Talkabout: A Social Communication Skills Package (Us Edition)

Alex Kelly's internationally renowned Talkabout books are a series of practical workbooks designed to develop the self-awareness, self-esteem and social skills of people with special needs. This core manual in the Talkabout series provides fully adaptable session plans, activities and games to focus on four key areas of social skills: Body Language, The Way We Talk, Conversations and Assertiveness. Now in its second edition, this revised version of the Talkabout manual has been edited for US professionals, with a foreword by Nancy Tarshis and Debbie Meringolo (Altogether Social LLC, New York).

Contents includes:

• A social skills assessment and intervention planning tool to help identify the individual needs of each client or group
• Over 60 structured activities, with a focus on body language, paralinguistic features, conversation and assertiveness
• 25 group cohesion activities to help facilitate productive group sessions

Suitable for Speech and Language Pathologists, Teachers, Social Workers, Child Psychologists and School Counsellors, the photocopiable resources within this volume are suitable for use with children, adolescents and adults in small groups or individually.

Alex Kelly is a Speech Language Pathologist who specializes in working with people with social skills and relationship skills difficulties. She currently runs her own business providing social skills training and consultancy to schools and organizations across the UK and overseas.

Debbie Meringolo, MA, MS

Debbie Meringolo, a special educator, clinician and developmental specialist, is the Director of Early Childhood Programming at Quad Preparatory School, a school for twice exceptional children, Grades K-12. She assumed this role in July 2018, after a 27-year history as the Associate Director of the Infant/Toddler Team and RELATE program at the Rose F. Kennedy Center Children’s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center of Montefiore. Prior to her current role at Quad Prep, Debbie served as a consultant, bringing social cognitive programming to the school, developing the social emotional learning program and training staff members. Debbie has a long history working in schools as a reading specialist, supervisor and program developer in the New York City Department of Education for many years. She also runs a part-time private practice, Altogether Social, along with Nancy Tarshis, for children ages 14 months through adulthood. They provide individual and group sessions, consult to public and private schools and training for parents and professionals. Debbie is an enthusiastic speaker who enjoys sharing her own clinical experiences with audience. She has been speaking about social cognitive development, preschool and school age play skill development, assessment and intervention, diagnosis and treatment of individuals with social learning challenges, and developing social programming across the age range across the country.

Nancy Tarshis

MA, MS, CCC-SLP

Nancy Tarshis, a speech-language pathologist and special educator with extensive experience working with children and their parents, is the Director of Early Childhood Programming at The Quad Preparatory School, which is dedicated to twice exceptional children, Grades K-12. For 27 years, she was a member of the professional team at the Children’s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (CERC) at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, serving as Supervisor of Speech and Language Services for 21 of them. In that capacity, she trained more than 400 SLPs currently practicing throughout the nation. As Emeritus at CERC, she participates in ongoing research and lectures to pediatric fellows, medical residents, and psychology interns. In addition, she serves as adjunct clinical instructor at New York University, Teachers College - Columbia University, and Hunter and Lehman Colleges of City University of New York, and consults on social emotional learning to a variety of public and private schools. Nancy is deeply experienced in a wide variety of treatment methodologies, including Social Thinking. Nancy’s private clinical work includes Altogether Social, a social cognitive practice she co-founded with Debbie Meringolo, that serves clients age 14 months through 22 years. Altogether Social provides individual and group sessions, trainings for parents and professionals, and school consultations. Nancy is a member of the professional advisory boards of New York Zero to Three and Apraxia Kids (formerly the Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America).