If you are an early intervention professional working with parents like Lorna, you will know just how desperate they are for help. Now there is a program which has been developed especially for early interventionists so that you can help parents with a new and unique synthesis of approaches totemperament and research-based methods of behavior guidance. Why These Guides Are Needed Temperament research makes it abundantly clear that children are not all the same. Temperament differences are real and make a difference to children's development. This is true of all children, including those with at social risk factors and those with developmental delays.
Children respond differently to parenting approaches and differently to intervention approaches.
This is why traditional intervention and parenting programs, with the same methods prescribed for all, are not always very helpful and can even increase families' frustration and stress. This is especially true when a family has a child with 'difficult' temperament characteristics. The Temperament Guides have been developed to address this problem by teaching early intervention professionals how to develop and deliver an individualized parent guidance program incorporating measurement of a child's temperament. However, it is not always clear what the nature of such identification and intervention should be. The Paralysis of Practitioners Some of the messages sent to practitioners can paralyze them from giving sensible, reassuring advice and from recommending everyday actions that could make a big difference to the lives of children and families.