Book of the Week!

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I wanted to feature a different kind of book this week. Usually I feature a story book that you can use in therapy to help your students reach their goals. The book I am featuring today is not one that you would use in a therapy session, but has everything to do with speech therapy! 

Speaking of Apraxia: A Parent's Guide to Childhood Apraxia of Speech  by Leslie Lindsay is the first book about Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) that is written for the parent audience. When Leslie contacted me about reviewing her book, I was very excited. I am a speech-language pathologist today because of CAS. A close family friend has a son that was diagnosed with CAS at a very young age. Watching his therapy sessions is what changed my path from classroom teacher to SLP!

Leslie is the mother of an adorable daughter (pictured on the cover) with CAS and has a background in nursing. However, based on the information in this book, you would think Leslie was also a practicing speech language pathologist! This book was written for parents in parent friendly language, but students and practicing SLPs would greatly benefit from this book as well. I truly felt like I learned so much about apraxia while reading this book. Speaking of Apraxia is not a "text" book simply spitting out facts at you (although I did learn that speech language pathology was not a recognized college major until 1955!) Instead, it is written from the perspective of a parent, a teacher, and a friend. Leslie takes you through the steps of helping your child from getting your pediatrician to agree to refer your little one to an SLP all the way to what to do if you disagree with your child's IEP... and everything in between!  

Each chapter consists of a chapter break down, a chapter summary, and recommended resources. Leslie also starts each chapter with a personal experience a parent of a child with CAS could relate to. She doesn't give the impression that getting your child the necessary help he/she needs is going to be a piece of cake. Leslie is very honest and speaks openly about dealing with denial and sometimes being depressed after learning about your child's diagnosis. My favorite part of the book is Chapter 9- What You Can Do At Home: Tapping Into Your Inner Speech-Language Pathologist. In this chapter,  Leslie lists pages of activities that parents can do with their children at home. She reinforces multiple times how important it is to work with your child at home, and not just during therapy sessions. 

As a speech language pathologist, this book would be ideal to purchase a few copies of and loan them out to the parents of children with CAS. You can purchase Speaking of Apraxia on Amazon.com 

To contact Leslie Lindsay:
Email: leslie_lindsay@hotmail.com 
Facebook
Blog: Practical Parenting.. With a Twist

Make sure you come back tomorrow! Leslie will be doing a guest post here on [simply speech.]!