Disclosure: I received a copy of these books for the purpose of reviewing them. I did not receive any compensation from the Hanen Centre and the opinions are my own.
I first learned about the Hanen program when I was in grad school. The Hanen Centre is located in Canada. They focus on helping parents and other caregivers learn how to support children’s language, literacy and social skills throughout every day activities.
If you work with in early intervention or have close contact with the families you serve, I highly recommend their products and training. I was lucky enough to attend an It Takes Two seminar and have maintained my certification with Hanen since then.
I was excited when I was asked to review a new booklet series: Making Play Rock. This series is designed to help parents and professionals build early communication and play skills for children on the Autism Spectrum.
This Series Contains 3 booklets:
- Plan for People Play
- Take Out the Toys
- Put Pretending into Your Child’s Play
If you are not familiar, many of the Hanen programs contain acronyms to help parents remember the techniques we are teaching them. Rock stands for:
- R: Repeat
- O: Offer Opportunities
- C: Cue
- K: Keep the interaction/play going.
Want to learn more Check it HERE.
Each booklet is set up in a similar fashion. It starts by explaining the concept and development of the play topic. This follows with an assessment of where the child is functioning and also a self assessment for how the parent prefers to play.
Following this, specific guidelines and activities are provided to help move the child or student from their current level of functioning to the next level.
In addition, they provide strategies for using the ROCK strategy to improve the child’s skills. This is followed by real-life examples of how to implement the strategies. The end of the book contains a template for creating a specific play plan for your child or client.
Bottom Line: These booklets are filled with practical activities and ideas. I definitely recommend them. You could send them home with families or use them to set up 4-5 weeks of lessons for families. If you are looking for something more comprehensive: I recommend checking out the following books:
I’m giving away one set of these booklets-total value Do you want to win a copy of these three books? Earn extra entries by visiting Hanen’s Facebook page. I’d love it if you’d say “hi” from Speech2u while you are on their page.
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I’d like to read the people play book first. Social interaction is the missing link with lots of my kids…
A lot of mine too-probably more that we will see with how devices are used these days.
I’m interest in reading Plan for People Play as interacting seems to be the greatest challenge for so many of my students.
I haven’t been trained, but I have More Than Words and It Takes Two. It looks like these would be very useful for several of my students. Thanks for the opportunity to win, and even if I don’t, I’ll be checking these out!
Thanks!
I have wanted to take some Hanen trainings. I work primarily with the EI population and do parent coaching as a major component of my session. These look great.
Hansen would be great for you! You can take some of the online courses to see what you thing-but I feel like they are so great with parent coaching and have great resources on working with adult learners.
I’m interested in the “Take Out The Toys” book because it would be an excellent tool to facilitate parent involvement in the home setting
It is perfect for parents-Thanks for entering!
Put pretending into play
So good!
I’m interested in reading all three books! There seems to be a lot of great ideas. Thank you!
I really liked all of them too-Thanks for stopping by!
Take out the toys
These books look fantastic! I would love to use them with the families I work with! Crossing my fingers!
Thanks Jackie!
I love Hanen! Plan for People Play sounds like a good one!
I’m always looking for new people games-do you have any good ones?
I am curious about the information provided in the booklet “Take out the Toys”. I enjoy discovering new perspectives on how to best elicit language.
I think you’ll find it helpful! Thanks for stopping by.
I would like to read take out the toys
Thanks Amy!
Put Pretending into Your Child’s Play is the booklet I’d like to look at.
I’m interested in reading them all – but I think “Plan for People Play” is the one I’d like to look at first. Thanks for the review post and giveaway!