Recommendations for Parenting Books s1

Recommendations for Parenting Books s1

<p> Development-Behavior Pediatrics BOOK REVIEW</p><p>Reviewer’s Name: Date of Review: Wen-Chun Jimmy Lan 04/03/07</p><p>Book Title: Author: The Late Talker: What to Do If Your Child Isn’t Marilyn C. Agin, M.D. Talking Yet Lisa F. Geng Malcolm J. Nicholl Intended audience for the book: Publisher: Parents St. Martin’s Press 2003 Pediatricians</p><p>Content Summary:</p><p>Speech and language development is one area of pediatrics where I felt I did not receive adequate training. This assignment was an opportunity for me to find a book that would further round out my education in this area.</p><p>I specifically selected this book for review because it is co-written by Marilyn Agin, MD. She is a former speech and language pathologist who is now a board-certified pediatrician and physiatrist specializing in communication disorders and neurodevelopmental disabilities. She has also been the medical director of New York City’s Early Intervention Program. Her wealth and diversity of experiences give her insight into speech and language development from many angles. Wisely, the book is also co-authored by Lisa Geng, a parent who has a child with speech and language delay, which provides the crucial parent perspective as well.</p><p>Thoughtfully organized into specific and logical chapters, this book flows very well for a novice to the field like a parent or a pediatrician-in-training.</p><p>It begins by discussing speech and language development by age categories, providing concrete examples of children’s speech at different ages. Normal language milestones are provided but more importantly, a table of clinical clues for possible speech and language delay is also provided. This chapter seamlessly flows into subsequent chapters that introduce specific speech and language disorders, review predictors and risk factors for speech and language delay, and outline consequences of delayed diagnosis and treatment.</p><p>The next portion of the book is dedicated to formal evaluation of speech and language disorders. The co-authoring of this book by both a physician and a mother is particularly helpful in these chapters. Dr. Agin provides the medical perspective of the evaluation, outlining who is involved in the evaluation, what developmental screens are used, what medical evaluations should be done, and what types of therapy may be appropriate. Ms. Geng provides the parental perspective of the evaluation, empowering parents by reviewing their rights, discussing the process of enrollment in early intervention programs, preparing parents for the individualized education plan meeting, and outlining common barriers in the process such as disputes with the school district or insurance companies.</p><p>My favorite part of the book is the chapter entitled “What Parents Can Do to Help”. Often, parents feel defeated and leave the diagnosis and treatment entirely to the medical community. However, regardless of how much therapy is provided, a child will still spend the majority of his time at home. This particular chapter empowers parents by giving numerous concrete examples of how to increase oral sensory awareness, improve oral muscle building and coordination, building breath support for speaking, and suggesting creative ways to practice sounds and expand speech.</p><p>Finally, the book wraps up by discussing two under-appreciated consequences of having a child with a speech and language disorder. One chapter is devoted to coping with a child’s frustration at being unable to express himself. Another chapter is devoted to coping with one’s own frustration and social embarrassment of having a child who is unable to express himself. As pediatricians, we do not often think of these issues during our assessments. However, for parents, these issues may be as heart-rending as the diagnosis.</p><p>Strengths of the book:</p><p>There are many strengths of the book. The co-authorship by a highly-qualified physician and a mother resulted in a book that is easy to read from a parent’s point of view while remaining medically educational from a pediatrician’s perspective. The book is well-organized into logical chapters. Despite the book’s small size, it is comprehensive and touches on varied topics from normal development to medical evaluation/treatment to social consequences. Concrete examples are scattered throughout, making the book easily readable and understood. Parents are constantly empowered to participate in promoting their child’s speech and language development and the book gives them a sense of purpose and hope. Several appendices at the end of the book are unique and insightful for both parents and pediatricians.</p><p>Weaknesses of the book:</p><p>Within the book is a chapter titled “Alternative Strategies: Nutritional Intervention.” In actuality, this entire chapter is devoted to the efficacy of fish oil/omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation in speech and language development. I was quite disappointed with this chapter, because it provides several anecdotes of sudden improvements in speech and language development mere days after starting supplementation and aggressively promotes the use of omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation. To the anxious population that this book targets, I feel that this chapter does them a great disservice by painting an overly-rosy picture of an intervention that, by the authors’ own accounts, have not been proven in any large clinical trials.</p><p>Would you recommend the book?</p><p>1 2 3 4 5 NO Highly Recommended</p>

View Full Text

Details

  • File Type
    pdf
  • Upload Time
    -
  • Content Languages
    English
  • Upload User
    Anonymous/Not logged-in
  • File Pages
    2 Page
  • File Size
    -

Download

Channel Download Status
Express Download Enable

Copyright

We respect the copyrights and intellectual property rights of all users. All uploaded documents are either original works of the uploader or authorized works of the rightful owners.

  • Not to be reproduced or distributed without explicit permission.
  • Not used for commercial purposes outside of approved use cases.
  • Not used to infringe on the rights of the original creators.
  • If you believe any content infringes your copyright, please contact us immediately.

Support

For help with questions, suggestions, or problems, please contact us