Enhancing Everyday Communication for Children with Disabilities

Practical and concise, this introductory guide is filled with real-world tips and strategies for anyone working to improve the communication of children with moderate, severe, and multiple disabilities. Emphasizing the link between behavior and communication, three respected researchers transform up-to-date research and proven best practices into instructional procedures and interventions ready for use at home or in school. Special educators, speech-language pathologists, behavior therapists, and parents will discover how to use the authors' included behavior assessment, the Inventory of Potential Communicative Acts, to pinpoint children's communication skills, strengths, and intervention needscreate structured opportunities for communication and make the most of naturally occurring, child-directed opportunitieshelp children develop symbolic, effective, and socially appropriate forms of communicationbe more responsive communication partnersinterpret, enhance, and/or replace existing communicative behaviorsevaluate intervention plans and monitor children's progress Five detailed case studies illustrate assessment, intervention, and instructional procedures for children with different strengths and needs, and a helpful review of key concepts ensures that readers fully understand the basic principles behind the strategies. Updated and expanded since its first edition, Partners in Everyday Communicative Exchanges, this invaluable research-to-practice guide is the key to effective, positive interactions between children with disabilities and their communication partners.