attachment and the reciprocal influence of wider systematic and sociocultural factors on individual developmental pathways."-- The Canadian Child Psychiatry Review "I have used this book for teaching a course on the development of the young child for students who will be day-care providers or teachers. The students found the book readable and useful....The book is certainly more textured than a typical child development textbook and I find that to its credit."-- Contemporary Psychology , .."gives very useful perspective of how one might think about the field of development because it does not try to cover every detail; rather, it presents a conceptually integrated view of the field. In my estimation, this makes the book particularly useful for practitioners who have at least a rudimentary understanding of development....I have used this book for teaching a course on the development of the young child for students who will be day-care providers or teachers. The students found the book readable anduseful....The book is certainly more textured than a typical child development textbook and I find that to its credit."-- Contemporary Psychology , .."rich case examples demonstrate how developmental trajectories may go awry and how clinicians may go about the task of attempting to understand and to address maturational difficulties. A particularly valuable part of the text is the description of "normal" children at each stage of the life cycle and exercises for practitioners to go about observing the evolving capacities in children." -- Journal of Psychotherapy in Independent Practice .,."the content should prove useful to students and more seasoned practitioners of Psychiatry; as well as other mental health care professionals, Douglas Davies writes in an easily readable style with clinical examples well integrated throughout his presentations of theory and discussions of developmental stages from infancy through pre-adolescent ages....its strength lies in its concise presentation and excellent integration of theoretical concepts and clinical applications. The emphasis on the transactional nature of development may also be useful to those who have not received much prior training about attachment and the reciprocal influence of wider systematic and sociocultural factors on individual developmental pathways."--"The Canadian Child Psychiatry Review" "I have used this book for teaching a course on the development of the young child for students who will be day-care providers or teachers. The students found the book readable and useful....The book is certainly more textured than a typical child development textbook and I find that to its credit."--"Contemporary Psychology" .,."gives very useful perspective of how one might think about the field of development because it does not try to cover every detail; rather, it presents a conceptually integrated view of the field. In my estimation, this makes the book particularly useful for practitioners who have at least a rudimentary understanding of development....I have used this book for teaching a course on the development of the young child for students who will be day-care providers or teachers. The students found the book readable and useful....The book is certainly more textured than a typical child developmenttextbook and I find that to its credit."--"Contemporary Psychology" .,."rich case examples demonstrate how developmental trajectories may go awry and how clinicians may go about the task of attempting to understand and to address maturational difficulties. A particularly valuable part of the text is the description of "normal" children at each stage of the life cycle and exercises for practitioners to go about observing the evolving capacities in children." --"Journal of Psychotherapy in Independent Practice" ..."the content should prove useful to students and more seasoned practitioners of Psychiatry; as well as other mental health care professionals, Douglas Davies writes in an easily readable style with clinical examples well integrated throughout his presentations of theory and discussions of developmental stages from infancy through pre-adolescent ages....its strength lies in its concise presentation and excellent integration of theoretical concepts and clinical applications. The emphasis on the transactional nature of development may also be useful to those who have not received much prior training about attachment and the reciprocal influence of wider systematic and sociocultural factors on individual developmental pathways."--"The Canadian Child Psychiatry Review" "I have used this book for teaching a course on the development of the young child for students who will be day-care providers or teachers. The students found the book readable and useful....The book is certainly more textured than a typical child development textbook and I find that to its credit."--"Contemporary Psychology" ..."gives very useful perspective of how one might think about the field of development because it does not try to cover every detail; rather, it presents a conceptually integrated view of the field. In my estimation, this makes the book particularly useful for practitioners who have at least a rudimentary understanding of development....I have used this book for teaching a course on the development of the young child for students who will be day-care providers or teachers. The students found the book readable and useful....The book is certainly more textured than a typical child developmenttextbook and I find that to its credit."--"Contemporary Psychology" ..."rich case examples demonstrate how developmental trajectories may go awry and how clinicians may go about the task of attempting to understand and to address maturational difficulties. A particularly valuable part of the text is the description of "normal" children at each stage of the life cycle and exercises for practitioners to go about observing the evolving capacities in children." --"Journal of Psychotherapy in Independent Practice"

This text aims to offer information on child development, looking at both research and theory, and practice. It focuses on how practitioners can apply developmental knowledge to assessment and intervention with children and families. The book begins with a theoretical framework for understanding the transactions between individual development and the child's wider environments, examining the crucial roles of attachment and parenting and the ecology of risk and protective factors. Chapters then detail normal behaviour and salient developmental tasks for infancy, toddlerhood, the pre-school period, and middle childhood. Case studies and observational examples bring the research to life and highlight special considerations for working with children with difficulties.