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Summary
Summary
towards speech. The author emphasizes that a child's trouble can stem from different causes: there are neurological problems similar to those of aphasia; there are cognitive impairments; and, of course, there are psychological disorders. Professor Danon-Boileau argues that language disorders today are too often considered from one particular point of view-sometimes psychological, sometimes neurological. In order to understand the possible causes of, and solutions to, these disorders, it is necessary to take into account the interaction of these two elements. Those who have effectively worked with speechless children know all too well that their pathology and behaviour do not necessarily fit into general nosographic descriptive categories. The originality of this book is that it gives a concrete and precise narrative of six individual case studies and tries to draw general conclusions from both a linguistic and a psychoanalytic point of view, thus reflecting the wide-ranging expertise of the author. It will be essential reading for professionals within the field of psychoanalysis and speech therapy; academics and students in language acquisition, speech therapy, and developmental psychology; as well as parents who are concerned with their children's language development.
Author Notes
Laurent Danon-Boileau is Professor of General Linguistics and Language Acquisition at the Sorbonne. He is also a practicing psychoanalyst who works with children at the Centre Alfred-Binet, in Paris. He has published widely in the area of linguistics and psychoanalysis and is also a novelist
Reviews (1)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this absorbing account of the treatment of children who have great difficulty communicating in spoken language, Danon-Boileau, a practicing child psychoanalyst and professor of linguistics and languages at the Sorbonne, draws on the case studies of six of his own patients. With the exception of Pierre, aged 17, his patients were seven years old or younger. Working on the assumption that language development rests on "the wish to build contact with others," Danon-Boileau believes that the younger a child is when he or she enters treatment, the greater the chances of success. In each case, he allows the child to lead him through a course of play therapy; treatment is based on an intuitive sense of what will work for a particular patient rather than on a single method or pedagogy. The analyst found, for example, that by encouraging the adolescent Pierre to draw pictures to represent words facilitated the acquisition of speech. Kim, a four-year-old who expressed herself through a private language, incomprehensible to others, improved somewhat when Danon-Boileau described to her the games she was playing with her toys in exact speech. These observations, coming from a caring and humane therapist, will be of great use to those working in the fields of psychology and linguistics, as well as to the parents of children with speech problems. (Sept.) Forecast: The cases themselves are mesmerizing, but Danon-Boileau's writing may be a bit academic for many readers. However, an enthusiastic blurb from the well-known Jerome Bruner may help convince fans of Oliver Sacks's books to take the plunge. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgements | p. vii |
| Translator's note | p. ix |
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| 1. What Game Are We Playing? | p. 7 |
| 2. Fabien: Thinking without Words | p. 24 |
| 3. Kim: Seeking One's Own Language | p. 44 |
| 4. Rachid: Word and Gesture | p. 72 |
| 5. Benjamin: Reality and Fiction | p. 106 |
| 6. Pierre: Thinking with Broken Speech | p. 123 |
| 7. What is 'Quality' in Language? | p. 142 |
| Conclusion | p. 154 |
| Appendix Some Ideas from the Back of my Mind | p. 159 |
| Bibliography | p. 174 |
| Index | p. 181 |
