The Activity Kit for Babies and Toddlers at Risk: How to Use Everyday Routines to Build Social and Communication Skills. Deborah Fein, Molly Helt, Lynn Brennan & Marianne Barton, $23.95

Suspecting that your baby or toddler may have autism spectrum disorder or another developmental delay can be scary and overwhelming. But there is a lot you can do to help, even while waiting for an evaluation or early intervention. With the right tools, everyday tasks can be terrific opportunities for building critical social and communication skills. Start at the kitchen table, bathtub, or shopping cart! In this easy-to-navigate guide, leading experts present more than 100 games and activities designed to support development in children from birth to age three. Your child's daily routines are transformed into learning opportunities that promote crucial abilities, like how to imitate others or use simple hand gestures to convey wants and needs. As a parent, you are the most important person in your child's life. Now you can be the best teacher, too.

Charting the Bumpy Road of Coparenthood: Understanding the Challenges of Family Life. James McHale, $39.50

Filled with interviews with new parents and observations of new parents and their babies, this major new study offers key information that clinicians, policymakers, and parents need to know about creating consistent and coordinated co-parenting strategies during pregnancy and in a child’s earliest years. Author James McHale, explains how parents work together—or don’t—to care for infants and young children, and how the quality of their co-parenting alliance affects toddlers’ social and emotional development.

Child Development for Child Care and Protection Workers, 2nd Edition. Brigid Daniel, Sally Wassell & Robbie Gilligan, $34.95

Child Development for Child Care and Protection Workers summarizes important current thinking on child development and applies it directly to practice. The book covers key issues such as resilience and vulnerability and the impact of protective or adverse environments. Different stages of development (infancy, school age and adolescence) are discussed, and attachment theory is used to offer insights into the impact of abuse and neglect on development. This book encourages practitioners to consider each child as an individual with unique circumstances, and links theory and practice in an imaginative and sympathetic way.

Circles in the Nursery: Practicing Multicultural Family Therapy. Leena Banerjee Brown, $25.95

Clinicians know that they should take ethnic and family culture into account when working with multi-cultural at-risk populations. Leena Banerjee Brown, and experienced clinician and teacher, offers a comprehensive framework for understanding and practicing multicultural infant-family mental health that includes detailed case studies, practical applications and ideas for improving and energizing clinical work with at-risk infants and families.

Comprehensive, Competence-Based Parenting Assessment for Parents with Learning Difficulties and Their Children. Maurice Feldman & Marjorie Aunos, $49.95

This book presents an innovative, empirically-supported approach to assessing parenting capacity of parents with learning difficulties that can lead to more humane, fair and accurate child custody decisions.  The authors are leading researchers and practitioners in this field having worked with hundred of these families.  Many professionals working with these families recognize that the current parenting capacity assessment approaches are based on outdated and invalid assumptions and methods.  This book addresses the unique assessment needs of these families and includes detailed background information, rationales and methods. Key topics include:

• Parenting Interactional Model
• Comprehensive Competence-based Assessment
• Designing Parenting Capacity Assessments Based on Parenting Interaction Model
• Court Testimony, Family Support Plans & Conclusions
• Appendices
• References

Cross-Cultural Caring: a Handbook for Health Professionals describes Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian, Chinese, Japanese, Iranian, South Asian, and Central American ethno-cultural groups. It stresses the need to understand both the cultural beliefs and the daily life concerns facing immigrants, such as work, income, child-rearing, and aging, all of which impinge on health … This new edition provides up-to-date statistics and fresh analysis, responding to changing trends in immigration. Additional material includes a new chapter addressing the special circumstances of refugees; short real-life stories of immigrants' and refugees' experiences; and a thorough, easy-to-use index.

Evidence-Based Practice in the Early Childhood Field. Virginia Buysse & Patricia Wesley, Editors, $37.95

Evidence-Based Practice in the Early Childhood Field defines the evidence-based practice movement and explains how it is empowering professionals to deliver the most effective interventions available. The authors examine how evidence-based practice is changing the way research is conducted and how various sources of evidence can be applied to solve real-world problems and used to inform critical policy decisions.

Families, Infants, and Young Children at Risk: Pathways to Best Practice. Gail Ensher, David Clark & Nancy Songer, $60.50

A clear, comprehensive text on the neurological and psycho-social development of children from birth to 8, this textbook helps readers fully understand child development, address the complex needs of children with disabilities and their families, and skillfully connect the latest clinical knowledge with everyday practice.

Home Visitor’s Guidebook: Promoting Optimal Parent & Child Development, 3rd Edition. Carol Klass, $49.50

The ultimate professional development resource for early interventionists, social workers, therapists, and other home visitors, this research-based guidebook is enhanced throughout with up-to-date references and new material on today's hot topics.

Pathways to Competence for Young Children: a Parenting Program (Book and CD-ROM). Sarah Landy & Elizabeth Thompson, $73.95

With Pathways to Competence for Young Children: a Parenting Program, professionals can help parents understand and manage their child’s behavior and take an active role in guiding social-emotional development. Developed from Sarah Landy’s highly regarded child development book, Pathways to Competence, this manual-and-CD set shows how to set up, lead, and evaluate a parenting program for parents of children from birth to age 7. This one-of-a-kind program is:

• Proven effective. Field tested for 10 years with hundreds of parents, this program has proved highly successful in improving child behavior and enhancing parenting skills.
• Hands-on and practical. Professionals will learn how to lead group discussions, activities and exercises, and role-plays on key parenting challenges.
• Versatile. Materials can be used for a 10-, 15-, or 20-week parenting group, and professionals can tailor the program to suit their needs. The program is appropriate for a wide range of audiences, including parents with depression, teen mothers, and parents of children with behavior problems.

Everything professionals need to conduct a Pathways to Competence Parenting Group is included: more than 140 parent handouts (easy to print from the CD-ROM inside this book), instructions on structuring and leading sessions, problem-solving tips, and evaluation guidelines. With this engaging and effective program, parents will discover how to strengthen their relationships with their children and foster the healthy social-emotional development children need to manage life’s challenges.

Promoting Positive Parenting: an Attachment-Based Intervention. Edited by Femmie Juffer, Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg & Marinus van Ijzendoorn, $43.50

Video-feedback Intervention to Promote Positive Parenting (VIPP) is a brief and focused parenting intervention program that has been successful in a variety of clinical and non-clinical groups and cultures. The book opens with an introduction to the VIPP program and the theoretical background of this parenting intervention, followed by a narrative and meta-analytical review of the attachment-based interventions. The book continues with detailed descriptions and case reports of several intervention studies of the program. It describes the implementation and testing of a variety of VIPP based interventions highlighting different families in a variety of childcare settings, and in various countries including the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Raising Special Kids: a Group Program for Parents of Children with Special Needs, Facilitator's Manual. Jared Massanari & Alice Massanari, $17.95

Raising Special Kids: a Group Program for Parents of Children with Special Needs, Parent Guidebook. Jared Massanari & Alice Massanari, $32.95

This eight-session group program is a mutual support program that allows parents to share stories and explore what works and what doesn't in their unique relationships between their children and families. Each chapter presents a central theme that weaves together their own needs and the needs of their child. The program focuses on:

• Encouraging parents to explore their own very intense emotional responses to raising a child with special needs.
• Helping parents identify their lost dreams, express feelings that accompany loss, and, at the same time, deeply love the child now in their lives.
• Helping parents experience the gifts that their child offers.
• Encouraging parents to practice self-care and appreciate all that they do for their child.
• Strengthening both the parent-child connection and the family as a whole.
• Improving family communication and developing skills to help children reach optimal potential.

Raising Special Kids offers insights and guidance for any parent facing the challenges of raising a child with physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional special needs.

Relationship-Centered Practices in Early Childhood: Working With Families, Infants & Young Children at Risk. Gail Ensher & David Clark, $37.95

Developed by two respected early childhood authorities, this book is a must for all professionals serving families of children birth to age 8 who have disabilities or who may be at risk. Presenting a clear framework for effective relationship-centered care in natural environments, Ensher and Clark give readers the up-to-date information and guidance they need to develop relationship-centered care that improves both child and family outcomes.

Sibshops: Workshops for Siblings of Children with Special Needs, Revised Edition. Don Meyer & Patricia Vadasy, $48.95

When it comes to organizing workshops for siblings of children with special health and developmental needs, the enormously popular Sibshop model has been used in more than 200 communities in eight countries, and the long-awaited revision of this exemplary guide makes it easier than ever to create and run successful, cost-effective sibling support group programs.

Sibshop programs provide opportunities for brothers and sisters of children with special needs to obtain peer support and education within a highly recreational context. Organizers and families appreciate that the workshops take a wellness approach, and the siblings who attend the workshops appreciate that they're fun and engaging. Highly practical and user-friendly, Sibshops is filled with straightforward instructions, photocopiable forms, more than 100 fun games and activities, and sage guidance on how to start, fund, and run a Sibshop.

Essential for agencies that serve families of children with disabilities, social workers, parent-to-parent programs, early intervention programs, developmental disability councils, child life specialists, and parents, this guidebook offers an inexpensive and easy-to-implement solution to addressing siblings' needs in a way everyone can enjoy.

Thrifty Nifty Stuff for Little Kids: Developmental Play Using Home Resources, Birth to 5. Dee Blose & Laura Smith, $56.50

Assist young children with special needs by adapting ordinary household objects into more than 230 creative activities. You'll have complete instructions for making inexpensive and easy-to-construct therapeutic toys. Use these in activities to improve language, fine motor, gross motor, and cognitive skills in young children. Plus, a description of typical development for each age range is included.

These fresh ideas enable professionals to develop new ways to build skills and to adapt toys, equipment and ideas for sensory-based activities.

Working with Parents and Families of Exceptional Children and Youth: Techniques for Successful Conferencing and Collaboration, 4th Edition. Richard Simpson & Nancy Mundschenk, $53.95

The primary theme of Working with Parents and Families of Exceptional Children and Youth is that educators and related service professionals must be involved in helping parents and families to contend with the challenges of raising, living with and educating a child who has an exceptionality. This text maintains a focus on developing critical knowledge and skills for conferencing and collaborating that springs from a strength-based approach when working with families to develop responsive practitioners. Additionally, it offers professionals current evidence-based methods and related resources for building knowledge and skill sets needed for effective parent and family involvement.

Your Guide to Nurturing Parent–Child Relationships: Positive Parenting Activities for Home Visitors. Nadia Hall, Chaya Kulkarni & Shauna Seneca, $58.95

Looking for an engaging way to nurture parent and child relationships? This highly practical, activity-based guide shows home visitors what to do and how to do it—and is virtually a training program in itself! Developed out of three different training curricula that have been extensively field-tested and used in workshops across the United States and Canada, this guide gives home visitors creative and proven tools to help parents strengthen their relationships with their children.

Because every child and family is different, the approaches outlined are flexible, adaptable, culturally sensitive, and appropriate for all families. Parents can be overwhelmed by personal challenges and stressors that compromise their capacity to do the best for their children. Let this be the home visitor's guide to harnessing parents' inherent strengths, building their parenting competencies, and empowering them with useful strategies.