The Challenging Child: Understanding, Raising, and Enjoying the Five "Difficult" Types of Children [Paperback]

Stanley I. Greenspan (Author), Jacqueline Salmon (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 10, 1996

Most children fall into five basic personality types that stem from inborn physical characteristics: the sensitive child, the self-absorbed child, the defiant child, the inattentive child, and the active/aggressive child. Stanley Greenspan, M.D., is the first to show parents how to match their parenting to the challenges of their particular child. He identifies and vividly describes these five universal temperaments and then, with great empathy, shows parents how each of these children actually experiences the world and how to use daily childrearing to enhance an individual child's strengths and talents.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In his latest book, Greenspan (psychiatry, behavioral science, and pediatrics, George Washington Univ. Medical Sch.) proposes methods for dealing with challenging children that focus on using both "nature" (the inborn temperament of the child) and "nurture" (the impact of the child's environment). Following an opening discussion of stages of child development, Greenspan devotes subsequent chapters to each of five types of special children: the highly sensitive, the self-absorbed, the defiant, the inattentive, and the active/ aggressive. Through use of case examples, he helps parents to identify and understand problem behaviors, to develop a plan to deal with that behavior, and to find the keys to help a difficult child cope. Both those who work with difficult children and their parents and any parent seeking to enhance his or her relationship with a child will find much useful advice here. Recommended for parenting collections in public and undergraduate libraries.?Kay Brodie, Chesapeake Coll., Wye Mills, Md.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Stanley I. Greenspan, M.D., author of the widely used and praised books The Challenging Child and (with Serena Wieder, Ph.D.) Engaging Autism, is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at George Washington University Medical School and lives in Bethesda, Maryland. Jacqueline Salmon, a staff writer on the Washington Post, is the mother of two young children and has lived the very issues outlined in this book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; 1 edition (September 10, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201441934
• ISBN-13: 978-0201441932
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,287 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

128 of 131 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone needs this book!, December 31, 2001

By 

Karen Baker "city mama" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Challenging Child: Understanding, Raising, and Enjoying the Five "Difficult" Types of Children (Paperback)

I took this book out of the library because of my high-energy, aggressive 2 year old, and am now here to buy it because I need to have it by my bed until I memorize it!! Only half kidding...it has been enormously helpful in thinking about his behavior. But the surprise is, all of my other kids are in here too, as well as me and my husband! Anyone with a strong personality was probably a difficult child, at least in some ways (ask your mom!!), and this book gives you insight into how you got the way you are, and how your personality might intersect with your child's to cause trouble understanding each other.

My favorite thing about this book is the way Greenspan includes a section on "what it feels like" to be each of the types of challenging children, so you can understand that your child often really, truly, doesn't see the world at all the way you do. They are not just trying to drive you nuts, they genuinely sometimes see black when you see white! If you can get behind their eyes you can support them so much better when things get hairy.

I would agree with the other reviewers that there isn't much in this book about special needs per se-- if you're looking for a book on ADD or another issue of that sort you may not find what you need here in terms of specific information. But for garden-variety behavior issues, plain old intense kids, and parent-child communication troubles, this book is fantastic.

140 of 154 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Counselor's recommendation: What to do besides feel guilty, November 9, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Challenging Child: Understanding, Raising, and Enjoying the Five "Difficult" Types of Children (Paperback)

Parents are often at a loss as to how a child "acts like this when it's not how he was raised". This book describes the unique, in-born personality and behavior traits which our children have, making some of them more challenging to deal with. With more understanding of their make-up and some specific strategies to try as parents and teachers, adults can feel more in control of the situation and children's unique needs can be met more readily.

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superior for those dealing with special needs children, August 18, 2001

By 

Bernadette A. Moyer (Lutherville, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Challenging Child: Understanding, Raising, and Enjoying the Five "Difficult" Types of Children (Paperback)

This title was recommended during a teacher orientation and it is easy to see why. This book should be required reading for anyone who is mentoring, teaching or parenting a special needs child.

Feel the calm as you learn new techniques. Many of which are totally out of line as to what you may have been taught was normal or proper. Insightful, thoughtful and necessary.

Emotional intellegence has never before been so clearly addressed.