Singular's Illustrated Dictionary of Speech-Language Pathology (2000).  By Sadanand Singh & Raymond D. Kent. Singular Publishing Group, Inc., 401 West A St., Suite 325, San Diego, CA 921010-7904. 300 pages, $65. Reviewed by Ronna Siegel Woloshin, Evanston, IL.

This comprehensive reference is the first and only dictionary of terms and definitions exclusively designed for speech-language pathologists. The release of this publication coincides with the 75th anniversary of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and attempts to address the needs of its current and future members. The two editors of this dictionary have more than 65 years of combined experience being students, teachers, and researchers. The authors make an effort to present standardized contemporary definitions to serve as reference points for current understanding and future discussions in the field of speech-language pathology. The authors invite the reader to scrutinize the definitions and give input and/or suggestions for future editions.

This reference attempts to delineate the vast scope and depth of many aspects of communication sciences and disorders. According to the authors, the field has grown and expanded to include more medically related disorders. As a result, an increasing number of specialized functions have now fallen within the scope of clinical responsibility of speech--language pathology. This reference includes more than 4,000 terms, including those that have become part of the communication science and disorders curriculum, clinical practice, and research from a wide variety of related disciplines with which speech-language pathologists deal. The dictionary includes terms from diverse disciplines including physics, neurology, chemistry, psychology, sociology, anthropology, anatomy/physiology, and special education. In addition, the dictionary includes terms associated with medical specialties that are tied into the field of speech-language pathology such as pulmonology, anesthesiology, radiology, and otolaryngology.

Detailed illustrations are included throughout the dictionary to clarify and enhance the definitions. -Visual representations of the tongue and laryngeal musculature, and diagrams of the ear and brain, are among the numerous illustrations of medical anatomy included. In addition, a variety of charts and diagrams are found throughout the book, including formant frequencies of vowels, the International Phonetic Alphabet, and Blissymbols. A list of abbreviations, acronyms, and cross-referenced illustrations are included in the appendices.

A pocket dictionary is also available as a companion to the hard-cover volume. This soft-cover pocket reference contains all of the terms and definitions contained in the hard-cover volume, minus the illustrations. A CD-ROM, which presents the dictionary electronically and makes it possible to print out information for clients, is also available.

This unique publication was an ambitious undertaking in an attempt to capture the diversity of scope of study in the field of communication sciences and disorders. The authors draw from each study area and specialty, and have managed to include the vast expanse of multifaceted disciplines that comprise the field. The result is a handy reference that contains all of the specific definitions in one location. The abundant illustrations clarify and enhance the definitions. The pocket dictionary provides all of the information at a glance in an easy to carry format. Other than the charts of the International Phonetic Alphabet and diacritics, the speech-language pathologist (SLP) working in a public school setting may find this resource to be of limited usefulness. This resource may be of particular benefit to students who need to understand a variety of terms that aren't adequately defined in textbooks. Using this dictionary would save the time it would take to look up the terms in other locations. This dictionary might also benefit those individuals outside the field of speech-language pathology.

This resource would seem to be of the most value for those SLPs who work in a medical setting. The SLP in this type of setting needs to know and be familiar with numerous medical terms and definitions in order to treat patients with medically based communication disorders. The editors of this text have gathered and defined these terms not only for professionals working in the field of communication disorders, but also for use by professionals in the originating medical and allied fields. The resource contains a compilation of terms that will be of some benefit for practitioners and students in the field of communication sciences and disorders. It will most likely be valuable for use during consultations for and with the various professions from which these terms have entered our field. Those professionals working in a medical setting may want to consider adding this resource to their collection.