It Takes Two to Talk: A Practical Guide For Parents of Children With Language Delays

by Elaine Weitzman, Pat Cupples (Illustrator)

It Takes Two to Talk gives parents the tools to make early language intervention a natural, ongoing part of everyday life with their child. New checklists and goal charts in the first chapter make it easier for parents and professionals to identify the child's stage of communication and choose the most appropriate interaction and communication goals right from the start. With a heightened focus on helping children initiate, take turns in enjoyable, extended interactions and increase their expressive language skills, the It Takes Two to Talk guidebook shows parents how to use responsive interaction strategies that increase children's language skills. Written in simple language and beautifully illustrated, this guidebook shows parents how to integrate It Takes Two to Talk strategies into everyday routines like mealtime, bath, time, play, time and book reading.

Genres: Parenting

171 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2017

Reviews

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Language delays are frustrating. My guy understands a lot, but when events move out the patterns he is used to, there's often a meltdown, and it's hard for him to express his desires and feelings, let along engage in imaginative play. He has some words, but doesn't much like combining them.

The Kanen method is built around a trio of key concepts. First is a 4-stage development trajectory, from Discoverer (very small children), Communicator (uses expressions, signs, and noises), First Words, and Combiners, each with their own developmental goals. Second are two acronyms, OWL and SPARK.

Owl is Observe, Wait, Listen. Get down to at your child's level and face-to-face, and really attentively follow what they are doing and saying. SPARK is a method to routine interactions. Start the same way, Plan your child's turn, Adjust the routine so you child can take his turn, Repeat exactly each time, and Keep the end the same. Turn taking and repetition is the basis of learning communication.

It's a firm basis, and wonderfully illustrated, but the book has little to say about children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and/or ADHD, who are likely a significant fraction of children with speech delays. And at $50, it's pricy for what it is (nothing is too much to help with my son, but man... I was hoping for something more extensive.)

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource that is easy to recommend. It is almost immediately useful, as the material has been carefully organised to scaffold the parent toward supporting and sustaining their child's language development, so that it might fullfil it's function after only being 1 quarter read. It is widely applicable, as the considerations have been arranged be easy to recognise stages of language acquisition. It would be possible to skip subsections once you understand which stage your child is at, and then revisit. It very concrete, as the examples and cartoon illustrations are so very well selected for relevance and how well they exemplify a concept.

There is a single strike against this book: it is difficult to obtain, and expensive. I cannot understand this. It would be great to be able to read a couple of pages at a time, if there was an inexpensive electronic version

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is filled with great ideas to use at every stage of language development. Best of all, it's a Canadian book and recommends resources, books, etc that are Canadian or easily found here.

[Nicole Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

When my son was identified as a late talker according to the standard milestones checks I was provided by the local school district, I got really worried. Is he suffering from the isolation we've been under during the pandemic? Does he need help? Of course, the ISD recommended a speech evaluation. Being a rebel and a self-directed education devotee, I picked up this book instead.

Research on parent-implemented early language intervention has proven this approach to be as effective or more effective than direct speech-language therapy.

The concepts in this book are simple and powerful. Take the concept of turns. Goal: my child will take the first turn in interactions with me. Conversations are reciprocal. Communication isn't just words and sentences. Parents need to be tuned in and balanced and allow children to take the lead in learning speech.

You can't be a Tuned-In Parent all the time. But to play the Tuned-In Parent role more often, think about whether you are talking too much, asking too many questions, helping your child too often or rushing more than you need to. (I was!)

Having a balanced conversation means that you and s/he take an equal number of turns and your turns aren't much longer than hers. In other words, try to match your turns with your child's turns.

One of the best cues is the simple act of waiting. Wait for five to ten seconds.

For every question you ask your child, try to make at least two comments.

Using signs or pictures won't interfere with your child's ability to learn to speak. In fact, it will actually help her understand and learn new words.

Talk about events that have just happened. Narration.

Rather than asking her "What's that?" when you look at a picture, show her the picture and say something about it. Then wait for her to take a turn. Respond by following her lead when she communicates and wait for her to take another turn.

Repeat a word 3-5 times during an interaction. Don't insist that your child repeat the word back to you.

Turn book reading into a conversation. Let your child read the book her way. Give your child a chance to take turns. Get face to face. Story time is a time for conversation, not just for sitting and listening. There's more than one way to read a book.

I found I was talking too much, being too pedantic about reading books, and asking too many questions. Since I started this book, my son has gone from 15-50+ words and has begun using a couple of multi-word phrases. We're still working on it, but I feel really empowered. This book is wonderful.

[Teri Pardue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautifully illustrated, simply written book to help parents encourage their children in speech and communication.

I picked it up looking for practical tips for better supporting my preschoolers with language delays. However, I quickly realized it was a bit too simple and “common knowledge” for me. [I am clearly not the intended audience, having been a teacher for several decades with a masters degree in child development] That said, if you’re an educator looking for a more complex text on speech and language support, this is not the right book for you.

But, if you are a parent feeling lost for how to best help your child develop language skills in a low-pressure and fun environment, this is the perfect book for you! It’s sets up with clear definitions and practical action points. The sweet illustrations make it easy to read and keep it from feeling like a discouraging textbook.

My one complaint is that it ends quite abruptly. There is no concluding chapter, summary, or wrap-up.

[Monolus · Rating 4 out of 5]

It s a good book, but I just felt it had so many repetitive information. Maybe I didn't get it right. Maybe you should have read JUST the parts related to the communication group your child is? But then, what if your kid is not exactly in one group? like in the border? Anyway, it is a good book, specially if you don't have a nanny like me, that had dealt with her own kid before and knows how to deal with these kinds of issues, because to be honest I learnt more from seeing her in action than reading this book. So yeah if you don't have another resource this is a good start.

[Samantha Pomroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the parent of a child with a language delay, this book and course were extremely helpful. It is laid out with simple language, examples, and illustrations. Easy to read and practical advice. I would definitely recommend it to parents of toddlers who are not speaking at the level that would be expected for their age! My little boy went from <20 words to around 200 since we started the course 2 months ago, using the strategies outlined in this book (I do think this is partially coincidence but definitely it helped for me to be focusing on his speech and using these techniques!)

[Katherine Woo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. It’s short, provides very practical use case scenarios, and breaks it down so that it’s digestible. I’ll be rereading this with every subsequent child I have. It’s a very useful guide even if your children don’t have any delays.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

pricey, easy read, basic principles the same for every chapter and full of ideas for communication.

[Gretchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a person who works with toddlers, this was a very helpful resource and helped me think and shape how I interact with emergent talkers!