Raising kids is tough.

Raising a child with special needs is even tougher.

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Welcome to Pieces Bookshelf! Each month I want to share with you a book that will make an impact in the way you raise, teach, and interact with your child. Maybe your child has just received a diagnosis and you are looking for help to understand what you have just heard. Maybe you want to feel less alone in the challenges of raising a child. Maybe you want to feel uplifted an encouraged by others who have been through raising a child with Autism.  The Pieces Bookshelf is here for you to build meaningful connections with stories, authors and fellow members, online and in real life.  #PiecesBookshelf

JULY PICK - THIRTY MILLION WORDS: BUILDING A CHILD'S BRAIN

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The Pieces Bookshelf July pick is Thirty Million Words: Building a Child's Brain. The book is written by Dr. Dana Suskind, a cochlear implant surgeon at the University of Chicago. Dr Suskin started to notice that even once preforming this life changing surgery, that only some of her patients still weren't developing language as the same rate as their peers.  

Dr. Suskind 's book explains and builds upon a 30 year old study conducted Betty Hart and Todd Risley, where they followed a group of children between 0 and 3 years old from all socioeconomic backgrounds. The researchers found that by the end of age 3, children from low-socioeconomic backgrounds will have heard 30 million fewer words than their more affluent peers.  ​

Dr Suskind's book, Thirty Million Words: Building a Child's Brain explains that not only how often you talk to you kids, but the tone, variety of vocabulary, and the amount of positive phrases and negative phrases you use daily with your child, can all have a profound impact on language development, school readiness, and lifelong learning.  In her book she writes, “Parent talk is probably the most valuable resource in our world. No matter the language, the culture, the nuances of vocabulary, or the socioeconomic status, language is the element that helps develop the brain to its optimum potential. In the same way, the lack of language is the enemy of brain development.”

For every family member, educator, and policy maker, I can not recommend this book enough. Dr Suskind eloquently combines the knowledge of a surgeon, and the humility of a parent, to create a page-turning book that will change the way you speak to your children. This book continues to make me aware of the vocabulary I use with each of my clients and the importance of early intervention for any child in need.  

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