Children with complex learning problems (CLP) need to learn important language and academic skills. These children are often in situations that may not be meaningful to them and hence are too complex for learning to occur. Due to the importance of understanding and telling stories for all children, Nurturing Narratives was developed as a story-based language intervention for children. The model emphasizes comprehension, “tailors” language to the child’s developmental level and stresses social engagement. The acquisition of language and literacy skills is embedded in a variety of story-related activities. The book includes: • A detailed description of the model • Guidelines for implementing the intervention • Instructions for creating materials • Supportive materials such as goals and sample stories If you are an educator or an SLP working with children in preschool or primary grades, this is definitely a book you will want to read. Speaking from decades of clinical experience, the authors present a model of the knowledge and processes that underlie early narratives, and suggest ways to facilitate children's development of these capacities. The book is written clearly and provides an accessible account of the cognitive-language connections inherent in narrative. The thoughtful reader will end up with the tools needed to individualize narrative intervention. --Judith Johnston, MA, PhD, professor emerita, University of British Columbia School of Audiology and Speech Sciences Sharing our personal stories and understanding the life story of others is one of the connections at the heart of human relationships. NURTURING NARRATIVES provides clearly articulated strategies to help nurture the ability of children with language delay to express themselves and to share in the joy of listening to understand others' stories. The tools in this book are important and provocative, encouraging us to engage in a human relationship as part of teaching this thinking and language-based process. --Michelle Garcia Winner, speech-language pathologist, MA-CCC, founder of Social Thinking, San Jose, CA Narrative skills are often overlooked in intervention programs but are critical for success with school, friendships, and independent living. NURTURING NARRATIVES addresses this gap, providing a straightforward action plan for teaching narrative language skills and the prerequisite skills needed to acquire these skills. The model presented in this book can work with various pedagogical approaches and is an essential tool for teachers, SLPs, behavior and developmental therapists, and parents. Everyone with whom I have shared this book has been impressed with the step-by-step lessons and wants to have this book on their shelves as soon as possible. --Christina Whalen, PhD, BCBA-D, licensed psychologist, co-founder, chief science officer, TeachTown Inc. Christine Durbin, M.A., CCC-SLP is currently a Senior Speech-Language Pathologist at Kalmanowitz Child Development Center at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. Previously she was Chief of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at El Paso Rehabilitation Center. Christine has practiced as a pediatric speech-language pathologist for the past 30 years. She has long been interested in the concept of treating the total child and has worked in interdisciplinary settings all of her career. She has worked extensively in early intervention and with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. During the past several years, she has been collaborating with Dr. Lauren Franke to write a book about narrative-based language intervention for children with language disorders which are complicated by other developmental challenges such as autism and cognitive impairments. Christine has presented on this topic at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Annual Convention and the California Speech-Language-Hearing Association Annual Convention. She has also taught seminars on this topic locally in the Bay Area. Christine received her Master's degree in Communication Disorders from the University of Missouri – Columbia in 1979. She currently lives in Sausalito, CA where she enjoys hiking and painting, and dancing whenever she can! Lauren Franke, Psy.D., CCC-SP, is a speech language pathologist and a clinical psychologist. She received her doctorate from Pepperdine University in 1991. She has had more than 30 years experience as a practitioner, educator, consultant and researcher. She was Clinical Director of the Long Beach Scottish Rite Center for Childhood Language Disorders for 29 years. Her research and practice have focused on story-based language intervention to help students with complicated language needs develop language, social communication, play and literacy skills. Lauren has developed a story-based intervention framework, Coaching Comprehension-Creating Conversation (CCCC), over the past 10 years working with parents, therapists, classroom teachers and administrators. This fr