What My Child Wants. Neuropsychology on How to Understand Your Children's Needs and Build Harmonious Relationships

The main goal of the book is to help parents create truly personal relationships with their children, based on a deep respect for their individuality, reflected in the constantly changing brain and body. With more than thirty years of experience as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Mona Delahooke has seen countless frantic parents walk through the door of her office. In most cases, these parents—caring, compassionate, and insightful people—have read all the parenting books on the shelves, yet they are still frustrated and confused, wondering why they can't fix their child's destructive behavior. In this book, Dr. Delahooke offers a new approach to parenting that focuses on the child's unique neurobiology. Drawing on the latest research in neurology and polyvagal theory, which provides the foundation for understanding the connection between our nervous system and our feelings and emotions, she explains how parents can shift their attention from fixing problematic behavior to understanding what underlies that behavior. Instead of a "top-down" approach, which suggests that the brain governs the body, she advocates for a "bottom-up" or "body-up" approach that acknowledges the significant role of the entire nervous system with an emphasis on sensory processing.