ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Kenn Apel, PhD., CCC-SLP is professor and chair of the Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences at Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas, and a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. His research and teaching interests deal with typical and non-typical language/literacy development, with a specific focus on reading and spelling. He is a former Associate Editor for Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in the Schools (LSHSS) and has served as a guest editor for LSHSS and Topics in Language Disorders. He currently serves as a series editor for Challenges in Language and Literacy, a book series for Guilford Press.

Finally, Dr. Apel is co-author of the recently published book, Beyond Baby Talk: From Sounds to Sentences, a Parent’s Complete Guide to Language Development, and the assessment software program, SPELL.

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