Understanding Families: Supportive Approaches to Diversity, Disability, and Risk

Today's American families are more complex and diverse than ever before—and today's child and family professionals must be fully prepared to meet their needs. Interventionists, educators, health care professionals, therapists, and social workers will get the strong foundation they need with the NEW edition of this trusted textbook, a comprehensive guide to working effectively and respectfully with contemporary families.

Highly respected experts Marci Hanson and Eleanor Lynch have expanded and updated their bestselling text, weaving in cutting-edge research on social, demographic, and economic changes and connecting the research to best practices in family-centered care. With a strong emphasis on family resilience, this book gets preservice and in-service professionals ready to

• work with a broad range of families with diverse structures, backgrounds, and circumstances
• communicate and collaborate effectively with every family they serve
• support families of children with disabilities
• advance strong parent–child attachment and interactions
• match services and supports with each family's desired goals and outcomes
• address risk factors such as poverty, addiction, and violence
• promote the mental health of young children and their parents
• apply human development theories in their work with children
• defuse common sources of tension between families and professionals

With this cornerstone textbook, the new generation of child and family professionals will have the research and practical guidance they need to improve the lives and outcomes of 21st-century families.

WHAT'S NEW
Timely new information on:

• Demographic changes in the past decade
• Cultural and linguistic diversity
• Economic issues caused by the recession
• The needs of infants and very young children
• Infant mental health

Plus helpful sample questions to guide service providers' interactions with families!

Marci J. Hanson, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Special Education at San Francisco State University (SFSU). At SFSU, Dr. Hanson is actively engaged in teaching, research, and service related to young children and their families. In addition to these responsibilities, she directs the SFSU joint doctoral program in special education with the University of California, Berkeley, and codirects the early childhood special education graduate program. She is a consultant with the child and adolescent development faculty of the Marian Wright Edelman Institute for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families at SFSU and with San Francisco Head Start.

For nearly 35 years, Dr. Lynch was involved in teaching, research, and community and family services that focused on improving the lives of young children who had, or were at risk for, disabilities. Prior to joining the faculty at San Diego State University (SDSU), Dr. Lynch received her doctorate in teaching exceptional children in 1972 from The Ohio State University and joined the faculty of Miami University. She subsequently joined the faculty of the University of Michigan, working in both academic and clinical positions.

Dr. Lynch became Professor Emerita at SDSU after chairing the Department of Special Education, directing the Early Childhood Special Education graduate program, and serving on the faculty of the SDSU–Claremont Graduate University joint doctoral program. Over the course of her career, Dr. Lynch directed a model demonstration project and personnel preparation grants in early intervention and early childhood special education as well as a series of research grants on topics such as parental perspectives on special education, the status of educational services for children with ongoing medical conditions, individualized family service plan development, and the use of behavioral data and reflective practice to improve novice teachers' skills.

Dr. Lynch has served on numerous local and statewide committees and was one of the national collaborators on the Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services Early Childhood Research Institute. Most recently, she served as one of the Regional Coordinators of the federally funded Early Intervention Distance Learning Program, a collaborative project involving five California state universities and state partners. In 2003, she was honored by SDSU as one of the Top 25 on the campus and as the Outstanding Faculty Member from the College of Education. Dr. Lynch has lived in and taught special education to college instructors in Indonesia, taught human services professionals in American Samoa, given invited presentations in Australia and Taiwan, and lived in India while her husband served on a U.S. Agency for International Development project. She is the author or coauthor of numerous articles and chapters and has been a frequent presenter and workshop leader in the area of cultural competence.

Dr. Lynch continues to write in the area of early intervention and cultural competence. Her commitment to family support and social justice continues through her volunteer work within the San Diego community.