In the conclusion to their book, Jane Stokes and Marian McCormick wrote that they hope it makes you think “Hmmm…” – it certainly does.

As Jane and Marion designed the curriculum for a new postgraduate course in speech and language therapy they collected stories, and then wrote this book to add to the conversation about issues that underlie the SLT profession. The book has 10 chapters, 5 written by Jane and Marian, and 5 contributed by other people. It raises challenging questions and explicitly invites the reader to examine their professional beliefs.

There are a number of chapters I’m looking forward to re-reading and think I’ll review regularly. Marian’s chapter about reflective practice inspired me, and reminded me that one outcome of reflection needs to be a goal for the future. Aoife Gallagher’s chapter “To intervene or not to intervene” had me nodding with agreement. I’ve been considering the role of parental expectations, fear and anxieties in my own clinical work so was interested to read Aoife’s ideas about how to make services transparent and responsive.

In her chapter about supervision Jane introduces models from related fields, that we in speech and language therapy can learn from. Keena Cummins’ chapter on using video clarified issues I’d been struggling with in my therapy sessions. Her analysis of the value of face watching and mirroring between adults made me reflect on some recent interactions with parents. I hadn’t considered the link between spirituality and speech and language therapy. I enjoyed Sophie MacKenzie’s chapter on this topic, which discussed the narratives clients use at different points in the therapeutic journey and person-centred care.

I was scribbling down thoughts and questions as I read this book and enjoyed how it encouraged me to consider why I do what I do. If you’re a therapist who enjoys asking why and getting stuck in to some interesting discussions, I think you’ll enjoy this book. 

The book includes quote from students of Jane and Marian’s course, I was stunned by how insightful they were. If you’re looking to hire a new grad keep your eye out for therapists from the University of Greenwich!

The folks at The Hanen Centre kindly sent me a copy of I’m Ready – How to Prepare Your Child for Reading Success and asked me what I thought. Here in the UK advice about how to support literacy skills seems to change frequently, so I was interested to see what Janice Greenberg and Elaine Weitzman suggest.

The book has 6 chapters: Early Literacy, Conversation, Vocabulary, Story Comprehension, Print Knowledge and Sound Awareness. It’s visually appealing; the text is broken up by photographs and drawings. I read it over several days and found it easy to pick up where I’d left off. There’s a comprehensive list of recommended children’s books, coded in terms of how they can be used to support literacy. I think the ‘Try it out!’ checklists and reflection questions look useful.

The book is full of practical examples from real families, so it’s both straight forward to apply and realistic, in terms of what parents can fit into their lives. There are plenty of Hanen’s trademark memory aids, some familiar like OWLing (observe, wait, and listen) and some new (to me) like POP – point out print.

My favourite thing about the book is how clear the authors are about the importance of making reading fun by following the child’s lead. I often worry that parents go in too heavy with the flashcards approach, which can put kids off, so I was relieved that the book stresses reading needs to be fun.

The blurb on the back of the book states that the authors have taken the most current research and broken it down into fun strategies for promoting early literacy. The only thing that frustrated me is that although they’ve provided references for each chapter, these aren’t clearly identified in the text. It simply says: “studies have found….” – so it’s not clear which study they are referring to. I think some parents (and professionals) would like to read more detail from the original research paper, and the format of the book doesn’t support this.

If you’re looking for ideas about how to use books (and conversation!) to prepare a child for reading and writing I’m Ready is packed full of them. It’s easy to read, practical and fun.

If you’re in the UK, the book is currently only available directly from Hanen. Hanen hope their UK distributor will be stocking it soon.

A friend has published a practical resource for developing play and communication skills in children on the Autism Spectrum. Ruth Harris, along with two colleagues, has written Teach Me with Pictures. It’s a book of picture scripts that are ready to use – you can photocopy them or print them from a CD-ROM. Ruth has been working on the book for a while; she spoke about it at the initial Therapy Ideas Live event back in July 2011. Congratulations Ruth, Simone and Linda, it’s wonderful!

The book begins with an introductory chapter, explaining what picture scripts are, their benefits and how to use them.

So what are picture scripts?

You know the picture instructions that come with flat-pack furniture from places like Ikea? They’re picture scripts. You follow the pictures step-by-step, breaking up a complex task into manageable pieces.

Next the book explains why picture scripts work so well for children with Autism. Get the book and read this chapter, it’s insightful, easy to follow and will help you explain the approach to parents and teachers. Many children with Autism are visual learners, who respond well to predictable and achievable activities – picture scripts are perfect. After discussing the skills picture scripts can promote, the book describes in detail how to use the scripts, so you’re ready to get started.

What activities do the scripts target?

The 40 picture scripts are divided into categories:

• Pretend play
• Drawing pictures
• Building and construction games
• Cooking
• Arts and Crafts
• Everyday living

You can see an example of some of the scripts on the publisher’s blog. I can’t wait to try making sandwiches and drawing monsters in therapy, I think the kids will love it!

This book could be used by SLTs, teachers, parents and anyone supporting children with language, learning or social communication difficulties. The activities have been designed to reflect what typically developing children of around 6 years old do, so we can teach our clients the skills they need to take part in the same activities as their peers. That said, a couple of the scripts are a little American, making nachos and ice-cream soda? Still, a good communication opportunity – talk about cultural differences!

This book is an inspiring starting point, use these scripts and then make your own. What does your client or child need to learn how to do? Write your own script and help teach them!

The book, with the hat used in the game!

I recently got my hands on Communication & Language Activities – Running Groups for School-Aged Children, edited by Sarah Nash. Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book by the publisher to review, I used to work in the Hackney Team and Sarah is a friend. That said, here’s what I think.

I loved the illustration on the cover, and was keen to see how the book had been structured. There’s a comprehensive and clearly written introduction, covering topics like planning the sessions, dealing with difficulties and supporting carry over to the classroom.

Next there’s more than 140 activities, organised by the skill each activity targets for example: attention and listening, understanding, phonological awareness and social communication. Each activity has it’s own page: at the top it states clearly the expected time it takes (quick, mid-length, lengthy) the challenge level (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and the resources needed. Then the aim of the activity is identified, followed by an easy to follow description of the method. Some activities also have suggestions for making them easier or harder, as well as helpful hints.

The second part of the book contains resources, including a handout that explains to parents what a communication group is and some visuals to photocopy, such as lotto boards.

I thought the best way of test-driving a practical resource like this was to use it to plan a group! I was off to model a social skills group for three boys in a reception class last week, so I opened up the book to see what I could find.

I decided on:

• Do What I Do: a non-verbal copying game, to encourage the children to look at me.
• Who is Wearing the Hat? an attention activity, to encourage the children to look at each other.
• Tower Game: each child waits for their name before adding a brick, to practise listening.
• I Made a Horrible Sandwich: a memory and vocabulary game, to give them a reason to listen to each other.

I also used Toca Store on the iPad, as a motivating game at the end of the session, to practise taking turns, and answering simple questions. Toca Boca apps never fail!

The activities worked well, the boys were engaged throughout and the Learning Support Assistant who’ll be running the group was enthusiastic about taking it on. When I showed her the book she commented that it looked really easy to use, there were loads of activities she’d like to try and she’d ask the SENCO to buy it immediately.

As I’ve been running language groups for a while, I wasn’t sure how many new ideas I’d find in this book. I was pleasantly surprised. Three of the activities above were new to me, and they worked a treat. The book is clearly laid out, easy to flick through for inspiration and has a great index. I’ll use it again and have already started recommending it to school staff. This book would be a useful tool if your service is trying to support other professionals to run universal and targeted interventions.

At £29.99 it’s good value. It’d be useful for therapists, SLT students, teaching staff and parents. The only thing I’d change: I hate having to photocopy pages from books (it’s not spiral-bound) so an electronic version that I could print the resources from would be fantastic. Or perhaps an iPad app?! Simply select the activities you want, make a personalised session plan and then track the children’s responses!

If you’d like a copy of this book Hinton House is kindly offering a 15% discount. Do you run or plan language groups? What’s your favourite activity?

Godin describes a linchpin as “an individual who can walk into chaos and create order, someone who can invent, connect, create and make things happen… linchpins are geniuses, artists and givers of gifts.” He says that although we were trained to be cogs in a giant machine, we can choose to re-train ourselves to become indispensable.

Linchpins don’t wait for instructions, they make their own maps. They overcome the resistance (the lizard brain that tells us our ideas will never work and everyone will laugh at us) and get their ideas out into the world.

In a recent team meeting at work, it was easy to see the therapists whose lizard brains were in control; they suggested we stop trying new ways of working and go back to the old way! Fortunately my team also has a linchpin or two; they’re generous with their gifts and keen to make change. I’m trying to be a linchpin too; we’re starting to draw our own map, overcome the resistance, and ship our ideas.

I recommend checking out the Linchpin Manifesto (PDF link) and reading the book. We need more linchpins in the National Health Service! What do you think?