Book Review: Early Intervention Every Day

 Early Intervention Every Day by Barbara Weber and Merle J. Crawford is a comprehensive and affordable handbook for EI providers. 

It gives real-life, easy to implement strategies for parents and the EI providers. The book is divided into 6 sections: Behavior Regulation & Social Skills, Cognitive and Receptive Language, Expressive Language, Gross Motor, Fine Motor, and Self-Care & Adaptive. In each area, the authors highlight skills in a progressive order - making it easy to find the level your patient is at. Then it gives 3-5 strategies to incorporate into daily life to target these skills. The strategies may be incorporated into mealtimes, diapering/dressing, play time, books, bedtime, community outings, hygiene, bath time, household activities (chores), etc. 

Positives

Because the strategies are embedded into daily routines/activities, it minimizes the extra work for parents. The book also provides suggestions for scaffolding prompts until the child is independent. Furthermore, it gives information regarding incorporating siblings - which is helpful for parents trying to balance meeting needs and giving attention to all their children. 

Another big positive for me was the way the authors explained precursor and splinter skills. They gave me some great language and a concise way to explain this to parents. They also discuss the various types of prompting: touch cues, partial prompting, shaping, prompting extinction, etc. These are all things we do as an SLP without really thinking about. But the authors provided great examples and definitions to make explaining the process to parents simpler. 

While I typically do not target fine and gross motor skills directly, I appreciated the information and started thinking of ways I could incorporate some of these skills into my therapy room. It also gave me a lot of information that is helpful in determining if a child need referred for PT or OT. For example, I learned that children under 1 year of age should NOT be showing a hand preference. If they are, it might indicate that something is wrong with the ignored hand. 

The authors also address self-regulatory skills as a foundation for learning, which I try to explain to parents when recommending OT evaluations. But it's hard to understand when you're body is able to regulate sensations without difficulty. The authors use an amusement park analogy to explain the sensory stimulation differences between people. I found this extremely clear, helpful, and relatable. I will add it to my repertoire when trying to explain self-regulatory skills to parents. 

Negatives

I absolutely LOVED the way the authors provided the strategies, but I do wish they had been formatted into the book differently so that they could be easily copied as a resource for parents. 

However, the big problem I noticed was on page 115 where the authors are discussing eating as a self-care/adaptive skill. They write: 

"EI providers who address eating and drinking should be very familiar with the signs of aspiration and should coach parents and caregivers to implement techniques to ensure that chin is pointed slightly downward when the child is presented with food and drink."

This sounds an awful lot like chin tuck to me, which would probably be a great suggestion for most of the kiddos they are referring to. However, it makes me nervous to present this as a blanket approach for all children. Chin tuck could actually be detrimental for some. It is always important to have a skilled assessment and instrumentation to determine then safest strategies. 

Other than that, I had absolutely NO complaints about the book. I would still HIGHLY recommend it as a resource for EI providers. 

Other Helpful Information

Pages 16-17 give parent recommendations regarding those tough conversations - especially ones around Autism. 

Appendix A gives information regarding household items that can be used instead of the toy bag. 

Appendix B is an awesome resource for monitoring progress and timelines. 

Towards the end of the book, there were case studies. I found these especially helpful in painting a picture of real-life ways these strategies have been used to make a difference in the lives of children and their families. 

Pages 31-32 provide guidelines for technology usage and strategies for coaching parents in tech usage. As technology continues to invade more and more of our lives, I think this section is especially helpful.