Tag Archives: intervention

LENA technology is helping researchers and low-income parents better understand how adult-child conversation affects language and literacy. Recent efforts to reduce the “word gap” between affluent and low-income families in Providence, Rhode Island, and Chicago have garnered high-profile headlines and big bucks. Much of the media attention has focused on the technology involved—a tiny recording device and software that help parents and early childhood specialists measure the amounts of talk between parent and child occurring in the home. The system—known…

Can text messages to low-income parents help close the word gap? It’s not an idle question. Last month, the advocacy group Too Small to Fail announced plans to experiment with text messages to parents in a new partnership with Kaiser Permanente, Sesame Workshop,* and Text4Baby. In a recent blog post for Seeding Reading we reported on an initiative called Parent University that sends text messages to Head Start parents with suggestions for building literacy skills in their children. (We also reported on parents’ reactions to the project.)   A study…

When Alexiss Evans enrolled in the Ounce of Prevention Fund’s Parent University literacy program, she did so because she believed in the organization and because she wanted to give her daughter every possible opportunity to learn. “I’m one of those parents who, if [the Ounce says] something, I’ll do it,” she said. “I want to show support and be a team player.” Evans received text messages each weekday for six weeks. These texts suggested activities for Evans to do with her…

It works with diabetes patients, smokers trying to quit, and others: a text message reminding you to take your medication or resist the urge to light up. There’s even a Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University devoted to the idea. So what if we could put that same idea to work boosting literacy in very young children in low-income families? That’s the premise of Parent University, a six-week program originally designed by Chris Drew, now Director of Educator Initiatives at…

The pediatrician’s office is becoming a new player in helping children learn foundational skills for communication, language development, and eventually reading. But a project in New York is taking this concept a step further, by bringing digital technology—specifically, video cameras and video players—into the doctor’s office. The Video Interaction Project (VIP) is underway at the Langone Medical Center at New York University. Specialists meet with parents and caregivers during regular well-check visits and record them playing with or reading to…