Summary: Publisher Summary 1 This accessible, informative book will help teachers, parents, and practitioners make sense of current issues and controversies surrounding childhood disabilities.   Publisher Summary 2 Approximately 12 percent of children in American schools have been identified as disabled in ways that interfere with their capacity to learn. Far from static, the field of childhood disabilities is changing and evolving as the understanding of disabling conditions is contested within and across disciplines. Parents of children with disabilities often find themselves in new, lonely, and bewildering territory, presented with conflicting advice and treatment options. This book is designed to help. Childhood Psychological Disorders: Current Controversies was compiled to disentangle contemporary controversial issues, contributing to a fuller understanding of the needs of children with disabilities and the families raising them. The book focuses on social, behavioral, and psychological dimensions of childhood disability. Specific, topical essays highlight the current state of knowledge and the nature of opposing arguments among specialists in various disciplines. The book opens with a consideration of the historical and social context of child disability, addressing the evolution of disability concepts and the changing nature of disability as a social/cultural phenomenon. Disability's impact on the family system and schools is explored, too, from the vantage point of educators, children, and their parents and siblings. Subsequent chapters examine such diagnoses as early onset bipolar disorder, autism, ADHD, the educational label Emotionally Handicapped/Disturbed (EH/D), food allergies and related disorders, and Gender Identity Disorder (GID). Alberto M. Bursztypi, PhD, is professor of school psychology and special education at Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY, and professor of urban education at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Dr. Bursztyn edited the The Praeger Handbook of Special Education and is a coauthor of Rethinking Multicultural Education: Case Studies in Cultural Transition.   Publisher Summary 3 To help parents of children with psychological disorders, teachers and others deal with conflicting advice and treatment options, Bursztyn (school psychology and special education, Brooklyn College/City U. of New York) compiles 11 chapters on current multidisciplinary perspectives on these issues. Following an introduction to different definitions and conceptual models of such disabilities, American contributors address their sociocultural construction and the clinical and educational aspects of diagnoses including autism, pediatric bipolar disorder, emotionally handicapped/disturbed, food allergies, and gender identity disorder. They discuss implications for the family and community. Annotation 漏2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)