Infants, Toddlers, and Families: A Framework for Support and Intervention [Paperback]

Martha Farrell Erickson PhD (Author), Karen Kurz-Riemer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 2002 | ISBN-10: 1572307781 | ISBN-13: 978-1572307780 | Edition: 1

The first three years of life play a crucial role in setting the stage for later adjustment and success. For children with disabilities, children at risk, and even for healthy infants and toddlers born into well-functioning families, support and early intervention can foster optimal growth and development. This concise and readable guide presents a developmentally sound framework for strengths-based intervention with parents and young children. The volume is filled with practical suggestions for building positive family relationships, cultivating parental knowledge and understanding of child development, and enhancing family support systems. Also featured is an extensive annotated bibliography that describes a wealth of additional resources for professionals and parents. Grounded in research and informed by wisdom from the field, this book provides essential knowledge and skills for professionals and students across a range of health care, social service, and educational disciplines.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is a remarkable achievement and a splendid gift to anyone concerned with strengthening the development of infants, toddlers, and families. The authors fearlessly embrace the complexity of development in the first three years and confront the challenges of sharing the parenting journey with vulnerable families. Straightforward, succinct, and honest, this volume provides a sturdy framework to support the growing knowledge of the student or beginning practitioner, as well as a reliable touchstone for the experienced clinician, supervisor, or instructor. The authors' integrative review of three decades of theory, research, and clinical findings, and their advice on reading the intervention literature with a critical eye, are especially useful. So, too, are the clear descriptions of specific strategies for engaging and supporting families." --Emily Fenichel, MSW, Associate Director, Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families, Editor Zero to Three

"All too often, books directed at improving the lives of our youngest and most vulnerable children preach, scare, bore, and/or judge. This volume offers welcome relief. The authors' warm, erudite voice is as robust and vital as their subject, exquisitely balancing our attentions between child and parent, context and relationship. They provide a theoretically sound text that is appropriate for any advanced undergraduate or graduate course on early childhood education and intervention. Whether they are enthusiastic newcomers to the field or threatening-to-burn-out veterans, readers are challenged to cross over outmoded categories and curricular restraints. The field is in desperate need of the passion and wisdom contained in this book." --Kyle D. Pruett, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Yale Child Study Center; President of Zero to Three, National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families

"A comprehensive resource that embraces all infants, toddlers and their families, this book combines a rich blend of theory and research with guidance for frontline practitioners. It will be a wonderful introduction for persons entering the field of infancy and a source of renewal and validation for experienced providers. The resource bibilography alone could serve as the basis for an Infant Studies library! This integrative overview of birth-to-three work is a real 'find' for all early childhood professionals." --Linda Gilkerson, PhD, Professor and Director, Irving B. Harris Infant Studies Program, Erikson Institute, Chicago, IL

About the Author

bio updated 1/02:
Martha Farrell Erickson, PhD, is Director of the Children, Youth and Family Consortium at the University of Minnesota. The author of numerous scholarly publications, she also writes a syndicated parenting column and appears regularly as the parenting expert for KARE-TV.

[Kurz-Riemer did not respond to email asking for any bio updates, 1/02]
Karen Kurz-Riemer, MEd, is a family education consultant, writer, and trainer, based in Minneapolis.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: The Guilford Press; 1 edition (March 6, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572307781
• ISBN-13: 978-1572307780
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #188,676 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.