Customer Reviews

Childhood Speech, Language & Listening Problems: What Every Parent Should Know

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What do you do when your child's teacher suggests that your child needs to be evaluated by a Speech Pathologist? Perhaps it doesn't surprise you. After all, you have noticed that Johnny avoids writing assignments, or Suzy just doesn't seem to hear you when give her directions. But - what if you're shocked? I mean really taken aback that this could be your child. The one that is so bright, that talked early and was always such a good communicator. What then?

Well, after spending 3 months struggling with abstract concepts and blaming myself, the schools, the daycare provider and anyone else I could think of, I finally plopped down in a local bookstore and went to work. After pouring over many books for over an hour, I settled on "Childhood Speech, Language, and Listening Problems : What Every Parent Should Know". I spent the next 5 nights staying up past midnight reading the book and comming to terms with my child's disability. Thanks to Ms. Hamaguchi I now have a clear understanding of what my childs needs are, both at home and at school. Ms. Hamaguchi explains, in simple terms, the way we speak and the way we listen. She then discusses what to look for, when to have your child evaluated and who is appropriate to perform the evaluation. Finally, she explains what kinds of testing are done and what the results mean. She clearly defines each type of learning disability and discusses the possible causes and characteristics of children with the problem. She also talks about how the child is affected, the recommended therapy and what parents can do to help. In addition,case studies are included to further illustrate each condition. Upon completion of this book, I had a very clear picture of what was going on and what path I needed to take.

I have presented the book to the teachers, therapists and school administrators. They have found it insightful and very useful. It has helped us start re-structuring my son's learning environment so that he is beginning to perform closer to his true intellectual abilities. It has also made me more effective with the therapy and school work that we do at home each night. Now I feel confident that I can give my son the tools he needs to be all that he can be. I highly recommend it to anyone struggling with this abstract world that is so important to the success of their child.

What a great help this book has been for me, I only wish I had had it sooner. My daughter was evaluated by a Speech and Language pathologist who told me she needed therapy and was a high risk for a learning disability. I got the written evaluation, but had nothing to help me review it critically until I got this book. This book has been a tremendous help in that area. It discusses how an evaluation should proceed and what the test scores really mean. It gives the parent a tremendous amount of very useful information in the speech, language and listening areas. It also gives you benchmarks, by age, of where your child should be in those areas. All this is done briefly, succintly. This book made sense of an area that I found so confusing. The information found in this book will be useful to the parent of any child suspected of having a speech, language or listening delay or disorder. It also helps parents seek assistance in these areas. Each potential problem is discussed individually, as well as different types of treatment for those problems. If you have even the slightest reason to suspect your child has an issue in these areas, or an educator or speech and language pathologist is telling you your child does, you must, must read this book. It will provide you with valuable information and enable you to speak intelligently so that you may better help your child.

I think this book would be very helpful to parents of older children who notice a speech impediment or delay. It was less helpful to me, a parent of a preschooler, since my daughter doesn't have much speech to work with and her problems appear to be more fundamental. It's full of information about negotiating with school districts and special education programs, again of more use to parents of older children.

My son was 2 years old when his daycare teacher told us that he had a listening problem. I read this book cover to cover, and it is extremely informative. It covers a spectrum of language and listening problems. After reading it I was able to identify Nicky's specific problem, and it helped me form an action plan for Nick's elementary school years. Most important of all, it gave me confidence and hope that I could deal with Nick's disability and help him get the most out of school.

I just got the new edition of this book. I had read the earlier one at the library a few months ago. I have a 3 1/2 year old who has been receiving speech therapy for about a year. This new edition included more information I needed about his oral-motor problem. I read the previous review, but I would disagree. There is quite a bit of helpful information for the parent of a younger child. Also, the information about the school process was very important because I didn't realize until I read the book (before) that the school would be able to help my son, even though he wasn't in school yet. There is a whole chapter on infant/toddler problems. Anyhow,I love this book. It's an "easy read" and it has helped me understand my son much better.I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in speech problems.

This is a great book. I would recommend it to any parent who has a child with speech and or language problems. Until I read this book I was unsure of what was going on with my son. This book gave me a clear picture of what I need to do to help him at school and home. I can't say enough about this book.

I found this book to be an excellent and comprehensive guide. My daughter has a speech and language problem, but until reading this book I didn't realize how her listening problems were related. I showed the book to her teacher and we able to get an audiologist who could diagnose her auditory processing problem. Now she is getting the right help, and I will be eternally grateful to this author for writing this fabulous book. I wish I had read this when she was younger because perhaps I would have known what to look for. The symptoms are subtle in the younger child and become a little more obvious once they are trying to function in a classroom. I highly recommend this book!!

I couldn't disagree more with the previous review. I found this book to be totally reassuring. In fact, over and over it tells the parent it is not your fault. It lists ways you can help your child, but doesn't ever say you caused the problem. I have a 6 year old son with a speech and language problem, including apraxia at one time. There IS information about it in the 2001 edition. I wonder if she has the most recent edition? I found the book to be easy to read and understand. It was much more helpful than the other books I have read or purchased on this topic. It was recommended to me by my sister, who is the head of a major pediatric speech pathology clinic. She said it was technically the most accurate book on the topic out there.

My daughter was diagnosed with severe verbal Apraxia and mild oral motor apraxia. After the initial shock wore off I searched high and low to find out as much as I could. I was disapointed to find that this book hardly mentioned this serious speech disorder. I also was angered by the authors attitude towards the reasons or happenings behind speech disorders. I felt that the author either blamed a birth injury or lack of parenting. My daughter has been read to every night, taken to the best pre-school for enrichment, played with at the park etc. I have been a stay at home mom and involved with her in every level. Her speech disorder is not my fault or anyone elses. It just happens. Parents with speech disabled children feel bad enough, they need a uplifting book that reassures.

This book is worth $100. Actually, it is priceless. If your child is language delayed, fussy and quirky, more mercurial than his/her peers...this book will help you identify these behaviors and discover the reasons behind your child's actions. Finally, you will understand the communication difficulties your child is experiencing and you will understand why he/she acts as they do.

This book is easy to read. You will recognize your child in the identified behaviors and you will discover that there may be multiple issues. Our child had been diagnosed with intermittent middle-ear fluid by a highly skilled team: ENT, Speech Pathologist and Audiologist. But it was this book that help us pinpoint the other behaviors and discover/address the Auditory Processing issue. Our team was satisfied with the diagnosis of Middle Ear Fluid for our child's language articulation issues...and this book is helping us get our child the help she needs.