Teaching Conversation to Children With Autism: Scripts And Script Fading (Topics in Autism)

Many children and adults with autism have difficulty communicating, especially starting and maintaining conversation. Teaching Conversation to Children with Autism is the first book to describe how scripts and script fading can provide a predictable and meaningful structure for children and adults with autism to engage in conversation. Using this strategy, children begin by playing recorded words or phrases (or reading written ones aloud) to initiate conversation, and often progress to speaking spontaneously with other children or adults. This book is written by Drs. McClannahan and Krantz, respected researchers and clinicians at the Princeton Child Development Institute and authors of Activity Schedules for Children with Autism (Woodbine House, 1999). This is a thorough guide for parents, teachers, and therapists and is full of case studies, charts, and photographs, and step-by-step instructions to teach conversation skills. It covers scripts for readers and nonreaders, conversation activities, activity schedules, talk books, card readers, voice recorders, prompts and rewards, observing, evaluating, and measuring results. One may use this effective tool to teach conversation at home, in school, and in the community.