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If you know of any international initiatives focused
on early years communication, please let us know by
filling in our Feedback Form
or calling us on 020 7820 6265.
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Bonding
with Baby
The Bonding with Baby website is run by Developing Heart Systems
in the US, the non-profit educational publishers of Bonding
with Baby development books. Its mission is to create and
distribute tools and techniques to help parents and children
bond and to foster a love of learning. The website has articles
and information for parents and practitioners, as well as
access to the Bonding with Baby Year 1 Literacy Kit. This
includes access to wordless picture books to enable parents
of all backgrounds and skills to begin book sharing with their
babies. For more information visit www.bondingwithbaby.com
Dolly Parton: 'Book Lady'
Dolly Parton's favourite title is 'the Book Lady' - a
title kids gave her because of her Imagination Library project.
Through this project children receive a carefully selected
book each month from birth to age 5 - a total of 60 books.
Parton developed the Imagination Library project in 1995 for
Sevier County, Tennessee, where she was born. Having grown
up poor in a home where books were a luxury, and firmly believing
in the power of reading to stimulate a child's imagination,
she wanted every pre-school child to have his or her own library
of books.
Funded through Parton's non-profit Dollywood Foundation, the
project received many awards and generated much media attention.
Two years ago Parton offered the Imagination Library for replication
in any community that would support it. The project now serves
more than 180 communities in 25 states (of America) and may
distribute close to one million free books in 2003. The program
will now also serve 92 Native American communities throughout
the country.
(Reading Today - the bi-monthly newspaper of the International
Reading Association, February/March 2003)
Update (September 2004) Parton has successfully lobbied
for statewide funding for the 'Imagination Library' programme
in her home state of Tennessee. Ten of Tennessee's 95 counties
already have Imagination Library programmes. In officially
adopting the programme, the State of Tennessee allocated $2m
for matching grants for organisations and groups which are
already sponsoring Imagination Libraries. A First Books Foundation
was also set up to promote the scheme and raise private funds
to reduce costs. Grants will be available from September.
The programme costs $27 per year, per child. There are approximately
375,000 children under five in Tennessee, all of whom are
now eligible.
Early Words
Early Words: A Child is Always Listening is a collaborative
initiative in Multnomah County in Oregan, USA, designed to
emphasise the everyday things parents and caregivers can do
to enhance literacy and language development for children
0-5. The County Library leads on the initiative with a range
of partners, which includes the Commission on Children, Families & Community, the Oregan Center for Career Development in Childhood,
Care and Education, and the Oregan Child Development Coalition.
The collective vision is that by kindergarten, all children
will have the language and literacy skills they need to succeed
in school and beyond. The website www.earlywords.net
has pages on Why This Matters, some simple tips, and a range
of downloadable training materials and other resources.
Every Child
Ready to Read @ the Library
Every Child Ready to Read @ the Library is an American
programme that is a joint initiative of the Public Library
Association and the Association for Library Service to Children.
Research on early literacy and brain development indicates
that it is never too early to prepare children for success
as readers, and parents of newborns, toddlers and preschoolers
need to be informed of their critical role as their child's
first teacher. This is the aim of the initiative, which works
with library systems to help them in their key role as disseminators
of early literacy information to parents, childcare providers,
early childhood educators, children's advocates and political
decision makers.
The initiative includes model public library programmes incorporating
research and specific parent and carer resources that were
developed by Dr Grover C Whitehurst and Dr Christopher Lonigan,
well-known researchers in emergent literacy. They are available
to libraries, along with a workshop programme, to help them
to encourage parents and carers to impact the early reading
experiences of preschool children. For more information visit
www.pla.org
Macaulay Child
Development Centre
The Macaulay Child Development Centre in Canada is a multi-service,
childcare and family support agency. A non-profit organisation,
it promotes the optimal development of children in partnership
with their family and community. It is the base for the four
Ontario early years literacy specialists in the city of Toronto
who run training and workshops for parents, teachers, professionals
and home childcare providers. They also co-facilitate and
consult with public health nurses, librarians and other community
groups. For more information visit www.macaulaycentre.org
Nova Scotia's early language programme
Nova Scotia's Early Childhood Development Initiative promotes
children's early language, emergent literacy, cognitive and
social development. Speech-language pathologists work with
early childhood development practitioners, parents and communities
to create programmes that teach parents how to interact with
their children in ways that foster social and language development.
For more information visit
http://www.gov.ns.ca/coms/files/FCS.asp
Plunket Society
The Plunket Society is a New Zealand provider of child and
family health services. It provides a mix of a professionally
educated workforce working hand-in-hand with volunteers throughout
New Zealand. Plunket programmes aim to support families with
young children by providing appropriate clinical and support
programmes and educational activities. For more information
visit www.plunket.org.nz
Reach Out and Read
Reach Out and Read is a US programme, established in 1989,
that builds on the special relationship between doctors and
the parents of young children to support children's language
and literacy development. At well-child visits, from age six
months to five years, doctors and nurses provide information
about the importance of reading aloud and give new, developmentally
appropriate books to the children to take home. In the waiting
room, volunteers read to children, modelling techniques for
parents. Visit www.reachoutandread.org
Roots of Empathy
Roots of Empathy is a programme developed in Canada that focuses
in the long-term on building the capacity of the next generation
for caring and compassionate citizenship and parenting. In
the short-term it focuses on raising levels of empathy, resulting
in more respectful and caring relationships and reduced levels
of bulling and aggression. The programme is universal and
engages all students rather than bullies or aggressive children.
It is evidence-based and includes visits to the classroom
every three weeks over the school year by a neighbourhood
infant and parent. With a certified Roots of Empathy instructor,
students are coached to observe the baby's development, celebrate
milestones, interact with the baby and learn about an infant's
needs and temperament. It includes a curriculum divided into
nine themes, with three classroom sessions supporting each
theme. For more information visit www.rootsofempathy.org
The Triple P
Positive Parenting programme is for parents and practitioners
and organisations that work with parents. It was developed
at The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. It
aims to prevent severe behavioural, emotional and developmental
problems in children by enhancing the knowledge, skills and
confidence of parents. The programme includes five levels
of intervention, from which users can select the level that
is most suited to their specific needs. For more information
visit www.triplep.net
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