We are handed the baby after delivery, which is the most important job we will ever have. Birth is an amazing experience but then what do we do? We are given the enormous task of promoting child development from birth through adolescence. Whether the baby is born with or without challenges, this book will help guide you to integrate primitive reflexes, achieve motor milestones and attain goals. Ten Fingers Ten Toes will teach you specific therapeutic sequencing. These techniques can lead to rewiring the brain to achieve neuroplasticity for children.

What, exactly, do children understand about the mind? And when does that understanding first emerge? In this groundbreaking book, Karen Bartsch and Henry Wellman answer these questions and much more by taking a probing look at what children themselves have to tell us about their evolving conceptions of people and their mental lives. By examining more than 200,000 everyday conversations (sampled from ten children between the ages of two and five years), the authors advance a comprehensive "naive theory of mind" that incorporates both early desire and belief-desire theories to trace childhood development through its several stages. Throughout, the book offers a splendidly written account of extensive original findings and critical new insights that will be eagerly read by students and researchers in developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, philosophy, and psycholinguistics.

Kangaroo Mother Care was created to help premature and low-birth-weight-infants develop into healthy babies. Once the newborn baby's heart rate and feeding have been stabilised, it remains with its mother who provides, naturally, all the benefits of incubator care; babies are positioned in close skin-to-skin contact with their mother, or even sometimes their father, for twenty-four hours a day. The warm physical contact regulates the baby's body temperature so that the baby can continue to grow, stimulates breastfeeding, gives the baby a wonderful feeling of security and strengthens bonding. The Kangaroo Mother Method is now used in thirty countries around the world, often in the Third World where incubators are in short supply in maternity hospitals, and has saved thousands of babies' lives. In the western world it is been adapted and is used widely alongside incubator care to heal the sense of isolation and helplessness both parents and babies can feel in the tense initial weeks of the baby's life. Providing a history and a beautifully illustrated practical guide to kangaroo mothering, Nathalie Charpak's book tells you all you need to know about an approach that will change the way mothers relate to newborn babies and improve the way hospitals treat premature babies and their parents. Kangaroo Mother Care was created to help low-birth-weight-infants develop into healthy babies. Newborn babies remain with their mothers who supply the benefits of incubator care; babies are bound to their mothers, or other carers, in skin-to-skin contact. The physical contact regulates the babies' body temperature, and provides essential stimulation, as well as initiating bonding. Providing a history and beautifully illustrated practical guide to kangaroo mothering, Nathalie Charpak provides an essential guide to an approach that will change the way mothers relate to newborn babies, and improve the way hospitals treat premature babies.

The Book That Launched an International Movement Fans of The Anxious Generation will adore Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv's groundbreaking New York Times bestseller. “An absolute must-read for parents.” —The Boston Globe “It rivals Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.” —The Cincinnati Enquirer “I like to play indoors better ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are,” reports a fourth grader. But it’s not only computers, television, and video games that are keeping kids inside. It’s also their parents’ fears of traffic, strangers, Lyme disease, and West Nile virus; their schools’ emphasis on more and more homework; their structured schedules; and their lack of access to natural areas. Local governments, neighborhood associations, and even organizations devoted to the outdoors are placing legal and regulatory constraints on many wild spaces, sometimes making natural play a crime. As children’s connections to nature diminish and the social, psychological, and spiritual implications become apparent, new research shows that nature can offer powerful therapy for such maladies as depression, obesity, and attention deficit disorder. Environment-based education dramatically improves standardized test scores and grade-point averages and develops skills in problem solving, critical thinking, and decision making. Anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that childhood experiences in nature stimulate creativity. In Last Child in the Woods, Louv talks with parents, children, teachers, scientists, religious leaders, child-development researchers, and environmentalists who recognize the threat and offer solutions. Louv shows us an alternative future, one in which parents help their kids experience the natural world more deeply—and find the joy of family connectedness in the process. Included in this edition: A Field Guide with 100 Practical Actions We Can Take Discussion Points for Book Groups, Classrooms, and Communities Additional Notes by the Author New and Updated Research from the U.S. and Abroad

Cutting-edge science and the ancient wisdom of Buddhism have come together to reveal that, contrary to popular belief, we have the power to literally change our brains by changing our minds. Recent pioneering experiments in neuroplasticity—the ability of the brain to change in response to experience—reveal that the brain is capable of altering its structure and function, and even of generating new neurons, a power we retain well into old age. The brain can adapt, heal, renew itself after trauma, compensate for disabilities, rewire itself to overcome dyslexia, and break cycles of depression and OCD. And as scientists are learning from studies performed on Buddhist monks, it is not only the outside world that can change the brain, so can the mind and, in particular, focused attention through the classic Buddhist practice of mindfulness. With her gift for making science accessible, meaningful, and compelling, science writer Sharon Begley illuminates a profound shift in our understanding of how the brain and the mind interact and takes us to the leading edge of a revolution in what it means to be human. Praise for Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain “There are two great things about this book. One is that it shows us how nothing about our brains is set in stone. The other is that it is written by Sharon Begley, one of the best science writers around. Begley is superb at framing the latest facts within the larger context of the field. This is a terrific book.”—Robert M. Sapolsky, author of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers “Excellent . . . elegant and lucid prose . . . an open mind here will be rewarded.”—Discover “A strong dose of hope along with a strong does of science and Buddhist thought.”—The San Diego Union-Tribune

Many parents find it hard to know which toys are appropriate for children at different ages, and what kinds of play to initiate and encourage. What can parents do to best help children develop, and foster their skills? Karin Neuschütz, an experienced educator and parent, addresses these questions in this concise, readable book. She discusses how children play, creatively and freely, and how they are affected by their environment and by the adults near them. She explores each developmental stage up to age seven, using case studies to illustrate particular issues. She then suggests suitable toys and dolls and nurturing activities for children at particular stages . Parents and early-years educators will appreciate the dependable, practical advice in this book.

Written by a veteran social worker, therapist, and men's counselor who has spent many years as a live-away dad himself, Live-Away Dads is a practical and encouraging guide for fathers who want to make the best of their relationships with their children after a divorce or breakup. From his personal and professional experience, especially his years as a custody advisor to the Illinois courts, William C. Klatte is highly attuned to the special struggle of non-custodial fathers. He shows how emotions, especially anger, depression, and feelings of powerlessness, often control men's behavior with former partners and others, and he guides fathers in acknowledging and expressing anger more effectively. With guidance on dealing with the courts, working out visitation, communicating with the children's mother, creating a child-friendly home, and much more, Klatte helps live-away dads through the toughest challenges of single parenting. Practical and inspiring, Live-Away Dads will indelibly change for the better the way we approach parenting after divorce.