A Therapist's Guide to Child Development: The Extraordinarily Normal Years

A Therapist's Guide to Child Development gives therapists and counselors the basics they need to understand their clients in the context of development and to explain development to parents. The chapters take the reader through the various physical, social, and identity developments occurring at each age, explaining how each stage of development is closely linked to mental health and how that is revealed in therapy. This ideal guide for students, as well as early and experienced professionals, will also give readers the tools to communicate successfully with the child’s guardians or teachers, including easy-to-read handouts that detail what kind of behaviors are not cause for concern and which behaviors mean it’s time to seek help. As an aid to practitioners, this book matches developmental ages with appropriate, evidence-based mental health interventions.

Dee C. Ray, PhD, is a distinguished teaching professor in the counseling program and director of the Child and Family Resource Clinic at the University of North Texas. She is the author of Advanced Play Therapy (Routledge, 2011), coauthor of Group Play Therapy (with Daniel Sweeney and Jennifer Baggerly, Routledge, 2014), and the editor of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Counseling.