Doctor and the Difficult Child
- Author:
Wm. Moodie, M.D., F.R.C.P., D.P.M. New
York. The Commonwealth Fund. 1940. Pp. 214. $1.50.
We are in this country accustomed to look to Ur- Moodie for a lucid exposition of the principles and practice of child guidance told in simple terms with a basis of sound common sense and free from the prejudices and jargon of some of the more extreme schools.
In this new book, published by the Common- wealth Fund, we are not disappointed for, in the small compass of 214 pages, the reader will find most, if not all, he needs to know about the difficult child.
At first sight, the erudite worker in the field may consider that the subject is almost too much simplified and shortened, but closer study will convince him that there is very little that Dr. Moodie has missed. He has not attempted to discuss all possible theories and explanations of abnormal behaviour in children, but while stressing the importance for the child’s proper emotional development of security and love from his environment and adequate outlets for his inner strivings, he does not omit the influence of physical or serious mental disease. While he deals with mental defect briefly as a condition for which the observer should be on the watch, he rightly emphasizes the importance of back- wardness at school both as a cause and effect of emotional disturbance.
The book is divided into two parts. In the first, Dr Moodie discusses the recognition of the problem, what are the indications of present difficulties and the danger signals for future emotional disturbances; the study of the problem, methods of investigation and the evacuation of what is significant and what is not. Directions of treatment, adaptation of the child to the environment, “parent treatment “, and the direct treatment of the child himself by play and other methods.
In the second part, brief discussions are given of problems of behaviour such as stealing, lyinjf, backwardness, enuresis, and so forth, as well as more physical manifestations such as speech defects, fits, psychoses and mental deficiency. Throughout the book, brief case notes keep the human interest and the easy style of the author and the pleasant type and get up of the book make it a real pleasure to read. No reader of Mental Health should fail to read and re- read it.
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