The Social Communication Intervention Programme (SCIP) is an evidence-based intervention developed to support school aged children (6-11 years) with persistent social communication, pragmatic and language needs. The Social Communication Intervention Programme Manual and Resource provide a theoretical rationale, method and over 150 activities for providing specialist level language intervention for these children.

The Social Communication Intervention Programme Manual introduces the SCIP model in which three main intervention components are defined: social understanding/social interpretation, pragmatics, and language processing. The Manual provides a theoretical rationale and a comprehensive set of instructions for a phased approach to intervention. It contains instructions on the full scope of intervention, from development of core pragmatics and social communication skills through to generalisation, including principles and therapy methods. Guidance on assessment and mapping assessment findings to individualised therapy aims is provided. A method of planning an individualised route through the intervention to match each child’s needs is described. Evidence to support the use of SCIP in practice is included.

The Social Communication Intervention Programme Resource contains the full set of over 150 therapy activities arranged in a nested structure under each of the three main intervention components: social understanding/social interpretation, pragmatics, and language processing. The SCIP Planning and Record Form and Information sheets for each Section are provided. The materials needed for work on generalisation are also included. Content can also be downloaded and printed for easy use.

"It is rare to find such a comprehensive programme: the intervention plan is directly linked to child assessment with clear benchmarks for progression. It provides an integrated method for developing language structure, social understanding and pragmatic skills." - Courtney Frazier Norbury, Professor of Developmental Language & Communication Disorders at UCL

"SCIP is the first evidence-based program to address the complex nature of social communication disabilities in children with autism, developmental language disorder, and social (pragmatic) communication disorder. The program provides detailed assessment and intervention activities for facilitating language processing, social, and pragmatic knowledge and skills. Guidelines and practical suggestions for the involvement of school staff and parents are included, so that children’s new skills generalise to interactions with peers and family members. In short, SCIP is a must have for professionals who want to comprehensively support children’s social communication abilities." - Geralyn R. Timler, Professor & Program Director, On-Campus Clinical SLP Program. Director, Social Communication and Language Evaluation (SCALE) Lab, James Madison University

Catherine Adams is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in Speech and Language Therapy at the University of Manchester, UK. She has led a number of research projects on pragmatic and language needs in children as well as pioneering work on the effectiveness of social communication intervention.

Jacqueline Gaile is a consultant speech and language therapist in independent practice with over thirty years’ experience of working with children with language and social communication needs. She was also senior research SLT on the SCIP research projects at the University of Manchester, UK.