Vicky Lewis is Professor of Education at the Open University. She is a developmental psychologist who has been involved in research with children with disabilities for over 30 years. Her early research focused on children with Down's syndrome and more recently she has worked with blind children and children with autism. She is particularly interested in how children with disabilities represent different aspects of their environment. She was also involved in the development of the Test of Pretend Play (ToPP) which provides a way of assessing the underlying symbolic ability of children with communication difficulties.

“Vicky Lewis has written a must – a book that no one involved in the diagnosis, treatment, education or care of children with disabilities can neglect. . . . What is particularly impressive is Lewis’s ability not only to present all the essential facts of disability but at the same time to convey what it is like to be disabled. . . .The book is thus scholarly and at the same time human, and will be found invaluable by all who in any way care about children with disabilities.” Professor Rudolph Schaffer, University of Strathclyde “The study of children with conditions such as blindness, deafness and autism is immensely important and revealing. Professor Lewis provides an up-to-date overview of such research that is authoritative, wide-ranging, and impressively free of prejudice. She sifts and clarifies the evidence in such a way as to reveal the subtlety (and at times, the ambiguity) of research findings about these and other childhood conditions.” Peter Hobson, Tavistock Professor of Developmental Psychopathology, University College London "this volume demonstrates the worth of a gradual accumulation of scientific knowledge on the development of children with disabilities. Vicky Lewis deserves great credit for what must have been a Herculean effort in reading and integrating the ever growing body of research studies." Nick Bozic, Worcestershire EPS, The Psychology of Education Review, Vol.27, No.2 ''(Development and Disability) is very comprehensive. It is factual and detailed and this could lead it to be dry but in fact it reads in an interesting and logical way, and is clear and easy to follow.'' Katie Alcock, Psychology: Learning and Teaching, 4, 3, March 2005.

• Preface. 1. Children with Disabilities.2. How Do Blind Children Develop?.3. How Do Deaf Children Develop?.4. How Do Children with Motor Disabilities Develop?.5. How Do Children with Down's Syndrome Develop?.6. How Do Children with Autism Develop?.7. Practical Implications.8. Theoretical Implications.References.Index.