Title: Nobody Ever Told Me (or My Mother) That! – Everything from Bottles and Breathing to Healthy Speech Development
Author: Diane Bahr, MS, CCC-SLP
Length: 425 pages
Genre: Nonfiction
Publisher/Date: Sensory World, 2010
Source: Review copy
“Do children learn more easily when parents understand their needs and the significance of the various stages of development?”
The answer is most definitely “yes,” and this fascinating new book fills a missing void in the child-rearing world. It explains everything from the basics of nursing, to SIDS, to facial massage, and finishes with the secrets to good speech development and keys to enhancing your child’s best natural appearance. Written by a speech-language pathologist with more than 30 years of experience, this book is a wealth of necessary information for any new parent. It contains practical advice for all new parents on everything they need to know about oral development from birth to 8 years old.
As Diane points out in her introduction, “Good feeding techniques and appropriate mouth activities are essential for your child’s overall health, well-being, and, ultimately, proper speech development.” And as I have learned from years of parenting a child with autism and sensory processing disorder, knowing what your child should be doing and how to help him move to the next step in his development is crucial.
With all of the books I read to prepare me for motherhood, I found myself lost when faced with a baby born three weeks early who wouldn’t wake up to eat and took half an hour to take in an ounce or two of formula even when held away from my body so he wouldn’t fall back to sleep. And after two years of never knowing whether I would have a good eater or a picky one on any given day, I was confounded by a child who began pushing away all but a handful of foods and still couldn’t get a spoon to his mouth without turning it upside down.
I was fortunate to encounter therapists who were able to help me understand some of the physical and sensory issues underlying my son’s behaviors. Although he still avoids a number of textures and tastes within his diet, he now eats a much larger number of foods and has learned to use utensils and drink from a cup appropriately.
Still, I can only imagine how much faster and farther his progress would have been if I had access to the information in this book back then. Diane starts with a thorough explanation of the newborn baby’s mouth and explains how to help your baby have the best experience with early feeding, whether by breast or by bottle. After addressing concerns such as belly time, SIDS, and allergies, she moves into explanations of the “hand-mouth connection” and exercising the mouth through massage and mouth toys.
From there, she gives us the secrets to success in higher-level feeding activities, such as spoon-feeding and drinking from a cup or a straw, and then goes on to discuss the issues of good speech development and your child’s best natural appearance.
The book closes with some advice on working with professionals when there is a problem and with a final chapter devoted to the specific issues faced by children with special needs, such as prematurity, Down syndrome, autism, and others.
All along the way, Diane includes lots of checklists and activities with room for dates and notes about what you are doing or observing with your child. She also lists resources within each chapter as well as in the extensive appendices, recommending what books to look at for further information on a specific topic and who to contact if you are concerned with your child’s development.
I was amazed by the amount of information in this book and especially by how much of it was completely new to me. This truly is stuff that “nobody ever told me,” and I really wish they had! And evidently a lot of people agree with me, as this book won a 2010 Top Choice of the Year Award by Creative Child Magazine.
Note: This is Book #63 of my 2011 Reads (master list here). I received a review copy of this book for free, and all opinions and comments are my own. Nobody Every Told Me (or My Mother) That! is available at Amazon
I'm a mom with Asperger's raising an amazing son with autism, which means I'm basically the case manager/advocate/cheerleader/chauffeur. The rest of the time, you can usually find me with my nose in a book!
