It's very clear this was written 30 years ago, so I hesitate in recommending it. Some of it is so old-school as to be hurtful, but that's mostly comments about the world/environment around the child. When it comes to describing behaviors and stages of development it's dead on and helpful.

this is uber-dated, but there are bits and pieces of "profiling" that were helpful.

As I began reading this book, I was impressed at how well the authors were describing my child: they characterized her interests and behavior, and some of the quotes they used from seven-year-olds might have been overheard at my house the past few weeks. If I'd turned the page and read, "Eh, she's just seven. Have a glass of wine and she'll be eight before you know it," I wouldn't have been entirely surprised. Sadly, that's not actually what they said. In fact, I wouldn't say that I took a lot of advice away from this book. But it did do a good job reassuring me that a lot of what I've been seeing as problematic is actually developmentally normal, and confirmed my belief that flexibility and a lot of loving reassurance can go a long way in improving things. I suppose that's true at any age, but it's good to have the reminder.