Foreword

Abstract

Transitions are turning points for the child, the family, and their service providers. Educators and other professionals who work with children and families have long recognized that change often means trouble. Counselors, corrections officers, and mental health experts, for example, emphasize the hazards related to sudden changes in life circumstances of adolescents and adults. Indeed, we expect problems even when typical or routine changes occur: the arrival of a new baby, a move to a new neighborhood, a new job, and so forth. Change may be positive yet cause stress, regression, sharply increased or decreased variability in behavior, and various psychophysiological effects. Despite the ubiquitousness of change and its associated difficulties, however, there has not been enough research to provide a unified theory or model that might help guide interventions to ease transitions. (Both behavior and gestalt perspectives would seem to offer general frameworks for generating explanations and treatments to facilitate change.