Influencing Children's Development

How can psychologists contribute to the development and well-being of children in practical ways? Do the practicalities of psychological work with children in clinical, educational and legal settings allow us to evaluate competing psychological explanations? Dealing in turn with a range of issues in applied developmental psychology, this text examines the impact of psychological research in contributing to strategies of interventions, as well as to the understanding of some of the conditions of childhood. The topics covered include some where development is affected by sensory or intellectual impairments and others, as for example in education, where the lives of the great majority of children have been influenced by the work of psychologists. In presenting these topics as a collection, this book provides the opportunity to identify the impact of the most influential psychological perspectives over a wide range of specific services for children.