Children who Fail to Thrive
a practical guide
Dorota Iwaniec
The author is a Professor of
Social Work and Director of the Institute of Child Care Research at
Queen’s University, Belfast. She has extensive clinical and research
experience of working with children and their families and, in particular,
with failure to thrive, neglect, and emotional abuse. Recently she
completed the longest study ever on failure to thrive (FTT) following up
cases after a 20-year period.
It is important from the start
to acknowledge that there are many aspects of failure to thrive, ranging
from mild problems to far more persistent and complex issues. We need to
be clear about what this term means: let me quote Iwaniec: ‘Failure to
thrive in infants and children is failure to develop in terms of
weight-gain and growth at the normal speed and amount for their ages as a
result of inadequate calorie intake.’ There are, however, many reasons why
children are undernourished, and these are fully explored in this book.
As we have become aware of the
prevalence of FTT we have become more knowledgeable about it. We now know
thatchildren identified during the early onset of weight-faltering can be
helped relatively quickly without any long-term negative effects. However,
we have also learned that children with severe FTT show a poor prognosis
for improvement or recovery.
The author begins with a
historical look at this particular aspect of infant development and anyone
seriously interested in childcare will find it absorbing. This practical
guide is full of information and has checklists for use in assessments.
There are chapters on intervention and treatments, and case studies drawn
from the author’s lengthy clinical experience. I found the chapter on
child-parent attachment behaviour and parental responsiveness of
particular interest. The chapter on fabricated or induced illness will
attract special ttention in the light of recent media attention to
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy.
So, although this is a serious
book aimed at all professionals working with children who fail to thrive,
I believe it will be of wider interest. As the author points out
‘prevention is better than cure’, so we all need to be on the look out for
these children at risk and this book will help us to do so.
published by John Wiley & Sons
 £19.99
 $45.00 ISBN: 0471497207
available
from
See also
Review published 9 February 2004 © Jill
Curtis 2004
 |
