Sibling relationships involving a brother or sister with an autism spectrum disorder present enormous emotional and practical challenges throughout the life span. In a unique combination of narrative context and deeply moving first-person excerpts from interviews with 20 siblings, this informative guide offers in-depth coverage of the issues of paramount concern to typical siblings. A chapter devoted to coping strategies is enhanced by end-of-chapter professional advice on how to maximize the sibling relationship.

Brothers and sisters are so much a part of our lives that we can overlook their importance. Even scholars of the family tend to forget siblings, focusing instead on marriage and parent-child relations. Based on a wealth of family papers, period images, and popular literature, this is the first book devoted to the broad history of sibling relations, spanning the long period of transition from early to modern America. Illuminating the evolution of the modern family system, Siblings shows how brothers and sisters have helped each other in the face of the dramatic political, economic, and cultural changes of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The book reveals that, in colonial America, sibling relations offered an egalitarian space to soften the challenges of the larger patriarchal family and society, while after the Revolution, in antebellum America, sibling relations provided order and authority in a more democratic nation. Moreover, Hemphill explains that siblings serve as the bridge between generations. Brothers and sisters grow up in a shared family culture influenced by their parents, but they are different from their parents in being part of the next generation. Responding to new economic and political conditions, they form and influence their own families, but their continuing relationships with brothers and sisters serve as a link to the past. Siblings thus experience and promote the new, but share the comforting context of the old. Indeed, in all races, siblings function as humanity's shock-absorbers, as well as valued kin and keepers of memory. This wide-ranging book offers a new understanding of the relationship between families and history in an evolving world. It is also a timely reminder of the role our siblings play in our own lives.

Many people grow up with at least one sibling. These siblings are often ‘fellow travellers’ through adversity or significant life events; they can act as a source of support for some children while a source of conflict for others. For these reasons, siblings are a potentially powerful influence on development and this book is one of the first of its kind to provide an overview of cutting-edge psychological research on this important relationship. Why Siblings Matter is a cornerstone text on siblinghood. Integrating findings from a 10 year longitudinal study alongside wider research, it provides a lifespan perspective examining the impact of sibling relationships on children’s development and well-being. This text situates siblings in their historical, developmental and family context, considers the influence of siblings on children’s development and adjustment, and provides an introduction to new research on siblings in diverse contexts. The authors discuss sibling relationships in varied populations such as siblings with disabilities, siblings in different cultures and siblings in non-traditional families, while also considering the practical implications of research. Covering both classical studies and new results this book offers take-home messages for promoting positive sibling interactions. It will be invaluable reading for students and researchers in developmental psychology and family studies and professionals in education, health and social work.

Normally, our relationships with our brothers and sisters are the longest relationships in our lives, outlasting time with our parents, and most marriages today. The sibling relationship is emotionally powerful and critically important, giving us a sense of continuity throughout life. So what happens when a child loses contact not only with his or her parents, but with siblings too? That is what happens in thousands of cases each year inside the child welfare system. Children are surrendered by parents - or taken by the government - and placed in the foster care system. There, they are often separated and sent to different foster families, or adopted by different couples. In this work, a team of top experts details for us how this added separation futher traumatizes children. This stellar team of internationally known researchers - some of whom are themselves adoptees - shares with us hard, poignant, and personal insights, as well as ways we might act to solve this widespread problem. Contributors address not only the importance of nurturing sibling bonds and mental health strategies to support those relationships, but also the legal rights of siblings to be together, as well as issues in international adoptions. Emerging and standing programs to encourage and facilitate adoptions that keep siblings together are featured, as are programs that at least enable them to stay in contact.

Breakfast with God is a collection of inspiring meditations that will encourage you and energize your day. Rev. Paul L. Jakes Jr. shares his heart as God revealed Himself to him during his daily time of devotion. Rev. Jakes found that having a set time each day for his daily devotion strengthened his resolve to be used for God's glory each and every day. Try it and see how it will make your spiritual life more complete.

Take a close look at sibling relationships--particularly how siblings navigate power, control, and influence and how the relationship affects the development of the individuals involved. While such relationships are both complementary and reciprocal, they transforms rather dramatically: from hierarchical in early and middle childhood, to egalitarian by early adulthood. This issue to examines: the processes and consequences of such dynamic power shifts for our broader understanding of how these relationship dynamics change and develop throughout the life course, how such dynamics may be similar or different cross-culturally, and how they influence the quality of the sibling relationship, as well as the well-being of youth. To do so, the authors present research from each developmental period from early childhood through young adulthood, as well as cross-cultural research, in order to further understanding of the developmental and contextual themes that allow for drawing broader conclusions. This is the 156th volume in this Jossey-Bass series New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development. Its mission is to provide scientific and scholarly presentations on cutting edge issues and concepts in this subject area. Each volume focuses on a specific new direction or research topic and is edited by experts from that field.

"Just mention the word "sibling," and everyone has a story to share. It might be a happy story or a miserable one, but they want to tell it. And according to the US Census Bureau (2021), with at least 78.3% of Americans having at least one sibling, that's a lot of stories"--