Your Child: What Every Parent Needs to Know
Produced by members of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, this tome offers a clear and straightforward examination of issues of development behavior and psychological growth, for instance, separation anxiety, self-esteem and school readiness. Age by age, developmentally appropriate milestones are discussed, providing a chronology of physical, emotional, behavioral, cognitive, social and moral concerns that parents will face as they raise their children. Part I addresses such general pediatric concerns as allergies and when to introduce solid foods. Part II takes up a more tightly aimed discussion of day-to-day problem behaviors, such as tantrums, lying and aggression. Suggesting that in most cases such behavior problems are a part of normal developmental phases, the editors urge parents to follow their instincts and offer practical tips ("If possible, hold your child firmly during a tantrum"). Parts III and IV address problems that call for professional help (e.g., mental retardation, depressive disorders, learning disabilities), offering descriptions of disorders and abnormalities, with guidelines for when and where to seek help. Appendices include a glossary of psychiatric terms, a descriptive list of psychiatric medications, and an explanation of medial, psychological, educational and developmental tests. Pruitt, a psychiatry professor at the Univ. of Tennessee, Memphis, has compiled a comprehensive behavioral guidebook.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.