Enabling Communication in Children With Autism [Paperback]

Carol Potter (Author), Chris Whittaker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1853029564 | ISBN-13: 978-1853029561 | Publication Date: March 15, 2001 | Edition: 1

The early stages of lingustic and social interaction are crucial in the development of every child, but particularly in children with autism. Potter and Whittaker show how these children may be significantly affected by a range of social and environmental influences, including classroom management, levels of motivation and interaction with adults and other children. From their clinical, practical and classroom research they show how the communication skills of children with autism can be helped by the skilful use of an integrated range of strategies and approaches. As well as providing an overview of the major theoretical issues involved, Enabling Communication in Children with Autism provides practical ways of modifying unhelpful environments in order to enhance communication skills. Potter and Whittaker argue that encouraging spontaneous communication should be viewed as a major educational goal and that children with minimal or no speech can and do communicate when they have access to enabling environments. The creation of such environments forms the central theme of this book.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Carol Potter, M.Ed PGCE, BA(Hons), has worked extensively in the field of autism as teacher, consultant, researcher and lecturer. She is a Senior Lecturer at Carnegie Faculty, Leeds Metropolitan University, United Kingdom. Chris Whittaker, EdD, M.Ed, DAES, has taught, lectured, and published in the field of special education for over thirty years, with a particular interest in children with autism and complex learning disabilities. He is currently a Visiting Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University, and also works as a freelance consultant through CIRA-UK.

Product Details

• Paperback: 207 pages
• Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Pub; 1 edition (March 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1853029564
• ISBN-13: 978-1853029561
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,916,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enabling Communication in Children with Autism, November 25, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Enabling Communication in Children With Autism (Paperback)

"Enabling Communication in Children with Autism" is a very practical book which helps teachers ,parents and others working with Autistic childen to provide an environment which will optimise the opportunities for communication to take place. I found the book easy to read in clear "bite sized" chapters with a good mix of case studies and practical examples. As a teacher I found I could apply it well to my own setting.

It does not require expensive resources, or staff to completely re-organise classroom settings. Rather, it emphasises how crucial it is for adults to examine their own communication strategies with childen, and how this can be vital in extending children's own communicative acts.

Two of the main stategies are the use of minimal speech and proximal communication. In applying these approaches described I felt very comfortable, and I have observed positve changes as a result over a period of a few weeks. These ,and other strategies are clearly and easily explained with practical examples. The approaches described fit well with other techniques for teaching children with Autism, eg PECs and TEACCH.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Teacher of Severely Handicapped Children, September 26, 2009

By 

Sharon Preschool SDC Teacher (California, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Enabling Communication in Children With Autism (Paperback)

I feel that this book is the most helpful and easiest to use book for working with severely handicapped children. I also use these techniques with non-autistic SH children. For the teacher (or parent) of severely handicapped non-verbal children it is very difficult to know where to start and how to help these children. I would also suggest the book "A Work in Progress" and "Tanglble Symbol Systems" from [...]. Why don't they ever tell us about these excellent books and programs in our teaching classes. To quote Popeye's girlfriend, "When you find out that. You find out everything."