The MIT Encyclopedia of Communication Disorders

This volume offers almost 200 detailed entries covering the entire range of communication and speech disorders in children and adults, from basic science to clinical diagnosis.

It is divided into four sections that reflect the standard categories with the field (also known as the speech-language pathology and audiology): voice, speech, language and hearing.

Within each category, entries are organized into three subsections: basic sciences, disorders and clinical management.

Basic sciences includes relevant information on normal anatomy and physiology, physics, psychology and psychophysics and linguistics; this provides a scientific foundation for entries in the other subsections.

The entries that appear under disorders offer information on the definition and characterization of specific disorders and tools for their identification and assessment.

The clinical management subsection describes appropriate interventions, including behavioural, pharmacological, surgical and prosthetic. Because the approach to communication disorders can be quite different for children and adults, many topics include separate entries reflecting this.