By Isaura Barrera, Ph.D., with Robert M. Corso, Ph.D., and Dianne Macpherson, MSW, CISW

In your work with young children and their families, have you ever had a conversation or interaction that could have gone better — if you’d had a better understanding of how to respond to cultural diversity? This book can help! Using Skilled Dialogue, a field-tested model for respectful, reciprocal, and responsive interaction that honors cultural beliefs and values, practitioners will improve their relationships with the children and families they serve and better address developmental and educational goals. Readers will

• Revise their understanding of cultural diversity, recasting it as something that exists between individuals, not within individuals. Practitioners will learn the importance of cultural competence, and they’ll understand the challenges they may face as they interact with people whose values, beliefs, and backgrounds differ from their own.
  
  
• Learn the essentials of Skilled Dialogue, including suspending judgment; appreciating other beliefs and value systems; tuning in to each family’s hopes, dreams, and definitions of “success”; and reframing differences between practitioners and families as complimentary rather than contradictory.
  
  
• Discover specific ways to apply Skilled Dialogue to early childhood assessment and intervention. Readers will find strategies for determining the effects of cultural diversity; common dilemmas and suggested responses; detailed vignettes; photocopiable forms; tips on using translators; and guidelines for differentiating behaviors caused by trauma from those rooted in culture

Innovative and illuminating, this book gives readers a model for meeting one of their biggest challenges: honoring the diverse identities of the children and families they serve.

About the Authors
Foreword
Susan A. Fowler
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction

I. The Challenge of Dialogues Across Differences

1. Cultural Diversity: The Challenge
   
   
2. Culture: The Underlying Reality
   
   
3. Cultural Competency: The Response

II. From Difficult Dialogues to Skilled Dialogues

4. Skilled Dialogue: Foundational Concepts
   
   
5. Anchored Understanding of Diversity: The First Skill
   
   
6. 3rd Space: The Second Skill

III. The Practice of Skilled Dialogue in Early Childhood Environments

7. Crafting Specific Responses to Concrete Situations
   
   
8. Respectful, Reciprocal, and Responsive Assessment
   
   
9. Respectful, Reciprocal, and Responsive Intervention and Instruction

Afterword
Isaura Barrera

References

Appendix A: Trauma from a Cultural Perspective, Dianne Macpherson

Appendix B: Looking Closer

Appendix C: Photocopiable Materials

Appendix D: Guidelines for Using an Interpreter/Translator During Test Administration

Index