V knige vpervye obobshcheny rezul'taty issledovaniy rossiyskikh i zarubezhnykh avtorov po problemam obshcheniya detey s zaderzhkoy psikhicheskogo razvitiya. Analiz eksperimental'nykh dannykh pozvolil pokazat', chto prichinoy sushchestvennykh trudnostey sotsializatsii i formirovaniya lichnosti etikh doshkol'nikov i mladshikh shkol'nikov yavlyayutsya narusheniya vnutrisemeynykh otnosheniy, prezhde vsego v sisteme "mat'-rebenok". Issledovaniya uchenykh-defektologov pokazali, chto zhiznennoe blagopoluchie rebenka zavisit ot sotsial'no-psikhologicheskoy realizatsii lichnosti, a ne ot defekta samogo po sebe. V knige rassmatrivayutsya usloviya, blagopriyatstvuyushchie sotsializatsii detey s zaderzhkoy psikhicheskogo razvitiya i, naoborot, vedushchie k shkol'noy dezadaptatsii, sochetayushchiesya s emotsional'nymi rasstroystvami. Adresovano prakticheskim psikhologam, uchitelyam, pedagogam-defektologam, rukovoditelyam obrazovatel'nykh uchrezhdeniy, prepodavatelyam pedagogicheskikh, psikhologicheskikh, defektologicheskikh fakul'tetov universitetov i pedagogicheskikh kolledzhey.