Treatment Companion: A Speech-Language Pathologist's Intervention Guide for Students With Developmental Delays and Disorders

Whether you’re working with a new student and don’t know where to begin, or you have a long-term client and you’re feeling stuck, Treatment Companion: A Speech-Language Pathologist’s Intervention Guide for Students With Developmental Delays and Disorders provides ideas and strategies for a variety of common language goals. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) often face the challenge of adapting interventions to meet the needs of students with severe or complex disorders and diagnoses. As seasoned clinicians, the authors fuse their real-world experience with up-to-date research to create a robust road map for customizing SLP intervention strategies. 

User friendly and straightforward, the Treatment Companion offers a conversational approach to identifying options and goals that meet students where they are, whether they are visual or kinesthetic learners, oral speakers or AAC users, engaged or distracted, from birth to age 21. With easy-to-navigate headings, examples, and visuals, this guide can be consulted on an as-needed basis. The suggestions and strategies are accessible and innovative, often not requiring any specialized supplies to implement.

The Treatment Companion offers both novice and experienced clinicians a valuable tool to support their clients in achieving the highest level of communication possible.

Key Features:

• Language goals are divided into four levels that are aligned with developmental milestones
• Detailed figures feature examples of intervention resources and strategies (color versions provided on the companion website)
• Steps Toward Mastery outlines a progression for guiding students to mastery of a goal, from introduction of a skill to achieving independence and generalizing the skill
• Activities in Treatment offers suggestions for working on skills through specific therapy activities
• Demystifying Augmentative and Alternative Communication appendix provides an approachable overview and example scenarios for those new to AAC

Inna Itskovich, MS, CCC-SLP, TSSLD has been working in the field of speech-language pathology, servicing the needs of students with developmental delays and disabilities, since 2011. She currently works in an elementary school setting. Inna has received extensive training in the area of literacy, specifically the Orton Gillingham approach for the remediation of reading and writing. Inna is also well versed in various augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems that focus on motor planning. She is ardently interested in the areas of expressive communication focused on narrative development. Inna is currently working in conjunction with various universities in helping to train student clinicians in the field to help bridge the gap and to facilitate language for students with special needs.

Megan Meyer, MS, CCC-SLP, TSSLD, ASL Ext has worked with preschool to high school age students since 2012. She has worked with children with various diagnoses including autism, Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH), and developmental delays and disabilities. Her primary area of interest is the Deaf/Hard of Hearing population and using both American Sign Language (ASL) and spoken English to build language and communication skills. Megan feels strongly that all children deserve to learn language in an accessible and effortless way.

Miriam (Miri) Shaffer, MS, CCC-SLP, TSSLD-BE has been working in elementary schools with children who have developmental delays and disorders, including autism and cerebral palsy. She is passionate about augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and making sure that every child has a way to communicate. This includes training staff and family members in their child’s communication device and how to facilitate communication throughout the day. She is also an advocate of teaching literacy skills to all children, no matter the perceived obstacles. She feels the greatest pride when she witnesses her students initiating communication and advocating for themselves independently.