ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part shows how the complementary observations and insights can be applied to assess parents and infants, and how the assessment becomes, in itself, a kind of therapy. Professionals working in social agencies, in guidance centers and facilities that deal with familiesare more used to considering relationships as their object of inquiry and intervention. They are trained to deal with conflict, emotion, and fantasy. Usually, however, they have little experience in assessing babies, especially normal babies. These various professionals also differ according to their interest, on the one hand, in competence and so-called "normal" development, and failure of development and pathology on the other. Pediatricians, especially those trained in child development or in the emerging field of behavioral pediatrics, stress the normal unfolding of developmental achievements and the cognitive and perceptual competence of babies.
