This book examines family and peer relationships of children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders (ND), including ADHD, learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, and intellectual developmental disorder (intellectual disabilities). It uses a transdiagnostic approach to describe how the difficulties ND youth have with self-regulation, adaptive skills, academic achievement, and social skills contribute to parenting stress, parent mental health challenges, and problematic family and peer relationships. The book reviews research detailing that youth with ND have challenges with mental health and are differentially susceptible to adverse environmental factors, such as negative parenting, peer rejection and victimization, stigma, and COVID-19. It offers innovative approaches for conducting assessments of the family system and peer environment that are based on risk and resilience research.
Key areas of coverage include:
- Predictors of parenting stress and parent mental health, including their children’s behaviors, parents’ coping strategies and social supports, culture, and stigma.
- Family and peer relationships as risk and protective factors for mental health and well-being of ND youth.
- Peer status, friendship, bullying, and romantic relationships of ND children and adolescents.
- Risk and protective factors associated with peer relations such as inclusive school environments and teacher attitudes and behaviors.
Family and Peer Relationships of Children and Adolescents with Neurodevelopmental Disorders is an essential reference for researchers, professors, graduate students as well as clinicians, therapists, and all related professionals in developmental, clinical child, and school psychology, neuropsychology, counseling, social work, special education, developmental disabilities, behavior therapy, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, pediatrics, and child and adolescent psychiatry.
Judith Wiener, Ph.D., C. Psych, is Professor Emerita of School and Clinical Child Psychology in the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at OISE/University of Toronto. Dr. Wiener's research is on self-perceptions, family and peer relationships of children and adolescents with ADHD and learning disabilities and the efficacy of school-based and mindfulness interventions for these youth. Her primary clinical expertise is assessment and psychosocial interventions with children and adolescents with learning disabilities and ADHD, and immigrants and refugees. She was previously President of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities and Chair of the Educational and School Psychology Section of the Canadian Psychological Association. Dr. Wiener has received several teaching awards and a Life-Time Achievement Award from the Section for Psychologists in Education of the Ontario Psychological Association. She has published more than 100 book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed journals including recent chapters on family relationships of adolescents with ADHD, and peer relationships of individuals with ADHD across the lifespan. She co-authored a book published by Springer Publishers entitled, Psychological Assessment of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Children and Adolescents: A Practitioner's Guide.
