Helping Your Anxious Child: A Step-By-Step Guide for Parents by Ronald M. Rapee, Susan H.Spence, Ann Wignall
Most children are afraid of the dark. Some fear monsters under the bed. But 10 percent of children have excessive fears and worries-phobias, separation anxiety, panic attacks, social anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorder-that can hold them back and keep them from fully enjoying childhood. If your child suffers from any of these forms of anxiety, the program in this book offers practical, scientifically proven tools that can help.
Now in its second edition, Helping Your Anxious Child has been expanded and updated to include the latest research and techniques for managing child anxiety. You’ll learn how to help your child overcome intense fears and worries and find out how to relieve anxious feelings while parenting with compassion.
Late, Lost, and Unprepared: A Parents’ Guide to Helping Children with Executive Functioning by Joyce Cooper-Kahn, Ph.D. and Laurie Dietzel, Ph.D.
This is a must-have book for parents of children from primary school through high school who struggle with: Impulse Control, Cognitive Flexibility, Initiation, Working Memory, Planning & Organizing, and Self-monitoring. The book emphasizes the need for a two-pronged approach to intervention: 1) Helping the child to manage demands in the short run, and 2) Building independent skills for long-term self-management. Full of encouragement and practical strategies, the book’s organization–short chapters with overviews, summaries, case studies, tips, and definitions–makes it easy to grasp concepts quickly and get started. (Woodbine House Publishing)
Smart but Scattered: The Revolutionary ”Executive Skills” Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential by Peg Dawson, Richard Guare
There’s nothing more frustrating than watching your bright, talented son or daughter struggle with everyday tasks like finishing homework, putting away toys, or following instructions at school. Your “smart but scattered” child might also have trouble coping with disappointment or managing anger. Drs. Peg Dawson and Richard Guare have great news: there’s a lot you can do to help. The latest research in child development shows that many kids who have the brain and heart to succeed lack or lag behind in crucial “executive skills”–the fundamental habits of mind required for getting organized, staying focused, and controlling impulses and emotions. Learn easy-to-follow steps to identify your child’s strengths and weaknesses, use activities and techniques proven to boost specific skills, and problem-solve daily routines. Small changes can add up to big improvements–this empowering book shows how.
Super-Parenting for ADD: An Innovative Approach to Raising Your Distracted Child by Edward M. Hallowell, M.D. and Peter S. Jensen, M.D.
With decades of experience working with ADD children, Dr. Edward Hallowell has long argued that ADD is too often misunderstood, mistreated, and mislabeled as a “disability.” Now he teams up with top academic ADD researcher Peter S. Jensen, M.D., to bring you an invaluable new approach to helping your ADD child. Super-Parenting for ADD offers a specific game plan including:
• UNCONDITIONAL LOVE Nourish the spirit of your child for who he is.
• VIEWING THE MIRROR TRAITS Recognize the positive sides of the negative symptoms associated with ADD: stubbornness = persistence; impulsiveness = creativity; intrusiveness = eagerness.
• THE CYCLE OF EXCELLENCE Nurture an environment in which a child can safely take risks, reserve time to let a child dabble as a way to learn, encourage playful practice, support mastery of a skill, and then recognize a child’s accomplishments.
Taking Charge of ADHD by Russell A. Barkley, Ph.D.
Although the book is targeted at the parents of ADHD children, it is also a useful resource for teachers and others involved in the care and education of these children….This book is unique in its up-to-date and clear presentation of the scientific underpinnings of the disorder and the pragmatic, empirically based approach to intervention that it encourages.
The ADHD Book of Lists by Sandra Rief.
This is a comprehensive, reliable source of answers, practical strategies, and tools written in a convenient list format. Created for teachers (K-12), parents, school psychologists, medical and mental health professionals, counselors, and other school personnel, this important resource contains the most current information about Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). It is filled with the strategies, supports, and interventions that have been found to be the most effective in minimizing the problems and optimizing the success of children and teens with ADHD. The book contains a wealth of information to guide in the management of ADHD in school and at home. In addition, The ADHD Book of Lists’ easy-to-use 8 1/2 x 11 lay-flat format is filled with reproducible checklists, forms, tools, and resources.
The Bipolar Teen: What You Can Do to Help Your Child and Your Family by David J. Miklowitz, Elizabeth L. George
If your teen has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder–Dr. David Miklowitz can help. The bestselling author of The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide has tailored his proven treatment approach to meet the specific needs of teens and their families. The Bipolar Teen provides tools you can use to make home life manageable again. You’ll learn to spot the differences between normal teenage behavior and the telltale symptoms of mania and depression. Together with your child’s doctors, you’ll be able to strike a healthy balance between medication and psychotherapy, recognize and respond to the early warning signs of an oncoming episode, and collaborate effectively with school personnel. Like no other resource available, this powerful book delivers practical ways to manage chaos and relieve stress so everyone in your family–including siblings–can find stability, support, and peace of mind.
The Optimistic Child by Martin E.P. Seligman.
Nationally recognized psychologist Martin Seligman provides suggestions to teach parents and other concerned adults about how to instill in children a sense of optimism and personal mastery. (Harper).
Understanding Girls with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder by Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D., Ellen B. Littman, Ph.D., and Patricia O. Quinn, M.D.
For many girls, ADHD symptoms are a hidden problem often overlooked or misunderstood. Diagnosed later, symptoms may go untreated. Find out how ADHD affects girls from preschool through high school. Gender differences are discussed along with issues related to school success, medication treatment, family relationships, and susceptibility to other disorders such as anxiety, depression, and learning problems. (Advantage Books).
WE’VE GOT ISSUES: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication by Judith Warner
Journalist Judith Warner’s starting point for researching this book was a common preconception—that children are being over-pathologized and over-medicated by anxious, neurotic parents and test result–driven schools that are demanding unrealistic levels of performance from kids. She found, however, once she began seriously researching her book, that this storyline didn’t hold: epidemiological studies didn’t indicate a widespread pattern of gross over-diagnosis or over-medication. Interviews and surveys didn’t indicate an avidity on the part of parents to “drug” their kids to enhance their performance and behavior. And the children receiving diagnoses and medication weren’t just “normal,” high-spirited kids who simply didn’t meet society’s unrealistic demands. They were, by and large, children who suffered, often enormously, and experienced serious limitations to how fully and well they could live their lives.
Drawing on extensive research and interviews with parents, child psychiatrists and psychologists, pediatricians, and other experts, Warner lays out the current scientific understandings of the disorders that affect millions of children each year. She shows what life is really like for parents and children struggling with these very real illnesses. And she shifts the focus of our attention beyond the hyped-up headlines and all the hand-wringing, finger-pointing, moralizing, and catastrophizing that too often dominate our discussions of children’s “issues,” and instead starts to articulate a new way to think more realistically, compassionately, and productively about and to help a very vulnerable population of kids and their parents.
