We Can Talk: Tips for Enhancing Your Child's Speech and Language is a sensible, intuitive and valuable guide for parents and speech-language pathologists. The author, Rachel Arntson, MS, CCC-SLP, discusses what can be done to help a young child's language develop. This 85-page guide provides knowledge that comes from the author's education, profession and own parenting experience.
Written to help the young child with emerging language, the nine suggestions explored by the author are written so succinctly that they almost seem too easy. A seasoned speech-language pathologist might well say at first glance that these ideas are just simple and intuitive. However, these are the very ideas that need to be stated explicitly to others outside of our field. Arntson gives us the language to communicate the ideas in a clear and practical fashion.
To help the reader remember these important language development tips, Arntson has devised nine ideas around the mnemonic "We Can Talk." For example, the "W" in "We" reminds us to wait, watch and wonder to see what the child is communicating to us. Parents reading this guide might read a chapter on this tip and then remind themselves of these words as they talk with their child.
There is a simple-to-complex progression of the tips, which end with "K" for "Keep books handy." In the last section the author explores the connection of oral language to literacy, the importance of early phonemic awareness, and emergent writing from a preschool perspective.
A valuable addition to this guide is a corresponding DVD, where the author presents her ideas in a one-hour seminar. Arntson is an animated speaker, interspersing her talk with videos of therapy sessions. Parents will find the DVD useful as a reminder tool.
The book also comes with a reminder magnet that can be stuck on a refrigerator to further reinforce the nine suggestions for language development.
The tips presented in We Can Talk, published by Kids' Express Train LLC, are the essence of the skills a speech-language pathologist uses when working with young children. Arntson pares down these strategies to a list that is easy to understand, remember and communicate to others.
Dora Campbell is in private practice in Longmeadow, MA.