Abstract

Young people with communication difficulties often struggle in social situations, as without adequate inference, narrative and sequencing skills, correctly interpreting and responding to other people can be a real challenge. This fully photocopiable resource has been designed to improve these skills in the way this population can often learn best – visually.

This book is brimming with thought-provoking illustrations of different people in different places, all of which are accompanied by a series of questions designed to encourage prediction and inference skills. Participants are asked to consider everything from who the person in the picture is, what they might be doing, and where they might be going, to how they may be feeling and why. Questions can either be completed individually or brainstormed as a group, and there are three types of illustration to work with – single person, picture sequence, or large scenes containing several interactions. The final section teaches important sequencing skills by providing muddled picture narratives that need to be ordered.

This book will be a valuable tool for speech and language therapists/pathologists, occupational therapists, special educators, parents and anybody else looking to help young people with communication difficulties to understand and connect with the world around them.

David Nash is a speech and language therapist based at Freeman College in Sheffield, UK, a specialist college for young people with complex communication difficulties aged 16 to 24. Oliver Allchin is an illustrator based in Sheffield, UK.

This is a really cost-effective resource for anyone working with teenagers in either mainstream or specialist settings. It provides coherent explanations of inference and narrative skills and explains their importance in the context of educational policy.

The clear aims for each chapter and differentiation of worksheet levels make this resource useful for inclusion in language programmes set by therapists for young people or for parents / caregivers and other professionals to follow. The illustrations are representative of a variety of daily life situations and age appropriate.

Speech & Language Therapy in Practice
Being able to make appropriate inference regarding the thoughts, feelings and intentions of others is a fundamental skill for successful and effective communication... Getting the Picture is a really useful, photocopiable and inexpensive resource book which specifically targets this skill... Getting the Picture certainly serves a very useful purpose as a resource for developing inference and narrative skills... this makes it very good value for money.
Afasic News
It is a resource I'd recommend for all teachers, assistants and therapists to use. I would also imagine it would be easy for parents to use at home.
NAPLIC Matters