Language disorders are among the most common developmental difficulties between the ages of 2 and 6. They encompass a range of conditions characterised by varying types and degrees of impairment in the comprehension, production, and use of language. The difficulties may affect one or more components of language, including phonology, vocabulary, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics.

Language and Communication Disorders: What to Do and What to Avoid is a practical guide that offers simple strategies to use in the classroom to successfully deal with 14 problematic behaviours that are typical of language and communication disorders, suggesting how to act and how not to.

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BOOK STRUCTURE AND CONTENTS

Language and Communication Disorders – What to do and what to avoid is divided into 14 chapters, grouped into 4 macro-sections: difficulties about comprehension, communication and storytelling, and what happens when children don’t speak.

1. Comprehension

The child…

• Confuses similar sounds and words
• Does not understand words or sentences
• Uses only single words, not full sentences
• Speech is unclear or difficult to understand
• Has limited knowledge of the Italian language

2. Communication

• Does not understand communicative contexts
• Cannot hold a conversation
• Produces speech that lacks logical structure

3. Storytelling

• Cannot identify places, characters, or relationships
• Cannot tell a story
• Cannot organise events in chronological order

4. When the child does not speak

• Isolates him/herself and remains silent
• Speaks only to a few people
• Uses gestures or other means to communicate

WHAT TO DO AND WHAT TO AVOID

The reason for each behaviour is initially explained in a few brief sentences (Why does he/she do this?), followed by simple and clear indications for the teacher on the attitudes to be adopted and avoided (What to do, What NOT to do).  A discussion on the topic follows (What to keep in mind) and tools and strategies are provided in How to intervene about some crucial educational and didactic aspects. A final Don’t forget That… paragraph is devoted to important and focused suggestions for the teacher to keep in mind.

Each chapter contains:

At the beginning of each chapter, a drawing introduces the analysed behaviour.

• Explanations of the problem behaviour being considered: Why does he/she do this?
• Brief and simple indications that can be useful to the teacher as a reference point for quickly deciding What to do and reflect on What to avoid.

• A more in-depth description of the specific problem behaviourbeing worked on: Analysis of the problem behaviour.
• The tools and educational strategies to create the intervention: How to intervene.

Each chapter closes with advice and strategies to further understand and enrich the teacher’s “briefcase of educational tools”.

Leaf through some pages of volume which have been translated into English to facilitate your evaluation of the product.

THE AUTHORS

Luigi Marotta, speech and language therapist and trainer, works in the Clinical Neurosciences Department at the IRCCS Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Rome.

Enrica Mariani, speech and language therapist and educationalist, is the author of numerous publications on language and learning disorders.

Elena Serena Marotta, developmental psychologist, is specialising in Developmental Neuropsychology in Santa Marinella, Rome.

Manuela Pieretti, speech and language therapist and educationalist, works in both clinical practice and research. She teaches on various postgraduate and advanced training courses and is a contract lecturer in the Speech and Language Therapy degree programme at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”.

Discover all the volumes of the series
What to do and what to avoid