Using Home Visits to Enhance Literacy Skills

Carla Peterson Gayle Luze Kere Hughes-Belding Iowa State University June 2, 2010

Contact Information

• Carla Peterson Professor Human Development and Family Studies E262 Lagomarcino Hall Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011 [email protected]

515-294-7804

Overview

• What is developmental parenting?

• How practitioners can facilitate developmental parenting • Considerations for promoting language and literacy development

How young children learn

• What is this child learning?

• How is this child learning?

• What does this tell us about how to intervene with young children and their families?

Home Visiting – Intervention – Learning

Today’s Discussion

•Using a parenting-focused model to facilitate developmental parenting to keep learning alive between home visits

Developmental Parenting

• What parents do to support their children’s learning and development • Values a child’s development, supports a child’s development, changes along with a child’s development • Is warm, responsive, encouraging, and communicative • Is what many early childhood programs strive to increase

Facilitative Approach

• A facilitative approach makes developmental parenting easier • Emphasis is on child development • Focus is on parent-child interactions that support early development • Practitioner uses strategies to assess and expand on family strengths to support early development

Triadic Interactions -- Coaching

• Coaching -- a reciprocal process between a coach and a learner, comprised of a series of conversations focused on mutually agreed upon outcomes” (Rush et al., 2003, p. 34).

Triadic Interactions -- Coaching

• Coaching involves – supporting and encouraging an individual during the process of learning and using new skills by giving specific feedback about performance (Kaiser & Hancock, 2003).

Triadic Interactions -- Coaching

• This learner focused context – provides a framework for • self observation, • self correction, • reflection, and • discussion that – actively engages the learner by providing multiple opportunities to practice new skills with guided feedback (Rush et al., 2003).

Coaching Process – Components

• Initiation • Observation • Action • Reflection • Evaluation (Hanft, Rush, & Shelden, 2004)

Facilitative Approach -- A B C

•A pproach and attitudes •B ehaviors •C ontent

Facilitative Attitudes

• Practitioners show facilitative attitudes when they are – Responsive to family strengths and culture – Flexible in strategies and activities – Supportive and accepting in relationships with the family

Facilitative Behaviors

• Practitioners show facilitative behaviors when they – Focus parents on child development – Elicit parent-child interaction – Support developmental parenting behaviors – Establish a collaborative partnership with parents – Involve other family members – Use family activities as learning opportunities

Facilitative Content

• Practitioners provide facilitative content when they – Provide information parents want and need now – Emphasize broad developmental foundations – Plan a “curriculum” on developmental parenting – Help parents plan child development activities – Get information about community resources

Parenting-focused Model

Practitioner Child Parent

Triadic Interactions – Goal

• Engage parent

with

child – Enjoyable interaction – Common activity • Daily routine • Toy/game/song • Task • Why? – Enhance child development – Increase parent’s enjoyment of child – Build communication foundations

Triadic Interactions – Tips

• Talk to the parent – Directly – Through the child • Hand materials to the child • Draw parent into activity through the child • Pretend there is a glass wall between you and the parent

Why does this make me worry?

Parenting-focused Model

+ Respects parent as child’s teacher +Builds developmental parenting skills +Builds parent confidence in parenting +Helps parent use child development information +Helps parent keep parenting during a crisis + Establishes an enduring context for a child’s development

Parenting-focused Model

- Requires more practitioner training and skills

Unpacking Home Visits

What is the Role of the Practitioners? ITDS & FDS

0.40

0.30

0.20

0.10

0.00

0.90

0.80

0.70

0.60

0.50

Support Child Interaction Support Adult Comm Other

What is the Role of the Practitioner?

23% 25% 5.5% 14% 5.5%  Support Child-Oriented Activity  Direct Teaching w/Child  Model for Parent  Coach Parent-Child Interaction  Support Adult Communication  Other 52%

50%

Role of the Practitioner-Overall vs. Parent Child Triadic Interactions

40% 30% Base Rate P-Ch/Triadic 20% 10% 0% Direct Teach.

Modeling Coach. P C Content Dis.

Observ.

Pos. Aff.

60 70

ITDS Role Mother’s Engagement

61.7

50 40 47 45.8

41.4

30 20 21.5

18.6

Coaching Modeling Observation Direct Teaching Paperwork Pos. Aff.

Prov. Inf.

13.6

10 Ask Inf.

7.8

Listening Self-discl.

Eff. to Eng.

13 8.5

8 0

Interventionist Roles

Developing Language & Literacy Connection

• Start with positive adult-child relationship • Build language skills from the very beginning – Use language around children: describe, explain, introduce new words and activities – Incorporate language into play: describe, explain, introduce new words – Help parents understand that talking and language will help child develop school skills and have more job opportunities

Language and Literacy Environment

• Include things for children to think and talk about – Make environment interesting – Have books available (for all ages) – Toys/materials that encourage children to interact with one another – helps develop language and social skills

Language and Literacy Environment

• Use pictures – Photos of children engaged in home, neighborhood, or classroom activities (include labels) – Photos of conceptual words – group by concepts (color, size, shape, sound) – Combine photos with words for labels – make the labels meaningful – Use meaningful labels in rooms

Language and Literacy Interaction

• Children learn language/literacy best during interactions that include support and feedback • Ask open-ended questions • Use new vocabulary words • Use descriptive words (including feeling words)

Language and Literacy Interaction

• Have conversations with children – Talk about what interests them – Help keep a conversation going for more than one turn – Wait – give children time to respond • Make talking part of typical routines – Describe what you are doing and why

Language and Literacy Interaction

• Sing with children – especially babies • Repeat nursery rhymes • Tell stories related to children’s culture – invite others in to tell stories • Invite people in to read with children • Combine stories with actions – add motor element to language and literacy

Selecting Books for Young Children

• Books should: – Interest children (familiar routines, about things they like: trucks, animals, etc) – Have simple & engaging stories (plots) – Have bright colors & sharp contrast – Have big print – Rhythmic writing: use repeated phrases, rhyme, use familiar phrases – Be sturdy (board/bath books for babies; hardcover books for toddlers)

Selecting Books for Young Children

• Books can help children – Develop cognitive skills – talk about their world, teach new information – Develop motor skills – holding books, turning pages – Develop social skills – read about how to get along with people, solve relationship problems – Develop a love of books – are fun, give them a chance to spend time with a favorite adult

Reading with Children

• Read at a slower pace with children • Read with expression (different voices for different characters) • Hold the book so children can see pictures • Ask questions while reading (open ended questions, predict story)

Reading with Children

• Point to words as read, talk about words/letters • Go beyond the text (talk the story) • Read books without words or without story line and make up your own (e.g., Good Dog Carl, Richard Scary books)

Reading with Children

• Read favorite books over and over • Read books related to classroom themes & activities (read about apples during fall, about children and naptime, etc) • Let children act out parts of the story

Facilitating Parents’ Reading With Their Children

• Help them plan a time for reading & set up to be relaxed – Make short reading sessions routine • E.g., at bedtime, after lunch, when Daddy gets home from work, with grandma • Bring books to make waiting easier (e.g., doctors’ office)

Facilitating Parents’ Reading With Their Children

• Help parents go beyond just reading the text – Model appropriate reading for them • Pace, voice inflection, asking questions, commenting – Send home books and tips for reading – Give ideas for including literacy in everyday activities at home (e.g., let child “write” as parent makes shopping list)

Facilitating Parents’ Reading With Their Children

• Encourage use of the local library – Find out the library hours – Hold group events at the library & in conjunction with story time if possible – Show parents how to use library if needed

Learning About Family Routines

• Community map • Routines-based interview (McWilliam, 2000)

References

• Axtmann, A., & Dettwiller, A. (2005).

The visit: Observation, reflection, synthesis for training and relationship building.

Baltimore: Brookes.

• Kaiser, A. P. & Hancock, T. B. (2003). Teaching parents new skills to support their young children’s development.

Infants and Young Children, 16

, 9-21.

• Klass, C. S. (2008).

The home visitor’s guidebook: Promoting optimal parent & child development.

Baltimore: Brookes.

• Rush, D. D., Sheldon, M. L. & Hanft, B. E. (2003). Coaching families and colleagues: A process for collaboration in natural settings.

Infants and Young Children, 16

, 33-47.

• Roggman, L. A., Boyce, L. K., Innocenti, M. S. (2008).

Developmental parenting: A guide for early childhood practitioners.

Baltimore: Brookes.