Behind the Playground Walls: Sexual Abuse in Preschools - Hardcover

Jill Waterman, PhD, is Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Coordinator of the UCLA Psychology Clinic. In addition to numerous articles on aspects of child trauma, she is the coauthor of Sexual Abuse of Young Children and Behind the Playground Walls. She is also a practicing psychotherapist in the Los Angeles area.

"This book is a major contribution to our knowledge of the effects of reported sexual and ritualistic abuse of young children, as well as the impact on their families. This extensive study was one of the first in the field to take a longitudinal perspective on the aftermath of the reported abuse. As such, it contributes greatly to our understanding of the healing process for traumatized children. The authors' recommendations regarding the treatment of children and families reporting sexual abuse will have a major impact on the field.

The authors are to be commended for their ability to communicate the findings of such a monumental research project in both a scholarly and comprehensible manner. The authors' expertise as both researchers and clinicians is clearly reflected in this outstanding work.

Academics, researchers, professionals, social policy makers, and the general public alike will find this book to be comprehensive and objective. I highly recommend this book for anyone involved in the field of child abuse." --Susan J. Kelley, R.N., Ph.D., Boston College School of Nursing

"Long awaited, this outstanding volume offers a sober and sophisticated analysis of two major preschool sexual abuse cases; one of which involved allegations of ritualistic abuse. I am extremely impressed with both the research presented and the interpretations offered -- highly recommended to clinicians and researchers!" --John Briere, PhD, USC Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences Associates

"This book is the fruit of hard labor. The authors are to be commended for their longitudinal design, for testing theory in a field sometimes lacking it, for conducting the research in spite of many pragmatic difficulties, and for producing a book that is readable by laypersons but that includes enough detail about method and analysis to be useful for serious researchers.... Child abuse researchers and therapists and families of children involved in sexual abuse cases will benefit from the findings of this research." --Bette L. Bottoms, Contemporary Psychology