Early Communication Skills for Children With Down Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals

Down Syndrome News, Volume 26, Number 4, August 2003
"It's thorough, practical and affirming."


Library Journal, September 1, 2003
"Essential for most collections, even those that already own the earlier edition."


Book Description
For children with Down syndrome, communicating is just as urgent and essential as it is for anyone else. In the newly updated and expanded edition of Communication Skills in Children with Down Syndrome, Libby Kumin offers comprehensive, authoritative, and practical advice based on her nearly 25 years of firsthand experience with kids with Down syndrome. She explains the role of a SLP, the stages of communication development, and how certain characteristics of Down syndrome, such as low muscle tone, hearing loss, and cognitive delays, can slow progression of those skills. Delays can lead to frustration and other problems for children who do not have intelligible speech until age 2 or later. EARLY COMMUNICATION SKILLS FOR CHILDREN WITH DOWN SYNDROME focuses on speech and language development from birth through the stage of making 3-word phrases, which is often around kindergarten age, but can occur later. This book offers a wealth of information on intelligibility issues, hearing loss, apraxia (difficulty planning oral-motor movements), and other factors that affect communication for children with Down syndrome. It explains how to prepare for and understand the results of speech-language assessment, and goes on to describe what to expect in the years ahead when a child enters elementary school. Throughout the new edition, the author incorporates the latest research on Down syndrome and communication development. She has added new chapters on high- and low-tech augmentative and alternative communication options, as well as articulation and literacy (how reading aids in the learning of language, speech, and auditory skills). New checklists on evaluating and treating speech problems, and numerous home activities designed to help children master each stage of communication development have also been added.


About the Author
Libby Kumin, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is the Director of the Graduate Program of the Department of Speech-Language Pathology/Audiology at Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland, where she founded the Down Syndrome Center for Excellence. She is the author of Classroom Language Skills for Children with Down Syndrome (Woodbine House, 2001). She continues to be active in scholarly research and is frequently published.


Buy from Amazon     Compare Prices

With this update of Communication Skills in Children with Down Syndrome (1994), Woodbine House continues to uphold its high standards for special-needs texts. Focusing on infants through kindergartners (a promised later volume will discuss older children), Kumin (founder, Down Syndrome Ctr. for Excellence, Loyola Coll.) includes several new evaluation checklists and new sections on apraxia, articulation, and alternative communication options. Most helpful are the many home activities suggested throughout. Rather than offer more therapy-type activities, Kumin presents activities that a parent could easily incorporate into everyday routines like bathing or mealtime. As with other books from the publisher, both the reading list and the resource section are worth the cost. Essential for most collections, even those that already own the earlier edition.-KellyJo Houtz Griffin, Eatonville, WA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.


Buy from Barnes & Noble     Compare Prices