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Some observations on the supportive needs of the child. Bulletin of the committee on cooperatives
BOOK REVIEWS
293
THE BIRTH OF LANGUAGE Clara LOOMANITZ Brooklyn College
Some observations on the supportive needs of the child. l3ulletin of the Committee on Cooperatives, Early Childhood Education Council, Vol. I, no. 1, 1947, pp. s-7. Mental health concerns of the nursery school. Parent’s Publication, Early Childhood Center, Brooklyn College, Winter 1960-61, Vol. III, no. 1, pp. 6-7. Today there is a growing recognition of the significance of the contribution the study of language makes to our understanding of the processof human development. ‘he complexities of the components of language and their integration in the developing organism have been, and continue to be a major source of investigation. Out of this interest in the intricacies of normal &velsJpmental pro_ cesses in the language area, there has emerged a body of theoretical and emptiicd literature concerned with abnormalities in language development and specific areas of dysfunction. The small portion of this literature which is concerned with empirical advances in the diagnosis and treatment of language impaired children suffers, as yet, from a paucity of documentation. Illustrative case material, when offered at all, is frequently excerpted, presenting selected and isolated aspects of functioning patterns in support of a particular theoretical framework, diagnostic or therapeutic procedure. One is rarely presented with a fully documented, longitudinal developmental account of an impaired humar being. The Bikth ofLaqpage makes an important contribution to this body of the literature in a number of ways. In presenting the first eleven yeazs in the life history of Joan, a neurologically impaired child who failed to develop language, the emergence of an integrated human being from a chaotic, disorganized, totally abnormal beginning, is &amatically, yet graphically depicted, offering support to the factors of time both in the therapeutic program and in the integrative processes of the damaged organism.The significance of early diagnosis lies in the possibility of its becoming a life-giving factor where therapeutic management must be instituted early. Delay in diagnosis may mean irreparable loss of valuable time, resl&ing ultimately, in the loss of a maximally functioning human life, The early life style of this impaired child illustrated the tievastating effects ofher impairment on her total functioning and her subsequent development. The diagnostic, evaluation, concerned with ail aspects of the child’s function-
293
THE BIRTH OF LANGUAGE Clara LOOMANITZ Brooklyn College
Some observations on the supportive needs of the child. l3ulletin of the Committee on Cooperatives, Early Childhood Education Council, Vol. I, no. 1, 1947, pp. s-7. Mental health concerns of the nursery school. Parent’s Publication, Early Childhood Center, Brooklyn College, Winter 1960-61, Vol. III, no. 1, pp. 6-7. Today there is a growing recognition of the significance of the contribution the study of language makes to our understanding of the processof human development. ‘he complexities of the components of language and their integration in the developing organism have been, and continue to be a major source of investigation. Out of this interest in the intricacies of normal &velsJpmental pro_ cesses in the language area, there has emerged a body of theoretical and emptiicd literature concerned with abnormalities in language development and specific areas of dysfunction. The small portion of this literature which is concerned with empirical advances in the diagnosis and treatment of language impaired children suffers, as yet, from a paucity of documentation. Illustrative case material, when offered at all, is frequently excerpted, presenting selected and isolated aspects of functioning patterns in support of a particular theoretical framework, diagnostic or therapeutic procedure. One is rarely presented with a fully documented, longitudinal developmental account of an impaired humar being. The Bikth ofLaqpage makes an important contribution to this body of the literature in a number of ways. In presenting the first eleven yeazs in the life history of Joan, a neurologically impaired child who failed to develop language, the emergence of an integrated human being from a chaotic, disorganized, totally abnormal beginning, is &amatically, yet graphically depicted, offering support to the factors of time both in the therapeutic program and in the integrative processes of the damaged organism.The significance of early diagnosis lies in the possibility of its becoming a life-giving factor where therapeutic management must be instituted early. Delay in diagnosis may mean irreparable loss of valuable time, resl&ing ultimately, in the loss of a maximally functioning human life, The early life style of this impaired child illustrated the tievastating effects ofher impairment on her total functioning and her subsequent development. The diagnostic, evaluation, concerned with ail aspects of the child’s function-