Thirty Million Words: Building a Child's Brain by Dana Suskind, MD

Title: Thirty Million Words: Building a Child's Brain

Author: Dana Suskind, MD.

Pages: 320

Finished: January 26, 2017

First Sentence: Parent talk is probably the most valuable resource in our world

Summary: Dr. Dana Suskind started her career as an cochlear implant surgeon. As she preformed more and more surgeries, she noticed that people who got cochlear implants earlier learned how to talk better than those who didn't, however, that wasn't always the case. Eventually, Suskind discovered that children who recieved their cochlear implants as early as possible AND lived in language rich environments were the most likely to succeed. She studied early childhood brain development and early studies done by various people to come to the conclusion that any kid that lived in a language rich environment were given the tools to thrive while those who lived in language poor environments languished behind.

Thoughts: I'm going to start by saying that this book has been brought up at work many times. I didn't get the chance to read it when everyone else was, so this is me playing catch up. Her premise is good, and I'll admit I bought into it from the minute I read the flyleaf. So the first three chapters or so where she backs up her theory with various studies was very repetitive and dull. I found myself skimming and then going back for reference when I needed it.

The actual chapters on how to tune in, talk more, and take turns with a child were very helpful as were the bits about praise and how talking can help with math and science as well as language. I've already started changing the way I interact with childeren at work as well as my own child from reading this book.

Ultimately though, I wish she had been a better writer, or perhaps had a better editor. There were plenty of passages that really didn't serve a purpose other than to posit the idea of what would have happened had things gone differently.