Purpose: The purpose of this tutorial is to educate speech-language pathologists (SLPs) on the need for and positive outcomes associated with neurodiversity-affirming care. This primer will outline what neurodiversity is, why it is central to the provision of evidence-based practice and culturally responsive care, and introduce the reader to…

Background: Speech and language therapists (SLTs) contribute to communication with adults with learning disabilities by providing training to the networks that support them. The requirements for successful communication with this population are frequently complex and necessitate an effective training medium to transfer the target knowledge and…

Interventions designed for children with disabilities and their families should be socially valid. Parent-implemented Communication Strategies-Storybook (PiCSS) is an intervention package designed to coach parents on shared storybook reading and naturalistic teaching strategies. In PiCSS program, the participating parents used the communication…

Family-centered practices that build caregiver capacity are a central focus of early intervention services for young children with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of adapting the "Parents Interacting with Infants" (PIWI) facilitated playgroup model to target effective communication strategies for…

This Conversation Analysis study investigated how a speech and language therapist (SLT) created opportunities for communication aid use in multiparty conversation. An SLT interacted with a child with multiple disabilities and her grandparents in a home setting, using a bliss board. The analyses demonstrated a practice where the SLT employed…

The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of Melodic Based Communication Therapy (MBCT) to traditional speech and language therapy for eliciting speech in nonverbal children with autism. Participants were 12 nonverbal children with autism ages 5 through 7 randomly assigned to either treatment group. Both groups made significant…

We describe a speech-language pathology and occupational therapy service delivery program for preschoolers with developmental delays and communication and related impairments. Key features included interprofessional collaboration; parent professional partnerships; naturalistic environment; opportunities for choice and control; use of a…

The purpose of this manuscript was to describe a community-based program, Language and Play Everyday (LAPE), aimed at evaluating effective practices for enhancing parents' capacity to increase their toddlers' communication skills. LAPE was a parent education program focused on coaching parents to embed naturalistic language-enhancing…

Purpose: In this study, the authors examined the effects of the Teach-Model-Coach-Review instructional approach on caregivers' use of four enhanced milieu teaching (EMT) language support strategies and on their children's use of expressive language. Method: Four caregiver-child dyads participated in a single-subject, multiple-baseline study.…

Purpose: The authors sought to determine whether a program of 5 weekly doses of milieu communication teaching (MCT) would yield improvements in children's communication and word use compared with a once-weekly delivery of the same treatment. Method: Sixty-four children with intellectual and communication delay were randomly assigned to receive…