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
carlapet@iastate.edu
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
• Approach and attitudes
• Behaviors
• Content
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
Parent
Child
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
0.90
0.80
0.70
0.60
0.50
0.40
0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00
Support Child Interaction
Support Adult Comm
Other
What is the Role of the Practitioner?
23%
25%
5.5%
 Support Child-Oriented Activity
 Direct Teaching w/Child
 Model for Parent
14%
 Coach Parent-Child
Interaction
5.5%
52%
 Support Adult Communication
 Other
Role of the Practitioner-Overall vs. ParentChild Triadic Interactions
50%
40%
30%
Base Rate
P-Ch/Triadic
20%
10%
0%
Direct
Teach.
Modeling Coach. PC
Content
Dis.
Observ.
Pos. Aff.
ITDS Role - Mother’s Engagement
70
61.7
60
Percent of Time Highly Engaged
50
47
45.8
41.4
40
30
21.5
18.6
20
Coaching
Modeling
Observation
Direct
Teaching
Paperwork
Pos. Aff.
Prov. Inf.
Ask Inf.
Listening
Self-discl.
13.6
13
10
7.8
0
Interventionist Roles
Eff. to Eng.
8.5
8
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.