Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys

Samantha Abeel couldn’t tell time, remember her locker combination, or count out change at a checkout counter — and she was in seventh grade. For a straight-A student like Samantha, problems like these made no sense. She dreaded school, and began having anxiety attacks. In her thirteenth winter, she found the courage to confront her problems — and was diagnosed with a learning disability. Slowly, Samantha’s life began to change again. She discovered that she was stronger than she’d ever thought possible — and that sometimes, when things look bleakest, hope is closer than you think.

An informal and entertaining yet authoritative look at the science of babies minds. The three research psychologists, all of whom are parents, and two of whom, Meltzoff and Kuhl, are married to each other, write about child development as though they were speaking directly to parents they know. As their title indicates, the authors find parallels between babies and scientists: both, they say, formulate theories, make and test predictions, seek explanations, do experiments, and revise what they know based on new evidence. They show specifically how babies learn about people and objects, and how they acquire language.

Cutting edge scientific research has shown that exposure to the right kind of environment during the first years of life actually affects the physical structure of a child’s brain, vastly increasing the number of neuron branches—the “magic trees of the mind”—that help us to learn, think, and remember.

In this story, a primary age child called The Don’t Give Up Kid by his parents feels like giving up when trying to read. Includes a parent resource guide to learning disabilities.

It is a parent’s deepest heartache: watching a child struggle in life, desperate to help. When Katherine Cunningham’s daughter Tricia (“Tiger”) is diagnosed with dyslexia, roadblocks appear at every turn, and the entire family is forced to create its own solutions.

With this fully realized second edition of the classic guide, Dr. Larry Silver addresses the subjects all parents wonder about when they suspect their child has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: What causes ADHD? What signs should I look for? How can I make sure my child is diagnosed correctly? Could my child have a learning disability, too? What’s the latest information on medications and other treatments? What controversial treatments should I watch out for? What should I tell my child’s school, and what should they be doing? Dr. Silver’s warm, thoroughly practical guide will give parents, teachers, and others the support they want and the answers they need.