There was a time when abnormal child psychology was the stepchild of abnormal psychology, with perhaps one or two chapters in an entire advanced textbook devoted to children. Given the explosive amount of new research on child development in general since the 1980s, "stepchild" is obviously no longer a valid characterization. Indeed, in the last 15 years, many new journals devoted to childhood problems have made their appearance on library bookshelves. The first edition of this book was assembled in an effort to integrate the empirical and clinical literatures and show the advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate student the breadth and depth of our existing knowledge about the disorders that manifest themselves early in development. Now, since its publication in 1995, a great deal more work has been done.
This revised and expanded second edition includes much new material from the first edition authors and from several new ones, all respected experts in the field.