Autism & Childhood Apraxia of Speech: From Pre-verbal to Sentences

A very useful book for those interested in children with autism and speech difficulties. There are a range of case studies as examples and practical advice on putting programmes into place that can be of great benefit to the development of speech. There is helpful advice on implementing effective strategies that have an impact on communication. The experience of the author shines through, yet she is able to convey her advice in a very accessible way. The use of real life examples helped me to engage with the content and imagine what the strategies explored would be for the students I work with. Highly recommended.

I guess this is my fault for not checking the page count, but I was very surprised by how slim this 'book' is. I thought it hadn't even been included in my package at first because it was so thin placed between two much more substantial books. It's supposed to be 90 pages? Ok but you have the title page, the contents, acknowledgements, blank page, a foreword, blank page, about the author, and why I'm writing this book, it doesn't actually start until page 11. And it ends on page 80. After that there's the bibliography, the blurb (why is the blurb from the back page included INSIDE the book? Very obvious padding), and 8 more blank pages. Did I mention all the text is double spaced? It's really quite shameful to even sell this as a book. The actual meat of the thing could be printed on a pamphlet. It's not a book. It's a research article (and I proofread thousands of them for my job, so I can recognise one when I see one), masquerading (and priced) as a book.

I hope this book is read by all speech therapists, parents, carers and healthcare professionals to raise awareness of communication challenges for children with autism and childhood apraxia of speech. Karen discusses case studies, practical approaches for intervention as well as useful therapy plans. My own autistic son in the book 'A Journey With Brendan' describes how Brendan was non-verbal for 8 years and became verbal because of these early interventions. A highly recommended and enlightening book to read.

A must have