This handbook is for students of introductory courses involving observation and evaluation of children's behaviour, but also for professionals involved in clinical activities, educators, and teachers who observe - on an everyday basis - children entrusted to them in kindergartens, nursery schools, and grade schools. The text does not expect the reader to be knowledgeable about developmental psychology and psycho-social research methodology. The first part describes different types of observation (ethological, participant, controlled) and shows how they are used in training, educational, and clinical contexts. The second part addresses childhood behaviour evaluation tools in the principal fields of development: cognitive, communicational and linguistic, social and interpersonal).

Contents: Introduction - Part One: Observation Methods and Practices - 1. Observation as an Investigational Method in Developmental Psychology - 2. Observation in Practice - Part Two: Evaluation Tools - 3. Cognitive Development - 4. Communicational and Linguistic Development - 5. Social and Interpersonal Development - Glossary - Bibliographical References

Luigia Camaioni teaches Fundamentals of Developmental Psychology and Techniques of Clinical Observation in the Faculty of Psychology 1 at "La Sapienza" University in Rome.

Tiziana Aureli teaches Developmental Psychology and Evaluation Methods and Tools in Developmental Psychology in the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Chieti.

Paola Perucchini teaches Developmental Psychology in the Faculty of Education Sciences at Rome's Third University.