Basic Anatomy and Physiology of Speech and Hearing: A Learning Guide (review)

Reviews Basic Anatomy and Physiology of Speech and Hearing : A Learning Guide, Vicki Reed, Ph.D., 266 pp., $12.50, Interstate Printers and Publishers, 19 N. Jackson St., Danville, IL 61832, 1982. This book is a revised edition of a tutorial manual published in 1976. The book, intended primarily for a beginning undergraduate course in anatomy and physiology of the speech and hearing mechanism, is an outgrowth of a course taught by the author for several years at the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley. The aim of the manual, as set forth in the preface, is to assist the students in their "learning task." To fulfill this goal, the presentation uses a selfteaching format that enables the reader to proceed at a pace that is comfortable and commensurate with whatever background is brought to the course. The manual contains 22 concise sections, 150 diagrams, two tables, a 15-page answer section, and a list of references. The topics covered include the skeletal framework, respiratory system, phonatory mechanism, musculature of articulation and resonance, and the auditory system. Each topic is managed in small segments and concludes with review questions. Ample space for the student to write the answers to the questions is provided; the answers are in the back of the book. AU of the information in the manual is presented in cookbook form. While the more experienced reader will probably not find this text very rewarding, this was not its intended purpose. The author's aim is to allow the neophyte student to gather enough basic information from the text to gain entry into the contemporary literature on the anatomical and physiological aspects of speech production and reception. Stephen R. Rizzo, Jr., Ph.D. Audiology Service Veterans Administration Medical Center Birmingham, AL 35233 Today's Hearing Impaired Child: Into the Mainstream of Education, edited by Vira J. Froehlinger, 212 pp., $14.95, Alexander Graham Bell Association, 3417 Volta Place, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20007,1981. The book can be a helpful guide for those who are willing to overlook the glaring bias, the hackneyed statements, the contradictions, and the circumscribed perspective of the authors. At the outset, it is stated that to effect successfully the mainstreaming process and to ensure success and acceptance of the hearingimpaired child, the authors will concentrate on the oral education program. This contravenes, ipso facto, those mainstreamed students who are using sign language interpreters in a great number of programs throughout the nation. Sprinkled throughout the book are such hackneyed , narrow, and disproved statements as: "Since the hearing impaired must learn to live in a hearing world, the more 'normalized' the social and educational environment, the greater success he will have in achieving the goal" (p. 41), "speech and language must be heard and understood if we are to expect him to achieve linguistic competence" (p. 18), and "integration with non-handicapped . . . will give normalcy" (P- 45). The contradictions and the circumscribed perspective of the authors can be seen in the way they state that listening attentively is a strain and can cause the child to be literally exhausted; that all children react differently to the various tensions, pressures, attitudes, and supports of their environment; that with a wide range of students, ages, abilities, special learning needs, and disabilities, there is a need to provide a corresponding wide range of settings to meet the goal of the least restrictive environment; that the child need never be "deaf" or attend a special institution for the deaf. In spite of the mentioned variables, number of adverse conditions, differing and unpredictable factors, the book's main thrust is on one method of communication and an arbitrary continuum of program placements with the regular school being the least restrictive and residential schools the most restrictive. Despite the aforementioned shortcomings, the book is, unquestionably, a comprehensive and informative guide for parents, teachers, and administrators involved in the mainstreaming process. It covers practically all the basic and ancillary aspects of mainstreaming with helpful details, figures, graphs, and samples. Lawrence Newman, M.A. Assistant Superintendent California School for the Deaf Riverside, California 92506 A Silent World, Kathryn Croan Cooper, 84 pp., $3.00, Norman Printing Company, Iola, KS 66749, 1976...