Books Books and MORE books!

Today I went to the library determined not to leave before requesting yet another stack of  books about SPD, autism and the gfcf diet.I was lucky in my search of the online county library and requested several books and cookbooks. I am so excited to get them on Tuesday! I love to learn, and what a great resource the library  has been to me. Plus, the librarian loves me because I'm a good example. I think she even has a librarian degree, that's how you know it is a good library.

As  I was contemplating what to write, I thought you know, what I really need is a cute little illustration to accompany my blog today to bring home the point I am trying to make. Imagine my delight when I found an illustration of a monsterlette atop a stack of books.

 I was further impressed with the site I borrowed this art from. The picture is entitled "Feed me a story", and is used to illustrate a page about reading to children from birth to age 5.

Here is a quote from the site that I found, intending only to import the illustration, but  I wound up wanting to quote the article as well! To view the article, click here  or  if you prefer to paste the whole address into your browser,  http://www2.ed.gov/inits/americareads/families_feedme.html . Please note that colored and highlighted fonts are used here but are not original to the article.

What difference can reading aloud to a child for 30 minutes per day make?

If daily reading begins in infancy, by the time the child is 5 years old, he or she has been fed roughly 900 hours of brain food!

Reduce that experience to just 30 minutes a week and the child’s hungry mind loses 770 hours of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and stories.

A kindergarten student who has not been read to could enter school with less than 60 hours of literacy nutrition. No teacher, no matter how talented, can make up for those lost hours of mental nourishment.

Hours of reading books by age 5

If you read 30 minutes daily……………..the child has 900 Hours by age 5

If you read 30 minutes weekly……………the child has 130 Hours by age 5

If you read less than 30 minutes weekly….the child has 60 Hours by age 5

Logan's SLP told me early on how very important it is to share books with Logan, to read him stories, point out the pictures and give names to things. He and his twin are just over 2 years old, and they love books. When they go down for a nap, two words are always hollered. "SHOW!" because Logan needs a DVD to sleep, and "BOOK!" because they both love to turn pages and point to the pictures and say, " Puppy! Meow!" ..........even if it's a picture of a goat. In the minds of my twinnie monsterlettes, if it's an animal, then it's a puppy, and it says meow!

Books have always been a passion of mine. I remember getting in trouble as a child for staying up with a flashlight reading, long into the night. Truly, by sharing a love of books with any child you are doing more than just repeating nursery rhymes a hundred million times. It's my personal belief that a special needs child would only benefit MORE from the bonding, personal attention and repetition which reading to a child provokes. 

When my notorious #5 monster was just about 3 or four months old, I  stood several large picture books all around the edges of the blanket or play pen, opened to colorful illustrations to look at during tummy time. I have read to all of my children since before they were born. Some women play music to their unborn children. I read books to mine.

The picture of Logan I have posted on the home page, which shows him in a car seat looking at a newspaper, tickles me. He had spied a weeks old, folded up copy of the Sunday comics, shoved between the seats in the back of the Daddy's work truck. He threw an impressive monsterlette fit until we gave it to him. This picture of him reminds me of stock photography of people on a subway, reading the morning paper during their commute! But even more than that it proves my point. The whole trip to town that day last July, he scrutinized those comics, pointing out pictures of "ball" "baby" "puppy" "book". Okay, granted, even the cows and bulls we passed on our way to town were "puppy, meow!", but you get my point.

Currently, Logan is loving texture books. Anything that has a little space on each page with fur or sandpaper, or a piece of sponge is his favorite new thing. What kinds of books/reading material do your little monster angels like?

As I start reading and learning over the next couple of weeks from the books I requested, I will post on the book review page. Please, PLEASE use the comment section on that page to request a title of any book on autism, SPD, or the gfcf diet you may want reviewed. I am a voracious reader, and usually read 300-400 pages a day. I know that many people do not have the time to read, and I'd rather read than sleep. So here is my offer: if you will request titles, I will read them. All of them. And I will give book reports here on the blog.