Shop Speechville Express Books about speech, language and special needs

Practical guidance in helping children with learning speech, language, and communication skills

What to do if your child isn't talking
General Special Needs
Social Communication
Specific Remedial Strategies

What to do if your child isn't talking

Assessment of Childhood Language Disorders
by Rebecca J. McCauley

Beyond Baby Talk: From Sounds to Sentences, A Parent's Complete Guide to Language Development
by Kenn Apel, Julie J. Masterson Phd

Book Description
The first five years of a child's life are the most critical for speech and language development, and, as a parent, you are your child's primary language role model. So what are the best ways to help your child develop the all-important skill of communication? Fun, easy, and engaging, this book shows you how! Inside, you'll discover all of the essential steps and checkpoints from birth through age five, tips to help your child progress on schedule, and easy methods to:

• Evaluate and monitor your child's language development
• Understand and deal with environmental impacts such as television and cultural styles
• Recognize the signs of language development problems

Childhood Speech, Language and Listening Problems: What Every Parent Should Know
by Patricia McAleer Hamaguchi

Comments: This is a great book. I would recommend it to any parent who has a child with speech and or language problems. Until I read this book I was unsure of what was going on with my son. This book gave me a clear picture of what I need to do to help him at school and home. I can't say enough about this book.

Children's Speech, Language and Hearing : The Answer Book
by Mary Jones Singletary

Comments: A very easy-to-read book with simple explanations and definitions. The underlying theme..."if you have concerns, have your child evaluated by a professional speech - language specialist". There are resources in the back to help you find the specialist you may need. There are a few suggestions on things you can do to help your child if there is a speech or language problem.

Children with Specific Language Impairment (Language, Speech, and Communication)
by Laurence B. Leonard

Does My Child Have a Speech Problem
by Katherine L. Martin

Comments: This book will be at tremendous help to any parent wondering if their child has any sort of speech problem. The book is organized well, broken down by the various sorts of speech problems, so it's quite easy for a lay person to focus on their concerns without having to wade through lots of irrelevant information. I came to the book with the same question: Does my child have a speech problem and this book helped me find the answer and led me to the help we needed. I strongly recommend this book for any parent with that same question. It will help you find your answer and help you see that you are not alone.

Exploring the Speech Language Connection
by Rhea Paul, Ph.D.

From Book News, Inc. at Amazon:
Investigates the various connections between the earliest human sounds and subsequent language development. With special attention to tracheostomies, Down syndrome, deafness, and speech-motor impairments, the authors examine the interaction between speech and language in typical development and the effect that that interaction has on language disorders. The 11 chapters provide linguists,
psychologists, and speech-language pathologists with theoretical and clinical applications for connecting speech and language in their work.

Teach Me How To Say It Right: Helping Your Child with Articulation Problems
by Dorothy P. Dougherty From Amazon.com  "Articulation disorder, the most common speech communication problem, is identified in approximately 1 million preschool children each year. Research suggests that problems with articulation, if left unchecked, can lead to reading and spelling difficulties, social challenges, and self-esteem problems. The strongest resource a child with an articulation problem can have is a well-informed parent who knows which articulation behaviors are normal, which are not, and how best to guide his or her child through the process of speech therapy. This book helps parents decide whether the sound errors their child is experiencing are developmental and within normal limits for their age. The book offers a range of strategies to employ when a child does need some extra help to work through a particular speech difficulty. The book also addresses the emotions parents deal with and devotes a chapter to signs and symptoms of other common communication problems that may co-exist."

The Late Talker; What to do if your child isn't talking yet
by Marilyn Agin, MD; Lisa F. Geng; Malcolm Nicholl Comments: I highly recommend this book. It is a must have for any parent or persons who work with children, including child care providers, foster care/adoption agencies. It is an excellent resource and very easy to read, and informative. It also explains the differences and definitions of speech disorders, Individual Education Programs and insurance coverage codes. When you have children you never know what you will get. As a parent of two special needs children, this book also helps you overcome some hurdles that you might have come across. I wouldn't be surprised once more people know about it, that it goes on the best seller list! Thank you Lisa, Dr. Agin, and others for helping make this book a reality and a great resource for parents!

The Social World of Children Learning to Talk
by Betty Hart, Todd R. Risley

From Amazon.com, "...Based on unparalled data from 2-1/2 years of observing the everyday interactions of 1- and 2-year-old children learning to talk in their own homes, Hart and Risley have charted the month-by-month growth of the children's vocabulary, utterances, and use of grammatical structures. The compelling narrative highlights reliability-tested research findings and is supplemented with numerous transcripts from observations and a list of 2,000 words of children's expressive vocabulary from 19-36 months of age..."


Uncommon Understanding: Devlopment and Disorders of Language Comprehension in Children
by Dorothy V. M. Bishop

General Special Needs

Changed by a Child: Companion Notes for Parents of a Child With a Disability
by Lawrence E. Shapiro

Comments: Barbara Gill is a writer, attorney, and disability advocate as well as the mother of a child with Down syndrome. In this book she shares short one or two page vignettes that honestly tell what she has experienced. With titles such as "Awareness", "Sorrow", "Magical Thinking", "Forgiveness", "Pain", she captures the emotions that parents of children with disabilities share. Each reading stands by itself and can be read over and over again. It is a book that you will always keep nearby and will want to read from for years to come.

Help for the Hopeless Child: A Guide for Families
by Ronald S. FedericiComments: After years of all sorts of therapies ranging from medication, play, family, attachment and you name it, we FINALLY found something that has worked in the long term for our two Russian adopted children. We were told by the agency that "time will heal", and by all the therapists that it is "RAD/ODD/ADHD" which we later found out is the "classic combination" that all these therapists diagnosis. Dr. Federici's book gave us hope and a solid "treatment plan" which was missing after all these years. It was a tough one, but so were our kids as we adopted them older (told they were "healthy and fine"). We put everything into effect and even consulted with him and he added to our hope and gave even more guidelines. After six months, we feel we have our family back in order but will continue to work the program outlined. This book is a "must buy" for the struggling family needing direction. It looked tough at first, almost beyond our ability, then turned out to be very practical and systematic.

Special Children, Challenged Parents
by Robert A. Naseef, Ph.D

The Child With Special Needs: Encouraging Intellectual and Emotional Growth
Stanley I. Greenspan

Uncommon Fathers: Reflections on Raising a Child With a Disability
by Donald J. Meyer

You Will Dream New Dreams: Inspiring Personal Stories by Parents of Children With Disabilities
by Stanley D. Klein, Ph.D

Social Communication

Do-Watch-Listen-Say: Social and Communication Intervention for Children With Autism
by Kathleen Ann Quill

From Book News, Inc.
Quill, associated with The Autism Institute in Essex, Massachusetts, presents educators, clinicians, and parents with a guide to assessment and intervention that features state-of-the-art tools along with hundreds of creative ideas to promote social and communication skills. She also include practical background information about autism itself, guidelines for designing and implementing intervention plans, and reproducible forms for collecting data.
Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR

Specific Strategies and Guides

Affect Based Language Curriculum, Second Edition
by Stanley Greenspan and Diane Lewis Book Description
The purpose of the Affect-Language Curriculum (ABLC) is to provide families, therapists and teachers a systematic, intensivee program based on both new insights and tradional knowledge of the development of communication and language. The curriculum utilizes affect and engagement with pleasurable back-and-forth reciprocal interactions as the foundation for the development of imitation, pragmatics, and receptive and expressive language.

Becoming Partners With Children: From Play to Conversation
by James D. MacDonald Ph.D., CCC, Director Communicating Partners Center, Columbus, OH

Help Me Talk Right: How to Teach a Child to Say the "R" Sound in 15 Easy Lessons
by Mirla G. Raz Comments: My husband could not pronounce the letter R, as a child and teenager. This was almost resolved with many differrent speech therapists' input and his personal efforts. Nevertheless, a slight imperfection remained, which caused significant anxiety.

Mouth Madness:Oral Motor Activities for Children
by Catherine Orr

Book Description
Most activity books provide games for the hands or the body. Mouth Madness provides games for the mouth. As a welcome alternative to speech articulation drills, these activities provide oral motor practice by requiring that children imitate and plan new oral motor movements. The games are motivating, and the exercises are fun. The activities in this helpful 135-page manual-written by Catherine Orr, M.A., OTR, BCP-can supplement occupational therapy, speech therapy, or education programs where oral motor coordination and skill is a goal. Mouth Madness contains activities in four sections:

1. Oral Action Plays - simple "finger plays" done with the mouth. The plays are presented in three sections-lips, cheeks, and tongue-matching the body part that is most active in the play.
2. Mouth Games - contests and short cause-and-effect activities. The games are organized by the primary action that is required to participate-either blowing or manipulating lightweight balls, empty soda bottles, and other materials.
3. Silly Snacks - funny ways to eat food without using the hands. The activities create a motor planning connection between eating and moving the mouth in new ways.
4. Alliteration Songs - simple tunes with lyrics that match specific consonant sounds with vowels in a variety of combinations. A game or an action holds the children's interest as they sing each song. The games and activities are designed for children as young as three and up to age eight, with oral motor development level of at least one year. The activities are appropriate for children with articulation or phonological disorders, dysarthria, dyspraxia, or hearing impairments where speech acquisition is a goal.

Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills
Birsch, Judith R. (Ed)

Description: "Almost every chapter is packed with ideas practitioners can use immediately in their work with children, adolescents, and adults who have dyslexia." —Perspectives Newsletter

Comprehensive and practical, this guide reveals the benefits of using multisensory instruction in any classroom. After they review 50 years of research and clinical experience with children and adults with learning disabilities, the contributing authors explain how and why multisensory methods work.
The result of their efforts is a thorough volume that puts theory into practice with specific teaching approaches that promote:

• phonological awareness
• alphabet skills
• spelling
• grammar
• reading accuracy and fluency
• reading comprehension
• handwriting
• composition
• organization and study skill
• communication with parents

In addition, the book pays special attention to the connection between oral language and literacy."

Nonverbal Learning Disabilities at Home: A Parent's Guide
by Pamela Tanguay, Byron P. Rourke

Quick and Easy: Ideas and Materials to Help the Nonverbal Child "Talk" at Home
by Carolyn Rouse and Katera Murphy

Rainbows for Rosie
A Guidebook for Speech and Language Development
by Donna Circe-D'Agostino, Kathleen Paret

Comments: Here is a great handbook to help parents. This book is packed full of great examples and hands on help. Ever Parents should read Rainbows for Rosie.

The New Language of Toys: Teaching Communication Skills to Children With Special Needs: A Guide for Parents and Teachers
by Joan E. Heller Miller, Sue Schwartz, PhD

Description: " The New Language Of Toys is a how-to guide for parents, teachers, and care-givers about using everyday toys (both store-bought and home-made) to develop communication skills in children with disabilities and making playtime a fun, exciting and educational experience. Divided into three parts, The New Language Of Toys begins by giving important background information on language, the causes for language delays, and the value of play in stimulating language learning. In the second part, readers learn about specific toys and how to use them in dozens of fun activities and language dialogues, arranged in section according to a child's developmental age. The last section provides a general overview that will help in the selection of use of toys. The New Language Of Toys recommends the best traditional toys while surveying new toys. Also covered is information on computer technology and language learning, videotapes and television, and the toy dialogues covering developmental ages from birth through age six. This is "must" reading for anyone with an interest in stimulating language skills in children with special needs." Midwest Book Review

The New Social Story Book : Illustrated Edition
by Carol Gray

Visual Strategies for Improving Communication
by Linda A. Hodgdon
Review from ASHA Leader 1997: "...the specific examples assisted us to develop some very creative systems that have been highly effective for many of our students. The information and specifics can be used by a beginner or a more experienced service provider. ...This is a resource that should be on every speech-language pathologist's shelf."

Reading Too Soon: How to Understand and Help the Hyperlexic Child
by Susan M. MillerComments: Living in the 3rd world makes you wonder how can you help your child, if nobody heard of hyperlexic children, well this book is a good one it touchs almost everything in your life and suggest possible ways to solve your problems to help your child.Click here for more books for parents and professionals

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