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 needs
• create structured opportunities for communication and make the most of naturally occurring, child-directed opportunities
• help children develop symbolic, effective, and socially appropriate forms of communication
• be more responsive communication partners
• interpret, enhance, and/or replace existing communicative behaviors
• evaluate 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.

Jeff Sigafoos, Ph.D., is Professor in the School of Education at the University of Tasmania in Australia.

Michael Arthur-Kelly, Ph.D., is Senior Lecturer, Centre for Special Education and Disability Studies and The University of Newcastle in Australia.

Nancy Butterfield, M.Ed., is a special educator and teacher educator in Sydney, Australia.