Nonfiction: Thirty Million Words, Dana Suskind, MD

Thirty Million Words
Dana Suskind, MD
ISBN: 9780525954873
Tune In, Talk More, Take Turns.

Suskind is a specialist who fits patients with cochlear implants.  She is also, after a lifetime of watching some of her patients thrive and others flounder, a staunch promoter of language readiness.

Suskind uses this book to promote the overwhelming (and currently irreplacable) responsibility of parents and caregivers to use the first three years of a child's life to introduce them to the language they'll need to thrive and succeed in life.  The thirty million words in the title refer to the landmark longitudinal study of parents from different socio-economic status: by the end of their third year, the well-off child has heard thirty million more words than their less fortunate schoolmates, and this difference profoundly handicaps the kids on the low end of the scale.

The first half of the book explains why Suskind got into this passion project, and details the science behind her drive.  The second half breaks down the three Ts involved: Tune In (pay attention to and work in concert with the child's interests) Talk More (the more language you use the better, and specifically the more descriptive language and names of things and concepts), and Take Turns (language learning works best when the kid and the adult are in it together, and the adult isn't "teaching" or lecturing, or simply narrating to the kid).