ABSTRACT
The SmartStart Toolbox Program was designed on the basis of what is currently known about best practices in promoting the mental and social/emotional development of traumatized and neglected young children. The program assigns crucial significance to methods of rehabilitation and remediation that include clinical procedures, teaching tools, and parenting techniques needed by the victims of prolonged neglect in order to graduate to the level of becoming self-sufficient and productive members of our society. The description of one such methodology, developed to reflect current research and best clinical practice, called The SmartStart Toolbox Program, is the substance of this book. The program has two intertwined goals: to remediate cognitive and language domains of recently adopted foreign orphanage residents and to facilitate the formation of attachment between adoptive parents and their adopted children via joint/shared activities. The coordinated efforts of the parents, mental health professionals, and educators are needed to provide international adoptees with the opportunity to realize their potential.
