The sleep training philosophy is similiar to the Ferber method, but we found this book more helpful with lots of practical examples and suggestions. For example, our baby was standing in the crib and we didn't know what to do. Easy to read - I finished in an evening. Our infant cried for less than an hour the first night, half hour the second and then was sleeping through the night. I did not like the idea of letting our baby cry at all, but after 10 months I decided that a couple nights of a little crying probably would not scar him emotionally. Frequent checks allows you to know he is ok. Now he goes right to sleep with no struggle and hardly a wimper. Having friends who still can't get their three year old to sleep we decided it was better to deal with this earlier than later.

this book is a miracle!. After nothing had helped we tried this book because we were given it. Within three days our 2 year old son slept the whole night, without waking up! We could not believe it. It takes some energy to follow the book's strategy after all letting your baby cry is not fun at all. The idea is that you let him cry but go and look every 20 minutes, in order to let your baby know that you are still there and to make sure he's allright. Like this your baby learns to sleep BY HIMSELF. That is essential. Try it if you have problems. Jos Schuring, Haarlem Holland.

This book is great for sorting through what's normal age appropriate behavior and what's not. It helped put my mind to ease! It's grouped into four stages; 0-18 months, 18-36 months, 36 months to 3 years, and 6-10 years. Under each stage are sections on Emotional Health, Cognitive Development, Family and Peer Pressure, Personal Growth and Character Formation. It gives tips on how to encourage development in the different areas, too, which I found helpful. It has a very "positive parenting" feel to it!

This is the second edition of an important book, first published in 1986 and edited by Charles Schaefer, professor of psychology from the Fairleigh Dickinson University and Steven Reid, who is in private practice in New York. Games are a very important part of child development and there are some of us, who will never stop playing games, even in adulthood. Games can be played by the person for his or her own enjoyment, but it is also a tool of communication between the professional or therapist and the child, adolescent or client. It is essential in play therapy and the first edition was very helpful in the new classification of how games were used in therapy to further development and emotional growth: communication games, problem-solving games, ego-enhancing games and socialization games. The first edition catalyzed specialization in the field of game play therapy and this second edition is devided into five parts: Games to elicit communication and fantasy expression, using traditional games in child therapy, game play for children in crisis, therapeutic games for children with ADHD and teaching social skills through games. This second text is therefore an illustration of how this field has undergone a specialization in evaluation and problem solving of many problems of childhood and adolescence. I especially found the chapter by Steven Reid on "Therapeutic use of card games with learning disabled children" and the chapter by Billie Corder on "Using games and game play in group therapy with sexually abused children and adolescents" worth reading both due to its review, case story and practical approach. This textbook is recommended to mental health clinicians (psychologists, social workers, nurses, psychiatrists) working with children and adolescents.

Professor Joav Merrick, MD, DMSc Medical Director, Division for Mental Retardation, Box 1260, IL-91012 Jerusalem, Israel. E-mail: jmerrick@aquanet.co.il

Charles Schaefer has done it again!
Play Therapy with Adults is destined to become a classic, and be used by therapists starting in graduate school, and continuing to be read for many, many years. The depth of this book is incredible; featuring many techniques for play therapy with adults. It covers dramatic role play, improvisational play with couples, the use of humor in therapy, sandplay, doll play, hypno-play, etc. Clients presenting with depression, illness, dementia, and dissociative disorders are among the adults who benefit from play therapy. As someone who has been doing play therapy for over 25 years, I really appreciate this book.
Well done!

Divided into three major sections, Short-Term Play Therapy For Children offers an effective therapeutic approach for troubled children resolve psychological difficulties steaming from any source. Included are approaches for use with individual children, families and groups, with each chapter highlighting ways to elicit children's active participation in treatment, develop clear treatment goals, and bring about rapid, long-lasting, positive results. Scholarly, comprehensive, insightful, thought-provoking, Short-Term Play Therapy For Children is a seminal, highly recommended work that calls upon the best minds in the field of child psychology and therapy to create an invaluable text and reference for students and practitioners.

After years of trying to get my son to sleep through the night and not liking Dr. Ferbers theories at all, I read this book and had my 5 year old sleeping through the night, in his own bed, in 2 weeks. This books breaks down the sleeping problems into several different chapters, With different methods for different children! This book gives helpful advise for bedtime and also gives advise on how your daytime attitudes are effecting sleeping habits. I recommend this book to anyone with an older child who doesn't sleep.

An exelent book for all who are interested about children. The ideas about how to play with children are among the best I've seen yet. I specily like the onea about toddlers. I have personally put these teachings into effect and I have seen wonderful results on the way my children, and my students, approach things and people.

This is the best book I have found on play therapy. It has so many amazing ideas that are helpful for anyone who works with children.

As a mother of 3 small daughters and a prevention specialist, I thought this book was great. It gives easy, age appropriate answers for questions that parents may be uncomfortable answering because of the subject matter or lack of knowledge. It is a good way to start a conversation with your child.

I probably read this at the wrong time in my career - I already had a doctorate in psychology and had been in practice for about eight years. Or, maybe it was that I grew up with parents who had/have tons of common sense which they did not hide. In short, this is a good book with lots of common sense in it, that I already had by the time I read it. For new psychotherapists, counselors, social workers, etc., it is likely to be of much greater value.

If you work with children, this book is a good practical guide to assisting children and their families with many common problems. I found this book to be well written with many hepful suggestions and techniqes for dealing with a varity issues.

The book provided some interesting information about toilet training, but none of the techniques were helpful for me. My daughter is showing signs of readiness to train, but the techniques are not for her. We can not use the "Readiness approach" because her bowel movement are not at the same time every day, she is too old for the "Early approach" though she is under 2 years old, and there is not enough information on the "Rapid approach", instead you are advised to buy another book to explain it in more detail. The first two approaches may be helpful to other parents if your child has regular bowel movements or is 3 to 15 months old.

We found this book extremely helpful in getting our 3 and a half year old daughter to finally use the toilet for her bowel movements. After less than one week of practicing the "desensitization" method our daughter was successful. We also found the suggestions for bedwetting very informative and have relied on the appendix to further guide our research on this topic and to help us find retailers from which to purchase equipment to aid us in eliminating bedwetting. The book provides an excellent overview for different methods of toilet training and addresses age specific problems and offers age appropriate solutions.