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This book describes a clinical approach to learning and behaviour problems shown by children at school, and might appear to be relevant principally to educational psychologists and remedial teachers. However, I would warmly recommend it to all clinicians working with children in whatever setting, since it reports ideas and practices that can be applied whatever the presenting complaints.
Problems shown by children are here considered within their context — that is the mutual interaction between individual, family system, and social agency. Individual needs are fully respected but are assessed, and often treated, in the presence of parents or teachers. Thus, video playback of assessment sessions help show parents positive aspects of their child's abilities, and numerous examples are reported of consultation to school staff, individual teachers or family. Tasks are often suggested to families which both highlight and break up repetitive patterns of dysfunctional behaviour. For example, a school-refusing child is recommended to “cry at night rather than in the morning so that your mother will have more time to attend to you”. Beautiful!
This is essentially a clinical book reporting work based in the Tavistock Clinic. The 9 authors have managed to describe complex issues in deceptively simple language. The opening chapter introduces some basic systems terms and only occasionally thereafter does undefined jargon crop up (eg “dysfunctional enmeshment”). My only criticisms would be that a few authors make inadequate reference to the literature, and one chapter frustratingly falls between the two stools of describing a consultation method and reporting a research project still in progress. Otherwise, congratulations to editors and authors, and even John Bowlby for his irresistible 2-page foreword.