Help for the Hopeless Child: A Guide for Families

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Summary: This Book Saved Our Family and Kids!
Review: After countless failures in therapy with all the "experts" in all fields, we were about to give up until a friend told us about Dr. Federici and his work. This book was very hard reading, but motivated us to continue. Also, this book took us out of the "denial of serious problems" that so many parents have(we have heard from so many that "the problem is not that bad or will go away or the assessment is inaccurate"). It dealt with all these crazy "diagnoses" that all these doctors, especially "attachment therapists"from the East Coast and Evergreen had given us in a more practical and less frightening manner. We saw improvement within one month, but made a huge committment to do it right this time. We had read all these other books which were written by people having good intentions, but no real understanding of the really hard kids. We hope Dr. Federici will write another with even more detail.

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Summary: A Very Common Sense Book-Structured and Directive
Review: After reading countless books on attachment, behavior problems, treatment, etc, we stumbled across this book and it was just what we needed when we about to give up. We tried all the traditional therapies ranging from play, family, medication and even "holding therapy" which made matters worse and ran up our bill even higher by giving us false hope (our children were smarter than the therapist). We worked Dr. Federici's "program" to the letter (with some e-mail guidance from him, and a therapist he trained), and saw more improvement in 3 months than in 3 years of all the other costly and ineffective treatments. This book was great for the average family struggling, who could devote the time and energy. Practical, common sense, safe, professional and well-written for families. After being broke from all these useless therapies, especially the thousands we spent on attachment therapists trained at Evergreen (who did some real strange and worthless interventions), we were happy that we have found an approach that REALLY works if you are committed completely to helping get things right with your family/kids. A MUST BUY for the family in crisis.

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Summary: This Is a "Must Read" For All Families Ready To Give Up!!
Review: After struggling with our 2 Russian-adopted children who were diagnosed with every psychiatric disorder known to mankind, and also being involved in every different type of treatment(including "attachment therapy" by trained "Evergreen People"), we had just about given up. All the standard diagnoses: RAD/ODD/ADHD/LD with never a treatment plan that made sense. Just drugs and more non-productive therapy. This book was referred to us by many and gave us HOPE and INSPIRATION. It sure was tough to complete the "praogram", but we made more progress in six months, than in years of all these therapies by all these "experts" who missed the boat entirely. This program Dr. Federici developed began from tough to the most compassionate and reconstructive. Please read before "giving up".

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Summary: This Is a "Must Read" For All Families Ready To Give Up!!
Review: After struggling with our 2 Russian-adopted children who were diagnosed with every psychiatric disorder known to mankind, and also being involved in every different type of treatment(including "attachment therapy" by trained "Evergreen People"), we had just about given up. All the standard diagnoses: RAD/ODD/ADHD/LD with never a treatment plan that made sense. Just drugs and more non-productive therapy. This book was referred to us by many and gave us HOPE and INSPIRATION. It sure was tough to complete the "praogram", but we made more progress in six months, than in years of all these therapies by all these "experts" who missed the boat entirely. This program Dr. Federici developed began from tough to the most compassionate and reconstructive. Please read before "giving up".

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Summary: Extremely Helpful, Intensive But Family Friendly
Review: After years of all sorts of therapies ranging from medication, play, family, attachment and you name it, we FINALLY found something that has worked in the long term for our two Russian adopted children. We were told by the agency that "time will heal", and by all the therapists that it is "RAD/ODD/ADHD" which we later found out is the "classic combination" that all these therapists diagnosis. Dr. Federici's book gave us hope and a solid "treatment plan" which was missing after all these years. It was a tough one, but so were our kids as we adopted them older (told they were "healthy and fine"). We put everything into effect and even consulted with him and he added to our hope and gave even more guidelines. After six months, we feel we have our family back in order but will continue to work the program outlined. This book is a "must buy" for the struggling family needing direction. It looked tough at first, almost beyond our ability, then turned out to be very practical and systematic.

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Summary: The Most Straighforward and Helpful Book We've Read!
Review: Being the parent of two very difficult children from Eastern Europe, we went around and around before we found this book.We also spent a lot of time in denial of the seriousness of the problems and hoped that everything would get better on its own. We spent countless dollars on non-productive therapies and listen to so many people with their contrary opinions that we were totally confused.The professionals we saw never offered solid solutions, just a lot of "wait and see" or "it will be OK soon".Dr. Federici's book was the best we have read. We finally felt that someone understood the serious nature of the problems we were having and provided hope and compassion in his very tough (but helpful) treatment model. We recommend this book HIGHLY for any family having a tough time, especially with an internationally-adopted child. We hope he writes more detailed books in the future.

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Summary: Specific in technique, compassionate, but no coddling!
Review: Dr. Federici assumes the parent is ready to do the right thing and uses a firm, direct, and detailed approach in dealing with difficult children who have developed bad behaviors. The approach in this book is fully objective, with no coddling of parent or child. This is a manual for those who are willing to work towards results. It is specific on techniques to use from start to finish on bonding and re-establishing the family. Even in what seems to be the most hopeless situation, Dr. Federici expresses confidence in the reader's ability to achieve success. Success is realistic in his "80% rule" -seeking perfection is not realistic; however, a 80& success rate is. Additionally, this book includes everything one needs to know to feel competent when asking for help- from how to find the right professional, personality disorders, assessments and testing, medications, how to deal with and include siblings, and where to go for support.

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Summary: The Best Book for the Toughest Kid!
Review: Dr. Federici has written a book that is long overdue. There was no hand-holding or fancy psycho-babble. He gets right to the heart of the matter in terms of assessment and practical treatment issues. He really knows children who have been institutionalized--we have two and his approach is the only one that has ever helped.

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Summary: Finally, Someone Who Knows and Can Help!
Review: Dr. Federici is the only author and professional we have found who truely understands what parents having very disturbed children go through. His book is easy to read, right to the point, and provides hope and a great deal of ideas (hard solutions) to problems. He mixes no words, but gives hope and understanding in a compassionate way. We have contacted him, heard him lecture, and know that he is "on target" , where all these other "experts" miss the entire boat, especially these so-called "attachment therapists. His Second Edition is now out that we will get soon.

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Summary: An Excellent Book for the overwhelmed family!!
Review: Dr. federici's book and aggressive treatment approach helpedour family get back together. He has tremendous insight, compassionand knowledge of tough kids, particularly internationallly adopted children. He provides clear and concrete guidelines on assessing and dealing with all types of chronic problems. We learned more from thos book than from all the mental health and medical experts we have seen over the years.