Preface
Neural Foundations of Communication was developed for undergraduate neurology classes in the study of communication sciences and disorders. Anatomy and Physiology is a prerequisite to gain an understanding of neurology as it relates to communication. As such, this book contains some of the foundational information from the anatomy textbook, “Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology for Communication Sciences” for review.
The authors intended to cover the coursework with this textbook to customize the sequence of learning objectives and support rising Speech-Language Pathologists. We developed our first open educational resource (OER) textbook in 2020, shortly after the COVID-19 Pandemic began. Reducing the costs of study materials helps rising SLPs progress toward their certification without interruptions due to financial constraints. Developing the Open Education Resource (OER) resources is our ongoing effort to support future SLPs.
A large part of this book is from various OpenStax textbooks. OpenStax is a nonprofit organization based out of Rice University in Houston, Texas. Its open resource textbooks cover a vast amount of information for two-semester core curriculum courses in various disciplines. OpenStax generously permits educators to use their books' content in part or in whole to develop textbooks customized for each instructor's course structure. The present textbook's content from other open resources, such as OpenStax, is color-coded in black ink. Additional information concerning communication sciences and disorders appears in blue ink. The original OpenStax texts are accessible free of charge at https://openstax.org/subjects. This textbook includes applicable content from the OpenStax books Anatomy and Physiology, Psychology, and Biology for AP® Course.
This textbook contains various images produced by the renowned Dr. Willard R. Zemlin (1929-1998) with permission. Dr. Zemlin was one of the most influential scholars in anatomy and physiology concerning communication sciences and disorders. Dr. Zemlin's son, Mr. Karl Zemlin, kindly sharpened numerous images to provide high-resolution pictures. Mr. Zemlin expressed his appreciation for the generosity of those who donated their bodies to science throughout his father's studies. A full collection of Dr. Zemlin's work is accessible at his memorial website http://zemlin.shs.uiuc.edu/zemlinBio.htm of which Mr. Zemlin is the webmaster.
This textbook also incorporates additional OER materials from various information from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), branches of National Institute of Health, Wikimedia Commons, and other Wikimedia websites. The “Wiki-“ series offers a wide range of information under Creative Common (CC) licenses, allowing the use and remix of the materials. This textbook would not have been possible without the contributions of OpenStax, Mr. Karl Zemlin, and generous providers of CDC, NIH, and Wikimedia Commons resources. We sincerely appreciate their kindness. We have made this textbook available for our future colleagues to gain entry-level scientific knowledge applicable for serving individuals with communication disorders.
June S. Levitt, Ph.D., LDT, CCC-SLP
Sarah L. Guigneaux, M.S., CCC-SLP
August 2021
Contact: OpenResource2020@gmail.com