Speaking of Apraxia, A Parent’s Guide to Childhood Apraxia of Speech by Leslile Lindsay, R.N., B.S.N.

When I heard there was a new book out about apraxia, I was excited.  When I saw it was being published by Woodbine House, I was delighted.  When author Leslie Lindsay, R.N., B.S.N., sent me a copy of this book and asked me to review it, I jumped at the opportunity.  Woodbine House just happens to be the premier publisher of books for children with special needs.  Their books Gross Motor  Skills for Children with Down Syndrome, Fine Motor Skills for Children with Down Syndrome, and Early Communication Skills for Children with Down Syndrome walked me through the first few years of our journey with Down syndrome.  They have a permanent home on my most cherished bookshelf, and Leslie Lindsay’s new book, Speaking of Apraxia has joined them.  She does for apraxia what Libby Kumin, Ph.D., CCC-SLP;  Maryanne Bruni, BS cOT; and Patricia C. Winders, P.T. have done for Down syndrome.

The book is organized meticulously into five sections with each section containing multiple chapters.  Within each chapter is a “Nuts and Bolts” overview at the beginning and a list of recommended resources at the end.  I thought I had discovered all the apraxia resources available, but in each and every chapter, Leslie cites my favorite resources plus a whole lot more.  Leslie doesn’t stop with explaining apraxia and where to go for help; with sections and text boxes in each chapter like “What’s a Parent to Do,” “Parents Cope,” “What Can You Do at Home,” and “Parents Share,” there is a thread of empowerment and advocacy that is woven throughout the book.  If you want a quick overview of apraxia, this book is not for you.  If you want the gore and the glory, the in-the-trenches play-by-play, the everything you need to know about apraxia in one volume, a book that you can refer to over and over again as you walk through apraxia diagnosis and treatment, this is the book for you.  Have a child who doesn’t have apraxia but has some other speech or language delay or disorder?  Don’t let the title fool you.  Although this is written specifically about apraxia, much of the information applies across the board.  The language rich activities and environments that Leslie promotes and explains are great environments for any child, but the more affected your child is by a learning or language difficulty, the more important these activities and environments become.   As autism numbers increase at an alarming rate, it is imperative that we start turning our attention towards creating socially and cognitively stimulating environments and activities such as are in this book.

Leslie’s experience as both a child/adolescent psychiatric nurse and a parent of a child with childhood apraxia of speech makes her uniquely qualified to write this book that not only explains every facet of apraxia, bringing familiarity to all the technical terms associated with apraxia but also provides well-documented, research- and experience-based ways to address each component.  She is able to address the issues that the textbooks, doctors and SLPs can’t.

Some of the things you’ll find covered in Speaking of Apraxia are getting an apraxia diagnosis, ins and outs of speech therapy, helping your child at home, apraxia at school, the importance of teaching phonological awareness to children with speech delays, coping with and understanding the effects of apraxia on your family and then paying it forward by helping others on the apraxia journey.  This is all in addition to a detailed explanation of apraxia, what it is, how it presents and the physiology behind it.  Chapter 9, “What You Can Do At Home:  Tapping Into Your Inner Speech-Language Pathologist” alone is worth the price of the book.”  If you read my blog at all,  you know I’m all about tapping into my inner speech-language pathologist.

I’m looking forward to a guest blog from Leslie in the near future.  In the meantime, visit her at her blog over at http://leslie4kids.wordpress.com/.

Click here – Speaking of Apraxia, A Parent’s Guide to Childhood Apraxia of Speech –  to go to Amazon.com’s ordering page.  I happened to notice there’s a special price right now of $16.47.  Don’t know how long that will last, but with a cover price of $24.95, get it while you can!