A Therapist's Guide to Child Development: The Extraordinarily Normal Years

Editor : Dee C. Ray

Book Details

Publisher : Routledge
Published : September 2025
Cover : Paperback
Pages : 242
Category :
Forthcoming
Category 2 :
Child and Adolescent Studies
Catalogue No : 98270
ISBN 13 : 9781032685496
ISBN 10 : 1032685492

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A Therapist's Guide to Child Development gives therapists and counselors the basics they need to understand their clients in the context of development and to explain development to parents.

The chapters take the reader through the various physical, social, and identity developments occurring at each age, explaining how each stage of development is closely linked to mental health and how that is revealed in therapy. This ideal guide for students, as well as early and experienced professionals, will also give readers the tools to communicate successfully with the child’s guardians or teachers, including easy-to-read handouts that detail what kind of behaviors are not cause for concern and which behaviors mean it’s time to seek help. In the new edition, each chapter also includes new sections on brain development and cultural identity development, as well as updates on child development in the age of technology.

As an aid to practitioners, this book matches developmental ages with appropriate, evidence-based mental health interventions.

Reviews & Endorsements
Table of Contents
About the Editor(s)
Customer Reviews

Reviews and Endorsements

What a wonderful new resource for play therapists and others who work with children. It is truly ‘extraordinary’! Dr. Ray and her coauthors have found a very usable, focused way to describe the development of each childhood year. This is unusually detailed, very helpful, and insightful! The handouts for parents are an added plus and add to making this book a winner! And a new supplementary textbook for my classes!
Linda Homeyer, PhD, LPCS, RPTS, distinguished professor emerita, Texas State University

A Therapist's Guide to Child Development is an essential addition to the play therapy literature. This edited book does a masterful job of integrating the classic works in child development with the work of play therapists. The structure of the book is makes it an easy-to-read resource, as the chapters are organized by age, and each chapter has the same sections. This book is a must have for play therapists, parents of young children, and students.
Phyllis Post, PhD, LPCS, RPT, professor of counseling and director of the Multicultural Play Therapy Center, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Dr. Ray's book is a practical resource that all child counselors and counselors-in-training should own! Dr. Ray integrates and applies developmental theories, clinical expertise, and brain research to developmentally appropriate work with children birth to 12. This text will be one that child therapists will reference again and again in their work with children, parents, and teachers.
April Schottelkorb, PhD, LPC, RPT-S, Big Sky Pediatric Counseling & Consulting, Kalispell, Montana

Part 1: Introduction
1. An Overview of Child Development
Dee C. Ray

2. Developmentally Appropriate Interventions
Dee C. Ray

Part 2: Early Childhood
3. The Extraordinary Beginning Years: Birth to Two Years Old
Liz Ener

4. The Extraordinary Three-Year-Old
Kasie R. Lee

5. The Extraordinary Four-Year-Old
Jenifer W. Balch

Part 3: Middle Childhood
6. The Extraordinary Five-Year-Old
Dalena Dillman Taylor

7. The Extraordinary Six-Year-Old
Kimberly M. Jayne

8. The Extraordinary Seven-Year-Old
Hayley L. Stulmaker

9. The Extraordinary Eight-Year-Old
Sinem Akay-Sullivan

Part 4: Late Childhood
10. The Extraordinary Nine-Year-Old
Brittany J. Wilson

11. The Extraordinary Ten-Year-Old
Deborah Ojiambo and LaKaavia Taylor

12. The Extraordinary 11-Year-Old
Katherine E. Purswell

13. The Extraordinary 12-Year-Old
Julia E. Smith and Emily Michero

Part 5: Therapist Resources
14. Age-To-Age Series
Dee C. Ray and Kimberly M. Jayne

About the Editor(s)

Dee C. Ray, PhD, is a distinguished teaching professor in the counseling program and director of the Child and Family Resource Clinic at the University of North Texas. She is the author of Advanced Play Therapy, coauthor of Group Play Therapy, and the editor of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Counseling.

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