Ducharme’s guidebook delivers on the promise of its parent series, Whole Family Approaches to Childhood Illnesses and Disorders. The compassionate, knowledgeable author, who has spent more than two decades as a pediatric speech and language pathologist, reassuringly spells out the issues for parents whose kids will experience lifelong challenges related to a communications disorder, Ducharme’s own child among them. Some advice may seem obvious, if important, such as 'sleep, water and good nutrition are critical to the health and success of both you and your child.' But overall, Ducharme provides specific, high-quality tips. For example, she includes a table that shows the sounds most kids learn at different ages. Mastery of r can take up to eight years, and children with a strong Boston accent may never get it right at the end of words. She ends with an excellent list of resources, including the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. This empowering, can-do look at a category of disorders that can affect as many as 1 in 10 children is an excellent addition to practical health collections.
