BOOK REVIEWS
SPEECH HANDICAPPED SCHOOL CHILDREN,
Wendell
Johnson,
Ph.D.,
Spencer
F.
Brown,
M.D.,
James
F.
Curtis,
Ph.D.,
Clarence
W. Edney,
Ph.D.,
and Jacque
line Keaster, MS. New York, Harper & Brothers, 1956, 575 pp., $4.50.
The child handicapped by a disorder of speech or language is receiving a good deal of attention from physicians and educators. Even so, the 307,000 school children who are en rolled in speech correction classes comprise less than one-sixth of the total number in need of@help, and the supply of speech correction ists who work with them is barely being main tamed by the number of new graduates trained yearly in the colleges and universities of the nation.
It is primarily
to students
in training
as
speech correctionists or as classroom teachers that the authors of this textbook address them selves. Secondarily, they express the hope that the book may have value as well for “¿physi cians, dentists, public health nurses, social workers, child psychologists and clinical psy chobogists, parent education workers, and par ents.―
Speech and language disorders are often times manifestations of quite complex develop mental, physical, and psychical social forces and each disorder presents special problems in diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Wendell Johnson, as co-author and general editor of the book, has enlisted the help of specialists from various branches of speech and hearing pathology. One of the authors, Dr. Spencer Brown, is a physician as well as speech pathologist. Each of the authors is well-recognized in his own area of specialization.
The book presents
an over-view of speech
disorders and the field of speech correction, with chapters assigned to a discussion of the symptoms, causes and favored treatment meth ods pertaining to the major speech disorders. Topics include disorders of articulation, stutter ing, voice disorders, retarded speech develop
ment, and the problems consequent to cleft
palate, cerebral palsy, and impaired hearing.
The authors
have set out to answer three
general
questions
in each chapter:
(1) what
kinds of speech disorders are found among
school children; (2) what can the classroom
teacher do about them on her own or in co
operation with a speech correctionist, and (3) what are the basic examination methods and remedial approaches of the speech correction ist in dealing with these problems?
The information and viewpoints expressed in
the book generally conform to accepted and
current
notions
about
speech
disorders.
The
chapter on stuttering is unique in that it rep resents a condensation of extensive research and a lifetime of work by Johnson, who is perhaps best known for his enunciation of the theory that stuttering is essentially a manifes
tation of the stutterer's
attempt
to keep from
stuttering.
The logical corollary to this view
point is that if a child does not become aware that there is anything remarkable or handi capping about his “¿non-fluencies―the stutter ing will probably disappear. While there are many speech pathologists and physicians whose
experience will not support this conception
of
the nature of stuttering, the author's viewpoint has exerted an undeniable influence on the behavior of many parents and teachers, and has undoubtedly done much to relieve the in sistence of adults that the child could “¿talk better if he would only try.―
The orientation of the book is admittedly an educational one, intended primarily as an in troduction to the field of speech correction. In
view of this fact, the usefulness
of this book
to the average pediatrician is difficult to evalu ate. It is a book to which he can refer the serious-minded parent who is concerned about his child's speech and wants to know what can be done about it. It contains much information about speech that is not ordinarily included even in highly condensed form as a part of medical training. The physician who reads rapidly and selectively may find many things in it to help him in the evaluation of his young patients who have difficulty in talking.
HARLAN BLOOMER, Ph.D.
YOUR CHILD FROM ONE TO Six, Children's
Bureau
Publication
No. 30, Revised
1956,
U. S. Department of Health, Education,
and
Welfare.
Washington,
D.C.,
U. S.
Government Printing Office, 1956 (rev. edition), 110 pp., $.20.
Although the 1956 revision of the Children's
Bureau pamphlet Your Child from One to Six is only 110 pages long and costs $.20, it con tains an impressive amount of sound, up to date information on almost all aspects on child rearing, child development, and child health.
It differs from the previous edition in content
and emphasis. Generally, there is less focus on details of health and daily routine with in creased stress on general guiding principles in
the new edition.
However,
the practical
ap
proach has not been neglected.
The outstand
ing improvements are in the sections relating
to the psychobogic welfare of children as well
as on accidents and emergencies.
The style is lucid; the information presented
is scientifically
correct
and the emphasis
is
consistently sound from a psychologic view
point. The booklet is in itself such a marvel of
conciseness
that it becomes
difficult to con
dense the material for the purpose of review.
It would be advisable for physicians, teach
ers and others who work with children pro fessionally to be well acquainted with the con
tents of this booklet. It should also be recom
mended widely to parents since it will provide
them
with
comprehensible,
noncontroversial
information and help them to acquire a healthy,
relaxed, permissive yet sensible attitude toward
their children.
Particularly
wholesome
is the emphasis
on
individual
variability
and the de-emphasis
of
norms both in physical and psychological
de
vebopment. There is a willingness on the part
of the authors to allow the parents
a certain
amount of independent
judgment
and to help
them to understand
the meaning of their chil
dren's
behavior
at
different
developmental
stages without expecting them to subject them
selves to every
transient
demand
from the
child.
There are portions of the text that furnish
helpful explanations of the needs of the grow
ing young child emotionally,
both for positive
relationships,
affection, security, and for limits,
discipline and an orderly human environment.
The section on children's play is particularly
well done, offering an understanding
of how
playing meets various needs in the young
child's life, and also giving practical
sugges
tions for play activities,
and play equipment
they arise in the light of an awareness of the
limitations of the child's potential for self con
trol and co-operation
at different ages. Parents
are offered suggestions as to the interpretation and handling of children's questions regarding
death, sex and other charged
subjects. Sleep,
eating, habit training and speech development
in the preschool
years are outlined
from the
point of view of the wide range of normal var
iation. Common disturbances in all these spheres are briefly discussed. The handling of
sibling problems, separation
from the parents,
school entrance
and even hospitalization
are
touched upon.
On the physical side, there is a concise but
very adequate description of physical growth, nutritional needs, needs for medical super vision, and measures for the prevention of dis
ease. Co-operation
with the family physician,
pediatrician
or community' agency is encour
aged. This section of the booklet offers least
in the way of new material as compared to the
older editions. There is an expanded
descrip
tion, however, of many of the common child hood diseases and a good section on the man
agement
of various medical emergencies.
There are very few minor technical
points
that this reviewer
might have doubts
about.
One of these is the fact that parents are warned
of the potential danger of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease as sequelae to strepto
coccal
throat
infection.
It appears
that this
would arouse anxiety in the parents
without
better
enabling
them
to give care
to their
child. However,
in view of the fact that the
authors
attempted
so successfull@' to present
material that would be useful to bay and pro
fessional readers regardless of educational level,
geographic location or specific individual needs,
it is surprising that there would not be more controversial statements.
BARBARA KORSCH, M.D.
INTERNAL SECRETIONS OF THE PANCREAS,
Vol. 9, G. E. W. Wolstenholme
and Ce
cilia
M.
O'Connor
(editors).
Boston,
Little,
Brown & Company,
1956, 292 pp.,
$7.00.
material to reviews of rather narrow facets of hormonal physiology. Spirited discussions by the distinguished participants follow most papers. The discussions have been edited to a degree that retains their spontaneous character while adding generous amounts of clarification to the sometimes unnecessarily detailed data. The editors have also included precise refer ences to works cited by the discussants, thereby a(lding to the value of this volume as a biblio graphical source.
Since the symposium is primarily concerned
with details of the physiology of insulin and glucagon, it is doubtful that persons who are
tiot rather deeply' interested in carbohydrate
metabolism would profit from its complete reading. Certain sections might arouse the interest of pediatricians. These include a dis çussion of the possible role of glucagon and insulin on the somatic growth of animals. The arvlsulfonvlureas were not included for dis cussion.
ROBERT A. ULSTROM, M.D.
TALKING WITH PATIENTS, Brian Bird, M.D.
Philadelphia,
J. B. Lippincott
Company,
1955, 154 pp., $3.00.
This book seems to be quite truly a good thing in a small package. Doctor Bird has at tempted to delineate in a very few and quite readable pages both the principles and tech niques involved in talking to and with patients. In doing so, he has avoided the common con cept that such relations are merely' a matter of instinctive understanding on the part of the physician and something only to be gained from experience. Instead, he sets forth the common personality' patterns with which pa tients meet their physician, and points out how to deal with the anxious, angry, confused, and even the overly affectionate individual.
The importance of these personality patterns and that of the physician himself is explained on the basis of current scientific understanding rather than vague and flowery hunches. In try ing to condense such knowledge it is apparent that he has sometimes stated useful truths quite tersely. This may be discouraging to some read
ers who seek a fuller explanation of a principle.
However, he is more generous in the section on
children, and there is considerable for the pediatrician. For example, he goes into real
detail
on the
“¿adolescent
patient,― “¿talking
about
masturbation,― and “¿talking
with
pa
tients.―Also the common age and fear prob
hems of children are each discussed separately.
As a compendium
of material for which one
must usually search blindly' in large texts, as
a pithy analysis of our growing knowledge
of
doctor-patient
relationships,
and
even
as a
quick reference
for ever recurring
and often
embarrassing situations, Dr. Bird's book can be comfortably endorsed.
HENRY H. WORK, M.D.
KINDERARZTLICHE NOTFALLFIBEL (Pediatric
Emergency
Primer),
Dr.
B. de Rudder.
Stuttgart,
Germany,
Georg
Thieme
Ver
lag, 1956, 178 pp., 3.95.
This “¿primer
of pediatric
emergencies― is
actually a synopsis of the nature, clinical pie
ture and management
of pediatric medical con
ditions which may constitute an immediate or imminent threat to life. The lack of concentra tion on recognition and specific details of treat
ment
renders
this a much
less useful book
than the Handbook of Pediatric Medical
Emergencies by De Sanctius and Varga which
covers similar subject
material.
Many of the
emergencies
described
would
be
managed
poorly b@' the inexperienced
physician
trying
to follow the therapeutic
directions
contained
in the book. From the standpoint of American
pediatrics,
the
book
has many
deficiencies.
Typical examples are a section on h@pochbo
remic alkabosis without mention of the role of potassium in its treatment, failure to designate dosage of drugs or fluids according to a unit of body size, and lack of illustrations or descrip tions of specific pediatric procedures. In the reviewer's opinion, this book is inadequate and
out of date
for the informed
physician
and
dangerously misleading for the practitioner less well acquainted with the subject material.
