When a child isn’t talking, or only using a handful of words, it can be hard to know how to help. In my new book, you’ll learn how to spot early moments of communication and build on these to help skills grow.
You’ll find useful strategies in a bite-size format, with a wealth of real-life examples from speech therapy sessions and early years settings. Plus, fresh ideas to:
- Build honest and supportive conversations with parents about communication needs
- Value empathy and imagination as we tune in to each child’s world
- Take a pro-neurodiversity lens to inform your practice
- Measure progress and support professional development
Communication is core to our sense of wellbeing, personal agency and belonging. With a focus on fostering joyful moments of connection, this book offers a fresh perspective and a dose of encouragement for all early years practitioners, speech and language therapists, SENCOs and key people looking to support positive communication development in the children in their care.
A witty, compassionate and honest guide to nurturing communication. This book is for all non-speaking children and any person who supports them. Bryony’s strength based view of ability shines through whilst offering quality exercises and reflections to try out in practice. – Lyra Wright, Early Childhood Teacher
A breath of fresh air. Focussing on the relationship first, Bryony sets out thoughts, frameworks and strategies that are child-led, celebratory and meaningful – focussing on connection, collaboration and most importantly, fun! Using examples and analogies throughout, she explores a range of considerations and urges us to think about things differently – including the importance of co-regulation, shifting our language to be more strengths based, and embracing awkward silences! As she rightly states, communication is “about so much more than words. – Frances Johnstone, Founder and Director of Therapy Links UK CIC, Principal Speech and Language Therapist
Bryony so beautifully weaves her professional insights and personal anecdotes to share the importance of a child led and strengths based focus when supporting communication, play and connection. This book was full of hope, joy and celebration of non-speaking children. Honouring and appreciating their ideas, attempts to communicate, and meeting them where they are at in order to support their speech and language, play, and ongoing development. I finished the book feeling like it is a permission slip to slow down, get attentive and really listen to what children are telling us. – Carly Budd, Occupational Therapist and Founder of Developmental Play Academy
Bryony’s book is an absolute must-read for any parent, teacher, professional, educator or caregiver looking to better connect and communicate with children, especially non-verbal or neurodivergent kids. This wonderfully practical and accessible guide is filled with creative strategies to try, garnered from Bryony’s own practice and research. Her friendly, understanding and non-judgemental tone throughout the book helps to put you at your ease as you embark on the journey of tuning into your child’s world, whether you have a verbal child, a late talker, or a child with additional needs.
Bryony invites us to reflect on what makes our best interactions and relationships so special and reminds us that these sacred spaces of connection should be the core aim for speech therapy, not chasing arbitrary targets. You’ll be liberated to slow down, let the child take the lead, and embrace any and all forms of communication that arise naturally through play. This book will help you to reflect on your interactions and expand your understanding of what it means to communicate meaningfully with children. I highly recommend this brilliant book – it’s an investment in deepening your bond with your child in beautifully life-changing ways. – Kathy Brodie, Early Years TV
This wonderful little book is a fabulous storied account of the ethos of supporting and scaffolding shared moments of connection with people. It is beautifully written, and absorbed quickly and easily. I will recommend it to every speech and language therapy student that I meet. The principles and strategies apply, not just to children in the early years, but to anyone who finds communication difficult at any time in their lives. – Jo Sandiford, Senior Lecturer and Speech and Language Therapist, Leeds