Handbook on Children's Speech

Handbook on Children’s Speech: Development, Disorders, and Variations by Raymond D. Kent provides a comprehensive and systematic exploration of speech development from birth through puberty, as well as the assessment and management of speech disorders and differences. The book integrates foundational biology and psychology with contemporary models of spoken language, bilingualism, dialects, motor learning, and clinical evaluation, offering a holistic perspective on how speech develops and diverges from typical patterns. Designed for clinicians, researchers, and students, it serves as an authoritative reference on both typical speech development and pediatric speech disorders.

Key Features:

• Covers typical speech development, bilingualism, dialect variation, and speech disorders in children from birth to puberty.
• Explores underlying biology, psychology, motor learning, and motor control related to speech.
• Provides clinical assessment methods for articulation, phonology, voice, prosody, and intelligibility.
• Discusses populations in which speech disorders and differences commonly occur.
• Offers prevention and treatment strategies informed by contemporary research.
• Highlights speech development as a goal-directed, constructive process with multiple interacting trajectories.
• Integrates evidence-based approaches for diverse populations, including children exposed to languages other than American English.
• Serves as a practical and scholarly resource for clinicians, researchers, and students in speech-language pathology, communication sciences, and related fields.