Children with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties and Communication Problems : There Is Always a Reason

Children and young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) are far more likely to have communication problems than their peers. Exploring the ways in which children's language and emotional development are linked, Melanie Cross considers the reasons why behavioural and communication difficulties often occur together.

Identifying the common causes of these problems and the reasons why they often go undetected, she provides practical guidelines for assessing communication skills and the complexities of identifying communication problems in children, including children in public care. She shows how improving children's communication can also improve their behaviour and that speech and language therapy is an important, although often absent, service for children with EBD.

With a range of strategies to help children and young people to develop their emotional and communicative skills, this accessible guide is an invaluable resource for speech and language therapists, social workers, teachers and other health professionals working with young people with emotional, behavioural and communication problems.

Melanie Cross is a speech and language therapist with many years experience of working with children and young people with communication problems. For the past fifteen years she has worked with young people in public care at The Integrated Services Programme (ISP), an innovative independent child care agency based in England. Melanie has also worked for the children's communication charity I CAN as a professional advisor, and is currently a clinical tutor on the speech and language therapy course at City University, London.