Search Results for: Children's

The use of music therapy in children’s hospices has burgeoned since its introduction by Jessie’s Fund in the mid-90s. This moving and extremely helpful text brings together the experiences of eleven music therapists working with children who are in the final stages of life-limiting illness.

The contributors adapt music therapy to hospice environments and explore key concerns for all practitioners, including how to empower ill children and their families, how to help bereaved siblings, and how the therapists themselves find support. The book celebrates the communities created through an inclusive music therapy practice with children, their families and hospice staff.

This text is essential reading for all music therapists working in palliative care and for health care professionals considering introducing music as a therapy.

Sibling relationships are both patterned and diverse. This report provides an ‘insider’ perspective on these relationships and highlights their complexity.

This book draws on research which explores the views of children in middle childhood, aged between 7 and 13. It shows that relationships varying according to context, with gender and the age hierarchy as important features.

All children and young people should be afforded the opportunity to enjoy a satisfactory standard of health and development. To achieve this many children and families will need additional help.

This report concentrates on those children who require services beyond those which are generally on offer from mainstream health and education services and who also need a more appropriate response from mainstream services.

Based on a study of over 100 9- to 11-year-old pupils from schools in deprived inner city areas in London and the North of England, this book explores children’s views of religiously diverse schools and local communities.

It shows that children’s religious identities and experiences are diverse and complex, that they understand many aspects of religious diversity, and that they are able to talk about it with interest and insight.

It provides fascinating insights for professionals working in diverse school settings, as well as those who have an interest in policy debates on social cohesion, faith-based schools and faith communities.

Drawing on in-depth interviews with social workers and their managers, and families and young people themselves, the authors of this important book show how the principles embodied in the Assessment Framework have been applied to social work practice. Revisiting the principles outlined in the legislative context and the Assessment Framework, they show how the focus on assessment has affected the work with children, and the experiences of children and families themselves.

The authors identify a range of issues that influence the implementation of the Assessment Framework, including the key areas where support and training are needed. They review social workers’ and other professionals’ appraisal of how the Assessment Framework affects individual practice and inter-agency collaboration, as well as exploring how satisfied young people and their parents are with the assessments they are involved in. Finally, they examine the cost to social services of undertaking a core assessment.

Emphasising the importance of a joined-up child care service, the authors’ findings have been taken into account in the development of the Integrated Children’s System. This book should be read by all those professionals who are working to promote the welfare and well-being of children.

Based on new, original research, this book highlights the significance of school exclusion as a pivotal process that has long-term negative effects not just on the individuals themselves but also for society as a whole. Drawing on individual accounts, the author demonstrates how aspects of the care system contribute to looked-after children being out of school. Her book explores the reasons for the difficulties they experience, and argues that they need to be differently conceptualised.

By drawing on both the personal accounts of the young people and on evidence gained by interviewing teachers and care professionals, she argues in nine concise chapters that exclusion is a social `process’. She stresses the importance of the young people’s relationships with care givers and identifies a problematic gap between the care and education systems which contributes to their ongoing cycle of social exclusion.

This clear and thought-provoking book will prove invaluable to those professionals and students involved in the education of children in care and for policymakers, academics and practitioners working in residential care.

For therapists working with children one of the main obstacles to effective treatment is the difficulty of finding an appropriate means of communication; both in terms of the child’s expression of thoughts and feelings and in terms of their understanding of what the therapist is trying to convey to them. Stories have traditionally been used as a method of communicating ideas to children, yet stories can equally be used by children to reveal their internal life and emotions, and contain their experiences. Based on her extensive experience as a play therapist Ann Cattanach extends her acclaimed earlier published work to explore further the therapeutic value of story-making with children.
Incorporating stories from children and by other authors, the book examines the common themes and metaphors that emerge, the purpose of stories, and the communication that they can engender between the therapist and the child. Case studies and specific examples are used to show how the stories are created and developed, and how an equal relationship between narrator and listener, which facilitates the unfolding of the child’s story, can help gain the child’s trust, thus creating an environment that is conducive to the therapeutic process.
This is an important book for all therapists who work with children, supplying both the theory and the material necessary to use stories successfully in therapy for a child.

Designed to meet a range of day care needs for individuals, families or wider communities, Family Centres are central to the government’s provision of effective child care services.

The study of family centres – monitoring their objectives, examining key challenges faced and evaluating approaches to practice – is fundamental to the delivery of effective, evidence-based services. This book details and evaluates expert research into the developing role of family centres in the light of current political and social trends including, the Every Child Matters legislation. It outlines the different user groups serviced by family centres; the various combinations of services provided and the contribution that these are making to positive outcomes for children; major tasks facing family centres such as optimising access to services; and important partnerships between family centres and other services such as education and health care. Based on the evidence, the authors highlight key messages for future development.

A vital addition to the literature on child care services, Improving Children’s Services Networks is essential reading for social care practitioners and students, government policy makers and planners.

Quality Matters in Children’s Services brings together authoritative research to explore critical concerns for those working with vulnerable children, young people and their families. Subjects covered include reunification, stability and wellbeing, kinship care, educating vulnerable young people, child protection, domestic violence and parental substance misuse, the participation of disabled young people and advocacy services.

Mike Stein discusses key issues for policy and practice in the development of quality services including identifying and sustaining quality through involving stakeholders, integrated working and quality services, the development of policies, procedures and organisational processes and carrying out quality assessments, training and workforce reform.

This book is essential reading for practitioners, senior staff, commissioners, managers and anyone involved in developing quality children’s services.

The son of a poor widow, Aladdin is an idle boy easily deceived by a sorcerer pretending to be Aladdin’s long lost uncle. The sorcerer tricks Aladdin into trying to find an oil lamp left in a magic cave, where Aladdin gets trapped. But armed with a magic ring, the oil lamp, and the help of their genies, Aladdin escapes from the cave and achieves wealth and happiness. But the sorcerer is still determined to get his hands on that magic lamp…

(P) Arcadia Entertainment 2008

This unashamed visual feast celebrates the best designed and illustrated picturebooks from around the world over the past one hundred years.

Each book is a creation of genius and inventiveness, and their design and illustration represent such diverse trends as the Russian Constructivists, Italian Futurists and Postwar Neo-romantics. They are also mirrors of their times reflecting social concerns from a child’s and family’s perspectives throughout the twentieth and into the twenty-first century.

Fearlessly confronting the frontiers between a child’s picturebook and art, this is a collection of books that anyone with an interest in design, illustration or simply children’s literature should know about.

An exquisitely illustrated picture book that explores our relationship with forests and looks at how climate change is changing the picture

Forests are different around the world. They range from hot, damp rainforests to icy taiga forests, but all of them offer a home for animals and plants, precious natural resources and beautiful places to have fun, spot nature and find calm. But forests are under threat from climate change, habitat loss and pollution. Find out how we can all help to look after our precious forests, as well as enjoy them.

Titles in the series:
Our Cities
Our Forests
Our Oceans
Our Skies

Children’s Planet is a beautifully illustrated series of picture books that encourage children to engage with and enjoy our precious natural surroundings. Perfect for children aged 5 and up.

Children’s picturebooks are the very first book we encounter and play a major role in introducing us to both art and language. But what does it take to create a successful picturebook for children?

Children’s Picturebooks, Second Edition is the revised edition of a bestselling title that carries invaluable insight into a highly productive, dynamic sector of the publishing world. Featuring interviews with leading illustrators and publishers from across the world, it remains essential reading for students and aspiring children’s book illustrators and writers.

Aimed at arts and literature students as well as aspiring children’s book illustrators and writers. This book covers everything from the change in children’s picturebooks over time to a breakdown of the children’s publishing industry including, the editorial process, approaching publishers and literary agents and the printing process.

With 15 new case studies from well-known illustrators like Jon Klassen, Oliver Jeffers and Beatrice Alemagna and publishers such as Puffin Picture Books, Thames and Hudson and Enchanted Lion Books, this revised edition also includes a brand new chapter devoted to non-fiction, especially the rise of both narrative non-fiction and big books.

The aim of this book is to get you writing. It’s full of inspiration, tips and writing exercises for anyone who wants to write children’s fiction. Included are tips from other published writers, useful links and answers to questions you’ve always wanted to ask.

Includes chapters on:

Know-how: the difference between writing for children and writing for adults.
How to get ideas for your stories from your family, your work and your life – and how to expand those ideas.
Creating believable characters children will love reading about.
Writing by the seat of your pants, or plotting? Basic things you need to know for either approach.
Writing realistic dialogue.
Writing the first draft
How to create ‘reel them in’ beginnings, sustain the pace in the middle, and write satisfying endings.
How to write page-turning chapter endings; keeping continuity when writing series.
Writing for the educational market.
Writing a synopsis and a proposal.
Submitting your work to a publisher or agent.
Dealing with rejects and rewrites.
Publicity and marketing.
Publishing your own work.

An exquisitely illustrated picture book that explores our relationship with cities, and looks at how climate change is changing the picture.

More than half of the people in the world live in cities! They give us places to live, exciting place to visit and offer a home to a huge variety of animals, from speedy swifts to prowling foxes. But our cities are especially at risk from climate change and pollution. Find out how we can all help to look after our precious cities, as well as enjoy them.

Children’s Planet is a beautifully illustrated series of picture books that encourage children to engage with and enjoy our precious natural surroundings. Perfect for children aged 5 and up.

This multidisciplinary book shows how to foster meaningful relationships between therapists and vulnerable children, through exploring the concept of communicative musicality and creating rhythms of connection.

It includes broad and in-depth contributions from leading therapists from diverse backgrounds – including Peter A. Levine, Daniel Hughes, Stephen Porges, Dennis McCarthy and many more. Contributors reflect on their own experiences, providing insights from the fields of music therapy, trauma, dance and movement therapy, psychobiology, dramatherapy, counselling, play therapy, and education. Contemporary theory is woven in with case stories to highlight the emotional realities of working with highly vulnerable children, and to present proven examples of how therapists can improve the quality of connectedness. Full of original and innovative ideas for working with attachment issues, trauma, communication difficulties, autism, learning disabilities, aggression and anxiety, this is inspiring reading for professionals who work with vulnerable children in creative therapies.

Royalty proceeds from the book will be donated to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), UK.

This beautiful kitchen-garden cookbook, produced in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, contains step-by-step guides to show how easy it is to grow peas, beans, potatoes, carrots and more in your garden, in patio containers or in window boxes or on an allotment. Then transform your home-grown produce into delicious meals and desserts by following easy, step-by-step recipes.

By having fun growing different plants, children won’t be able to wait to try their tasty produce, encouraging great, healthy eating habits.

Learn all about how plants grow, from seeds to seedlings, watering and weeding, to harvesting and composting.

Information on minibeasts and garden creatures show how nature works together to help plants grow.

Includes advice on cooking tools and utensils and healthy and balanced diets.

For inspiration in the garden and the kitchen … a how-to guide to growing and eating your own fruit and vegetables – Daily Express

Colourful and beautifully illustrated, it is a great aid for fostering a love and understanding of fresh produce and an awareness of a healthy diet – The Lady

If your small child is even vaguely interested in helping you in the garden, or on the allotment, then I’d urge you to get him/her this great book… – Judy Bown, Dig my Veg

Don’t like endless digging and weeding? Don’t let that stop you from getting into gardening! The simple and achievable gardening projects in this book are perfect for parents and young children to do together. All are based on Charles Dowding’s trademark no-dig technique, which perfectly lends itself to gardening with little ones who can’t manage heavy digging and who will quickly grow bored of endless weeding.

Projects are broken down into easy, step-by-step processes, designed to be carried out by children. Attractive, full-bleed photography is supplemented with fun illustration and fully illustrated factual spreads. Running throughout the gardening projects are extra little facts about plants and wildlife, as well as things to look out for when you are outdoors.

An exquisitely illustrated picture book that explores our relationship with the oceans, and looks at how climate change is changing the picture.

Oceans are amazing! These huge areas of saltwater cover two-thirds of our world and are home to countless animals and plants. They offer us rich natural resources, places to work and beautiful surroundings where we can have fun, spot nature and relax. But the oceans are under threat from climate change and pollution. Find out how we can all help to look after our precious oceans, as well as enjoy them.

Titles in the series:
Our Cities
Our Forests
Our Oceans
Our Skies

Children’s Planet is a beautifully illustrated series of picture books that encourage children to engage with and enjoy our precious natural surroundings. Perfect for children aged 5 and up.

An exquisitely illustrated picture book that explores our relationship with the skies, and looks at how climate change is changing the picture.

The skies make life on Earth possible! They give us weather, the air that we breathe, reveal the stars above us and offer a home to birds, butterflies and many other animals. But the skies and our air are under threat from climate change and pollution. Find out how we can all help to look after our precious skies, as well as enjoy them.

Children’s Planet is a beautifully illustrated series of picture books that encourage children to engage with and enjoy our precious natural surroundings. Perfect for children aged 5 and up.

The rules of physical contact can be tricky to grasp and children with special needs are at a heightened risk of abuse. This friendly picture book explains in simple terms how to tell the difference between acceptable and inappropriate touch, thereby helping the child with special needs stay safe.

Each story covers a different type of touch from accidental to friendly to hurtful and will help children understand how boundaries change depending on the context. It explores when and where it is okay to touch other people, when and where other people can touch you, why self touching sometimes needs to be private, and what to do if touch feels inappropriate.

This book is an invaluable teaching resource and discussion starter for parents, teachers and carers working with children with special needs.

What rights do young people living in residential care have?

How can residential staff and managers implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child?

Why is participation important and how can adults help young people make decisions?

Where can young people get independent help and advice?


Children’s Rights and Participation in Residential Care, the first practical guide of its kind, clearly addresses these – and many other – issues which were central to residential care in the 1990s.

Arising from a two-year NCB project, this informative book charts the role of young people in developing and improving residential services and provides a comprehensive summary of research into young people’s experiences. After outlining the legal entitlements of young people who live in residential care, the book provides many useful suggestions about how staff and managers can increase young people’s participation.

Children’s Rights and Participation in Residential Care will prove invaluable to all those practitioners, managers and students who want to help create residential homes which respect and value the rights of young people.

This toolkit is designed to support practitioners in their work with families where parents misuse drugs and there are concerns about the children’s welfare. While focusing on drugs, it covers a wider pattern of misuse, including alcohol.

It contains:

summaries of key messages for practitioners
tools and tips to support effective practice
training and development activities
a wide range of practice examples

The toolkit is written for the range of professionals involved with families including drug misusing parents.

This book is concerned with how social workers and managers can engage reflectively and proactively with changes in children’s services. Vicky White and John Harris have drawn together the contributors’ experiences of working with children in a broad range of settings, emphasising ways in which the current context of change can be used as an opportunity to enhance the quality of service provision and achieve better outcomes for children and their families.
The authors examine approaches to the assessment of children in need and the analysis of risk, and consider the impact of poverty and social divisions on children’s lives. Highlighting key concepts, such as community development and multi-agency interventions, they anticipate likely policy developments for the future. Examples are provided of the planning and implementation of new initiatives including:
· preventive education to protect children
· positive reinforcement of children’s cultural heritage
· therapeutic approaches to sexually inappropriate behaviour
· training programmes for foster carers.
The real-life material on which the book draws can be used as source material by students undertaking qualifying programmes in health, social care and social work and by more experienced professionals to reflect on their own practice, particularly if they are undertaking post-qualifying courses – a timely resource for all staff and students seeking to develop good practice in children’s services.