What Professionals Say...

"I just received the copy of TalkAbility I ordered and I have to tell you that I absolutely LOVE IT! This book is full of wonderful information and is especially timely for me as I am struggling to set up a social skills program for one student transitioning from kindergarten to 1st grade—he’s got ASD but is very high functioning. I look forward to sharing your book with my team next week. The checklists are fantastic, the illustrations are gorgeous and the suggestions are straightforward, logical, and perfect for a stressed regular-education teacher. I especially like the descriptions of the differences between boys and girls—that makes such good sense, but no one addresses this!"

Lori Frost, Co-Founder,
Pyramid Educational Consultants

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Program Information

TalkAbility™ - The Hanen Program for Parents of Verbal Children on the Autism Spectrum

The TalkAbility Program will be comprised of two parts; Part One will focus on “Parent and Child Interactions”, and Part Two will focus on “Child-Child Interaction,” with the parent acting as a play coach. Preliminary TalkAbility Program Schedule:

Part One: Parent and Child Interactions

Session 1: How your child learns
Session 2: Keep the conversation going (Clinic/Home Visit (parent-child))
Session 3: Learn about the world together
Session 4: Books and Pretend Play (Clinic/Home Visit (parent-child))

Part Two: Child-Child Interaction (Parent as Coach)

Session 5: Making friends (Clinic/Home Visit (child-child))
Session 6: Show your child how to be a friend with visual helpers (Clinic/Home Visit (child-child))
Session 7: Using videos to teach friendship skills (Program review and wrap up)

Program Features:

Delivered by a Hanen Certified speech language pathologist/therapist who has received specialized training at a Hanen certification workshop
Offered to groups of parents
Three major components:
- A pre-program assessment and baseline videotaping of parent-child interaction
- Seven group sessions for parents: and
- Four individual video feedback sessions (two videotapes of parent and child interactions and two videotapes of the child-child interactions, with parent as coach.)

What Parents will learn:

How to look at their child’s learning and sensory profile so they can better understand their child’s strengths and challenges
How conversation depends on both verbal and non-verbal communication
Strategies to help their child have a back-and-forth conversation and learn the idea of giving their child Cues
How to use mental state language (called “tuning-in” talk) to develop their child’s theory-of-mind
To identify their child’s level of social play skills and setting appropriate goals
How to set up a play date and ‘coach’ their child using visual helpers to teach friendship skills

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