This booklet has been developed in hopes that it may aid in keeping communication open and focused between families and schools. Building communication between parents and the school staff through letters offers a way of keeping records of ideas, concerns, and suggestions. This booklet provides general guidelines to writing letters as well as…

Social skills training (SST) refers to any adult-directed instruction in which social skills are targeted for improvement. SST typically occurs in either a group or individual format, and may also include facilitated practice in classroom settings. SST sometimes may co-occur with peer-mediated instruction and intervention (PMII) or some related…

This guidance report offers early years professionals seven practical evidence-based recommendations to provide every child--but particularly those from disadvantaged homes--with a high quality and well-rounded grounding in early literacy, language and communication. One recommendation focuses on the importance of high quality interactions between…

A hallmark of Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is difficulties with social communication, and some learners with ASD experience additional deficits in expressive and/or receptive language that impair their ability to interact with others. However, a strength observed in many learners with ASD is responding to visual cues and structure. The use of…

This booklet has been developed in hopes that it may aid in keeping communication open and focused between families and schools. Building communication between parents and the school staff through letters offers a way of keeping records of ideas, concerns, and suggestions. This booklet provides general guidelines to writing letters as well as…

Developing effective communication for the physically handicapped child involves establishing a communication system which comprises many nonspeech modes as well as intelligible speech. The child can develop communication readiness skills as the parents develop an attachment between parent and child, acknowledge the child's methods of…

Noting that listening is a very large part of school learning and one of the primary means of interpersonal communication, this pamphlet presents guidelines and suggestions for parents to help their children develop listening and communication skills. Guidelines in the pamphlet are: be interested and attentive, encourage talking, listen patiently,…

Suggestions are offered for strengthening the basic speech, language, and communication skills of young children with hearing impairments, during ordinary periods of interaction at home. Suggestions focus on auditory training, speech drills, and reading, as well as formal and informal language instruction for all family members. (JDD)

This newsletter issue focuses on toys, games, and activities that entertain special needs children and sharpen their ability to think, speak, and play with others. Play is beneficial to special children as it develops their creativity, helps them explore their environment, allows them to socialize, and provides opportunities for them to act out…

This collection of conference presentation handouts covers various aspects of helping parents of deaf children to become facilitators of conversational skill development. The handouts include: definitions of "pragmatics" and "conversations"; a listing of characteristics of a successful adolescent conversationalist; an…

These guidelines are intended to assist parents in evaluating educational programs for children who are hearing impaired, where a program's stated intention is promoting the child's optimal use of spoken language as a mode of everyday communication and learning. The guidelines are applicable to programs where spoken language is the sole mode or…

This article describes the communication roles of both caregivers and professionals who have contact with young children with disabilities. It presents principles that underlie adult communicative strategy use with this population, along with specific suggestions for facilitating communicative competence. (Author/DB)

Some deaf interpreting strategies are offered to parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Parents are urged to utilize space in their interpreting, use name signs, utilize sight lines to distinguish characters in stories, use exaggerated signs to translate nursery rhymes, place themselves carefully at a public performance, and learn…

Autism is a life-long, complex developmental disorder that causes impairment in the way individuals process information. Autism belongs to heterogeneous categories of developmental disabilities where neurological disorders lead to deficits in a child's ability to communicate, understand language, play, develop social skills, and relate to others.…

Parents of three autistic boys (ages 7-8) were taught to use a time delay procedure to increase their children's appropriate spontaneous speech in naturally occurring daily settings. Results indicated that all children increased their daily spontaneous speech and generalized their speech to other locations and persons. (Author/JDD)