HandMade Marks shows parents how to develop attention, emotional connection and control, lively, invested speech and self-directed literacy in young children using scribbling and drawing. Hands-on exercises, developmental benchmarks, evaluation tools, and research questions are included to help parents encourage their children acquire speech and a love for and skill with reading and writing images as well as text. Autism and the influence of technology on early childhood development are two of the many fascinating and important topics discussed at the end of this book. The author divides her time between Amherst, Massachusetts and Addison, Maine. Sheridan is a mother and a grandmother, a teacher of English and art at the middle school and college levels, a researcher and a writer. For the past 30 years, Sheridan has focused on the connections between mark-making and the development of the human mind. Her special interest is children's early scribbles and drawings. Sheridan is committed to the needs and rights of children to develop their thinking skills to the fullest, using both speech and literacy. Sheridan's how-to manual for parents provides theory and practice to encourage side-by-side work with children and their early mark-making. Research questions provide information and speculation about autism as well as the effects of technology on early development.