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The editor's stated purpose in producing this book is to provide an introduction to the development and psychopathology of the child for clinical practitioners at various stages of training and of different backgrounds — surely a difficult goal to attain.
The volume is divided into three sections: Stages of Development, Conditions Affecting the Course of Development, and Assessment of Normality and Pathology. None of the articles have been published previously although most of the authors have written extensively on their subjects elsewhere.
The editor's introduction is a lucid exposition of the several theoretical concepts of development including the psychoanalytic, psychosocial (Erikson), organismic (Werner, Piaget) and behavioral. Dr. Bemporad accomplishes exactly what he intended, producing a paper that can be read profitably both by the novice and the more experienced. Unfortunately, not all the papers that follow have this wide a scope. The introduction, along with the first section of the book, containing chapters on infancy, early childhood, the phallic-oedipal years, latency, and adolescence constitute a short textbook of child development.
The periods of infancy and adolescence are presented from a comprehensive theoretical and clinical perspective and include data gathered from many types of studies. The remaining stages of development are discussed from a psychoanalytical viewpoint. There is a broad spectrum of styles and levels of sophistication in the papers, varying from Kestenbaum's charming presentation on early childhood, replete with examples from clinical experience and children's literature, to others which are quite theoretical and may be heavy going for those in the early stages of training.
The middle section of the book, and its heart, so to speak, covers conditions affecting the course of development. The effect of endogenous central nervous system pathology such as mental retardation, autism, minimal brain dysfunction and specific learning di