If your child finds talking to people a struggle, this is the book to get the conversation started. In this hands-on guide, Heather Jones offers practical advice, born of experience with her own son, which will help you teach your child the principles of communication. Full of strategies and examples, it shows how you can allay fears, build confidence and teach your child to enjoy conversation. Once a child gets used to talking with other people, many life skills can develop more easily as they grow up - from making friends and shopping for themselves, to being interviewed and eventually getting a job. This handy book provides guidance and inspiration to parents, teachers and anyone else who cares for a child who finds language and comprehension difficult. Talking is a LIFE skill. Help your child to acquire it. This book provides guidance and inspiration to parents and teachers. Award winning book on engaging in more meaning conversations with your child on the Autism spectrum Do you know someone with autism? Are you related to a child with speech and language problems? This book may be just what you're looking for to help the two of you. My son was diagnosed with high-functioning autism and severe speech and language impairments and I recognised something was wrong by the time he was two. For years afterwards I struggled to involve him in conversation, but he seemed to prefer silence and his own company or screaming in a rage and having a 'melt-down'. But when he was 10, I worked out a way of talking to him and slowly he began to respond. From those early days, I started to keep notes and shared my ideas with my friends and family. Now, after fifteen years, Jamie is aware of the purpose of conversation - he still can't comprehend to his age level, but he knows about things like turn-taking, pauses, body language, encouragers and what it means to be resilient. Once he started to calm down and could relieve his frustration without flying off the handle, he could follow my suggestions and our plans. Through mind-maps and project books, I got him interested in all kinds of things - cooking, using public transport, washing, budgeting, banking, driving and even getting a job. It was a slow process, but now Jamie drives himself around in his own little car, has had a part-time job as a nurseryman for the past two years, and has opened his own bank account. He is a pleasant, hard-working, easy-to-please individual - someone any parent would be proud of. As a result of my many years care of Jamie, I have written this book which documents in short, easy-to-read chapters the way I brought Jamie up to understand language. At the end of each chapter I've given a few tips which crystallise my challenges with Jamie and advice. I sincerely believe this book can help distraught and frustrated parents, carers and children. I know that it did for me and Jamie. Heather Jones's son, Jamie, has Asperger syndrome and severe speech and language impairments. When Jamie was ten, Heather stumbled across a way of getting through to him. Over the years, she developed this methodology in more detail, calling it conversational therapy, and has never looked back. Jamie is now 25 and can hold a conversation, which has enabled him to go on to achieve much more, including passing his driving test and getting a full-time job. Heather is the Director of Milkwood Educational, which publishes ESL textbooks in south-east Asia. She lives in Queensland, Australia. For the past fifteen years Heather has been working with her son, Jamie, to help him overcome his severe speech and language problems. Diagnosed at four as being on the autism spectrum, Jamie's main problem was communication and this led to melt-downs, breakdowns and physical violence. When he was ten, Heather discovered a way to speak to him directly about his problems. His comprehension and understanding increased and, more than that, his abilities in resilience, self-reliance and independence grew. Now, at nineteen, Jamie holds down a full-time job, owns and drives his own car and manages his own finances. Read Heather's success with Jamie and her practical tips at the end of each chapter to help you with your own child. Heather is the Director of Milkwood Educational, which publishes ESL textbooks for south-east Asia. She lives in Queensland, Australia.