Motor Speech Disorders: Diagnosis and Treatment (2000).  By Donald B. Freed. Singular Publishing Group, Inc., 401 West A St., Suite 325, San Diego, CA 92101-7904. 240 pages, $53.05. Reviewed by Sally G. Pore, Capital Research & Writing Services, Concord, NH.

Donald Freed remembers from his days in graduate school how confusing and complex the subject of motor speech disorders seemed. Certainly many of us share similar memories. Which parts of the brain or central nervous system are responsible for which motor movements? What do the different forms of dysarthria have in common and what are their differences? How does one structure an assessment to arrive at a differential diagnosis? As graduate students we struggled with each of these questions, and as clinicians we may lack confidence in evaluating and treating our clients with motor speech disorders.

In this book, Freed has made it all make sense! The book's organization, as well as its straight-forward language make it a valuable resource for graduate students as well as for practicing clinicians.

Following a brief historical review of motor speech disorders, Freed, in Chapter 2, provides a detailed procedure for evaluating motor speech disorders, accompanied by explanations of the rationale for each phase of the evaluation and what one learns from the results.

Freed devotes the following chapter to a detailed, yet understandable, explanation of the motor system-its components, structure, and function. Throughout the book, important terms are in bold type, and a glossary with definitions of these terms is provided at the back of the book.

With this background, Chapters 4-10 each discuss one of the dysarthrias-flaccid, spastic, unilateral upper motor neuron, ataxic, hypokinetic, hyperkinetic, and mixed-and Chapter 11 discusses apraxia. Within each of these chapters the neurological basis of the disorder, common etiologies, speech characteristics, key evaluation tasks, and treatment procedures are discussed. Articulation, phonation, resonance, prosody, and respiration are addressed in each of the chapters.

Study questions are provided at the end of each chapter, facilitating the book's use as a text or as a resource for self-study. Included with the book is a CD-ROM that provides illustrative case studies of each type of dysarthria and of apraxia.

The book is highly recommended, primarily because of the clarity and thoroughness of its explanations. It can help many students get through graduate school, but will also be a valuable resource for practicing clinicians.