Gibbard, D.; Coglan, L.; Macdonald, J. Cost-effectiveness analysis of current practice and parent intervention for children under 3 years presenting with expressive language delay. Int. J. Lang. Commun. Disord. 2004, 39, 229–244. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef] Recognize your child’s stage and style of communication so that, together with the speech-language pathologist, you can identify next steps and goals

To ensure that a child with delayed speech or language delay receives help early, it is extremely important to recognize the warning signs of a delay. There are specific communication milestones that children are expected to reach by certain ages, and a child who has missed one or more of these milestones may need extra help to catch up. Kaiser, A.; Hemmeter, M.L.; Ostrosky, M.M.; Fischer, R.; Yoder, P.; Keefer, M. The Effects of Teaching Parents to Use Responsive Interaction Strategies. Top. Early Child. Spéc. Educ. 1996, 16, 375–406. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef] Speech-language pathologists who have integrated It Takes Two to Talk resources into their clinical practice have found it a very useful tool for involving parents in their children’s intervention process. Learn how to add language to interactions in ways that will help your child understand and, when they're ready, express themself. Recognize your own communication style and learn which styles work best to promote your child’s learningRowe, M.L.; Snow, C.E. Analyzing input quality along three dimensions: Interactive, linguistic, and conceptual. J. Child Lang. 2019, 47, 5–21. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef][ Green Version] Add language to interactions with their child to help them understand language and then use it when they are ready.

Joint attention also allows the Communicator to learn to follow your focus. If you point to something, he can now look in that direction to see what you’re showing him. Now you can point out lots of interesting things – creating all kinds of opportunities for language learning. The Hanen Centre is unique in that it doesn't just involve parents in their child's early speech therapy intervention - it provides a comprehensive approach that helps parents become their child's most important speech and language teacher. Girolametto, L.; Pearce, P.S.; Weitzman, E. Effects of lexical intervention on the phonology of late talkers. J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res. 1997, 40, 338–348. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef] [ PubMed]The book divides communication into four stages (Discoverers, Communicators, First Words Users, and Combiners), and further splits this down into receptive and expressive language. So my child is currently a First Word User in terms of understanding, and a Communicator in terms of speaking. I found this analysis really helpful, and the authors refer to it throughout the book to help you decide which techniques and ideas are most applicable to your child. Bruner, J. Child’s Talk. Learning to Use Language; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 1983. [ Google Scholar] Benefits of Taking the It Takes Two to Talk® Program Practical strategies you can use in everyday situations

Working through the chapters in a step-by-step fashion, you would read about a strategy in the guidebook, and then watch examples on the DVD of real parents using that strategy with their child. Evidence-based strategies

Funding

a training workshop for speech-language pathologists to become certified tolead the It Takes Two to Talk parent program.