Abnormal Child Psychology

Book excerpt: Abnormal Child Psychology: A Developmental Perspective is intended for undergraduate and Masters-level students enrolled in courses in Abnormal Child and Adolescent Psychology. Written from a developmental perspective, the book is organized around five prominent and recurring themes: the course of normal development proceeds in an orderly and predictable direction; maladaptive behaviors represent deviations from the normal path; maladaptive behavior is represented by a continuum of severity (symptoms, syndromes, disorders) based on the degree to which behaviors deviate from the norm; individual, interpersonal, contextual and cultural factors interact in a reciprocal way to influence normal development and abnormal deviations; theoretical input from diverse perspectives can guide our understanding of underlying processes that precipitate and maintain behaviors and the different developmental pathways that might result. The text provides students with a learning model which incorporates three essential cornerstones, which are pivotal to understanding child and adolescent psychopathology: the K3 paradigm that consists of knowledge of developmental expectations, knowledge of the sources of influence, and knowledge of the theoretical models. Each chapter opens with a case illustration to highlight the themes of the material that follows. The chapters conclude with a Summary Review, Glossary of New Terms and a Set of Review Questions.