Customer Reviews

The New Language of Toys: Teaching Communication Skills to Children With Special Needs, a Guide for Parents and Teachers

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This book has an over-reaching title and at best is a catalog that describes toys. Placing the words "special needs" in the title implies that it would provide specific pointers for helping children with all sorts and degrees of disabilities like CP, visual impairments, hearing impairments, deafblindness, mental retardation, etc. and might at least have a section on augmentative communications. It offers VERY LITTLE on these topics. As for the dialogues, I found them to be of poor quality and contrary to other stuff I have read. Some of the dialogues for a child who hasn't begun to talk have tons of words and lots of adjectives yet later the same book suggests that teaching the concepts of 'up' and 'down' in the same play session might be too confusing for the child. I don't know what the author's Ph.D. is in but I hope it isn't in speech and language pathology.

This book has lots of great examples of dialogs to have with your child to help them develope language at every stage of development. Also there are suggested toys and tips on how to use them. However, the exact toys are hard to find to purchase for yourself. But, you can always find something similar. With each age group, there is also a list of sugggested books--which I really like. This book has taught me a lot.

As a soon-to-be grandmother, I find myself looking at everything through the eyes of a new mother. Though I'm not sure that this book would be especially useful for teachers, I DO think it is an excellent resource for new parents on appropriate developmental stages. The charts for Language, Physical and Cognative milestones are worth the price of the book! Much more complete and practical than any baby book that I've seen, and a great tool if there are some developmental delays. I plan to buy a copy for each of my four daughters when they start their family!

this is a wonderful little must have resource book for any early childhood educator/grad student.
I am an SLP working with preschools and this serves as the perfect guide to what a preschooler should be taught and know. At the end of each chapter there is a list of all the things the child should know by the end of the year. This helps (big time) setting SPECIFIC treatment goals for preschoolers. I have come across so many generic, useless IEP goals that dont apply to the child. The book goes from 0-6 years and it also gives ideas what toys to use and how to use them (if you lack in the creativity department, that may be useful) but I think the most useful part is the breakdown of what the child should know by a certain age. This is definatley a better, more useful developmental milestones checklist than any I have come across and cheap too! and its great to give parents ideas and information about what they should be working on with the child at home as well in clear, simple language.

Length:: 0:35 Mins

Fisher-Price Brilliant Basics Baby's First Blocks

The book is merely a list of toys, generally commercially available, that might stimulate or help a child communicate. My biggest complaint is with the printing. I wondered why young children (3 - 18 months) had so few notations, and discovered why yesterday... My copy jumps from page 50 to page 83. The pages didn't fall out of the binding - they were not included when the book was bound. So check yours when you buy. I am not sure if this a problem unique to me or not. However, I called the publisher and they sent me a replacement immediately and free. I did not have to hassle with sending back the defective one. Excellent customer service!

This book gives a detailed outline of great toys for ALL children that will encourage and expand their learning at different age levels. These are toys without batteries, flashing lights and silly songs. The text also explains different ways parents can interact with the child's play to encourage a their natural curiosity.

Now in a substantially revised and updated third edition, The New Language Of Toys: Teaching Communication Skills To Children With Special Needs by Sue Schwartz workshop presenter and developer of the Parent Infant Program in the Programs for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in the Montgomery County, Maryland Public Schools) is an informed and informative instructional guide which is enthusiastically recommended for parents and teachers seeking to teach language skills to children from birth to age six through utilizing toys to evoke verbal interactions. Enhanced with new photographs (including a full-color insert) showing specific toys that families may already own, can make at home, or which can be easily purchased, The New Language Of Toys also offers an extensive resource section listing dozens of toy companies, related books, and thematically appropriate organizations. If you are working with preschool children to develop their facility with language skills, the give The New Language Of Toys a very careful reading.

bought this book for a class, havent opened it since, but i keep it as a reference