Main description:

"Improving Speech and Eating Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders - An Oral Motor Program for Home and School" shows how improved oral movement patterns facilitate the development of eating skills, speech production and communication. Most important, this book gives parents and teachers a simple treatment program that can be easily incorporated into the child's daily schedule at home or at school. The treatment program helps to increase the variety of foods in the child's diet, improve the child's ability to accept touch inside and around the mouth, and expand the number of sounds the child produces - and thereby improving overall functioning. Parents and teachers are given concrete examples of how to set up the treatment environment to achieve optimal performance from the child, including how to structure their own language to enhance the child's processing of auditory information. Further, lots of activities and other ideas are offered, along with case stories showing how this successful program works with children of various ages and ability levels. In this title, a detailed overview of effective alternative therapy techniques is also included.