Provides information and resources to improve children's communicaton at school, home and in the wider community.

Newly revised and updated, this compassionate and authoritative guide is based on Libby Kumin's more than thirty years experience working with children and adolescents with Down syndrome and their families. As the founder of the Down Syndrome Center for Excellence at Loyola University in Maryland, she draws on her vast experience to show parents how they can support and encourage their child's speech and language development from birth to age 6 (or when a child can form 2- to 3- word sentences). Parents and teachers learn how to work through characteristic challenges, including hearing loss, intelligibility issues, apraxia (difficulty planning oral-motor movements), or a slower pace of development. Families soon see that many children with Down syndrome are natural and willing communicators. In a warm and conversational style, the author shares her professional expertise in parent-friendly terms. She uses specific examples of difficulties and successes to illustrate the concepts behind speech and language development, and includes the latest research supporting current early intervention and preschool approaches that can be used at home and in schools. This third edition of EARLY COMMUNICATION SKILLS features expanded information on the needs of children with apraxia, dual diagnosis of autism and Down syndrome, and updated terminology and information on special education law. A new chapter explains how technology and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) ? smartphones, iPods, iPads, and apps ? can help with speech and language, foster communication, and provide inexpensive transitional language systems. Dozens of forms are now included on a CD-ROM to be used for assessment, developing treatment plans, and keeping detailed records of progress. Teachers, speech-language pathologists, and parents will love the convenience of printing multiple copies of forms and organizing information for IEP meetings or periodic evaluations.

Covers speech and language development in children with Down syndrome from infancy through to early adolescence, and what parents and carers can to to help maximise their child's communication potential.

When the first edition of Teaching with the Brain in Mind was published in 1998, it quickly became an ASCD best-seller, and it has gone on to inspire thousands of educators to apply brain research in their classroom teaching. Now, author Eric Jensen is back with a completely revised and updated edition of his classic work, featuring new research and practical strategies to enhance student comprehension and improve student achievement. In easy to understand, engaging language, Jensen provides a basic orientation to the brain and its various systems and explains how they affect learning. After discussing what parents and educators can do to get children's brains in good shape for school, Jensen goes on to explore topics such as motivation, critical thinking skills, optimal educational environments, emotions, and memory. He offers fascinating insights on a number of specific issues, including * How to tap into the brain's natural reward system. * The value of feedback. * The importance of prior knowledge and mental models. * The vital link between movement and cognition. * Why stress impedes learning. * How social interaction affects the brain. * How to boost students' ability to encode, maintain, and retrieve learning. * Ways to connect brain research to curriculum, assessment, and staff development. Jensen's repeated message to educators is simple: You have far more influence on students' brains than you realize . . . and you have an obligation to take advantage of the incredible revelations that science is providing. The revised and updated edition of Teaching with the Brain in Mind helps you do just that.

The Reading and Language Intervention for Children with Down Syndrome (RLI) teaches language and literacy skills following evidence-based principles adapted to meet the children’s specific learning needs. It is designed for pupils with Down syndrome aged 5 to 11 years. The intervention is suitable for beginning readers through to those with reading ages up to 8 years and for students with a wide range of language abilities. Teaching is adapted to meet individual needs through initial assessments of skills and regular monitoring of progress. Together with two accompanying DVDs illustrating teaching techniques and a CD of resources, the handbook offers teachers and teaching assistants the detailed guidance, assessment tools and example teaching materials needed to implement the intervention.

Behavior issues in children with Down syndrome can quickly become engrained, which means short-term problems often develop into bad habits that are difficult to change. This new book by pediatric psychologist Dr. David Stein looks at how the brain of a person with Down syndrome works, why those differences impact behavior, and how to address these problems using his positive behavior approach designed specifically for children and teens with Down syndrome. Book jacket.

This module provides a programme of activities and advice designed to assist the development of speech and language skills for children with Down syndrome from birth to five years. The advice and activities are based on knowledge of the processes affecting speech and language development in typically developing children, the identified difficulties of children with Down syndrome and current research findings from studies evaluating effective remedial strategies. It also includes checklists for evaluating and recording children's development of interactive communication skills, speech sounds, vocabulary, sentences and grammar. The programme will enable parents, teachers and therapists to help children with Down syndrome to learn to talk, to talk in sentences, and to develop their speech clarity and conversational skills. It starts with activities to develop the foundation skills in infancy that lead on to talking, including the use of gesture and sign to support comprehension, and with an emphasis on speech sound work from infancy.Building a spoken vocabulary to 400 words by 5 years of age is seen as a priority, in order to develop grammar and phonology, and a recommended vocabulary programme with record sheets is included. The ways in which reading activities should be used to support all aspects of speech and language learning during preschool years are mentioned but the detailed advice on teaching early reading is in the reading module. This module follows on from Speech and language development for individuals with Down syndrome - An overview DSii-03-01] which should be read first, to provide the reader with an adequate understanding of speech and language development to be successful in using this programme.