BABY TALK (PSYCHOLINGUISTICS) - Semester 7

BABY TALK

(PSYCHOLINGUISTICS)

Compiled by : Luthfiyah Kurniawati

Rewritten by : Ade Wikytama

Baby TALK unites parents, schools and communities into a trustworthy community system to support and nurture their very young children. Baby TALK has developed a model to “cast a net” over a community to identify and screen every family with a baby in order to identify needs and connect families with resources. Relationships with partner agencies provide layers of program support. Communities outside Decatur, Illinois are using this model with success.

In the 1980’s, educators became aware of the importance of the early years of life in supporting optimal human development (National Commission on Excellence in education, 1983). With this growing awareness, many schools realized they would need to collaborate with communities to nurture young children. Decatur, Illinois is a midsized Midwestern city with a large proportion of low income families; 67% of school children receive free or reduced hot lunch. In 1986, representatives of the school district, public library, public health department, two community hospitals, and an adult literacy program met to consider ways to provide greater support to parents during the first three years of their children’s lives.

To do so, they knew professionals working in education, health care and social services would need to build trusting relationships with parents in the early years of children’s lives. This group developed Baby TALK, a program model for supporting parents and encouraging early literacy. Professional early childhood parent educators began visiting parents of newborns at local hospital obstetric units, learning about families’ needs, encouraging them in the nurture of their babies, and supplying the parents with information about child development and books to start their babies’ home libraries. Baby TALK soon established a mission which would drive the effort: to positively impact child development and nurture healthy parent-child relationships during the critical early years.

This modest beginning evolved into a system through which every family giving birth in Decatur is met and supported based on individualneeds. Baby TALK has something to offer parents from every demographic, from parents with advanced degrees to parents who have not yet graduated from high school, and also offers a number of programs which blend families from different cultures. Baby TALK has identified that this communitywide approach makes a difference for school readiness as well as promotes healthy parentchild relationships (Baby TALK Curriculum, 2009).

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REFERENCES

Baby TALK. (2009).  Baby TALK professional curriculum. Decatur, IL: Author.

Erikson, E. (1963). Childhood and society (2nd ed.) New York: Norton.

Gross, K. (1998). Baby TALK: Still growing a decade later. Illinois Libraries, 80 (3), 124128.

Mandernach, J. (1994). Effects of parenting education on children’s verbal abilities upon entering kindergarten.   Baby TALK Professional Curriculum. Decatur, IL: Baby TALK.

National Commission on Excellence in Education. (1983). A nation at risk: The imperative for educational reform.  Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Quigg, C., & Gross, K. (2008). Babies & books: A joyous beginning Decatur, IL: Baby TALK.

Quigg, C., & Mandernach, J. (1995). Baby TALK: Language, literature and love for infants. In M. Matthias & B. Gulley (Eds.), Celebrating family literacy through intergenerational programming (pp. 46-51). Olney, MD: Association for Childhood Education International.

Quigg, C. (2005). Baby TALK Lapsits: Empowering librarians for early childhood leadership. Illinois Libraries, 85(3), 1619.