Developmental Parenting

A Guide for Early Childhood Practitioners

Authors: Lori A. Roggman, Ph.D., Lisa K. Boyce, Ph.D., Mark S. Innocenti, Ph.D.

Overview

With this research-based and reader-friendly book, early childhood professionals will learn to put parents in charge of guiding their child's development—resulting in strong parent-child bonds, healthy families, and improved school readiness.

When parents are warm, responsive, encouraging, and communicative—the key elements of developmental parenting—they lay the foundation for young children's school readiness, social competence, and mental health. That's why every early childhood professional needs this comprehensive, practical guide to building a developmental parenting program for the families they serve.

Unlike other approaches that limit parents to a "student" role, the proven, the parenting-focused model in this book shows home visitors how to put parents and other caregivers confidently in charge of guiding and supporting their young children's development. Home visitors and other early childhood professionals will learn the ABCs of facilitating developmental parenting:

• Attitudes. Be responsive, supportive, flexible, and culturally sensitive while looking for the family's strengths and building on them.
• Behaviors. Actively encourage positive parent–child interaction, support developmental parenting behaviors, establish a collaborative partnership with parents, use family activities as learning opportunities, and involve other family members.
• Content. Provide parents with clear and relevant information on child development, determine the best curricula for selecting and adapting parent–child activities, and learn to use assessments skillfully to evaluate child progress and parenting behaviors.

This how-to guidebook includes all the support early childhood professionals need to facilitate developmental parenting effectively. Program directors will get step-by-step guidance on supervising and evaluating the program, and professionals who work directly with parents will get easy-to-implement strategies, case studies of successful interactions, and tips and advice from other practitioners.

Includes the Home Visit Rating Scales (HOVRS), an observation tool with seven rating scales for practitioners and supervisors to assess the quality of home visits from direct observation.

See how this product helps strengthen Head Start program quality and school readiness.

Reviews

Young Children - January 13, 2009

"The authors support their parenting model with research ... this exceptional book could also have application as a college text."

Jon Korfmacher, Erikson Institute - July 28, 2008

"Wise and practical . . . More than a 'how to' guide, it's a 'how come' guide, providing a compelling empirical and theoretical background to developmental parenting."

Merle Greene, Early Childhood Education Director, Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY USA), Educational Consultant - July 28, 2008

"A comprehensive approach to developmental parenting for infants and toddlers."

Carla Peterson, Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa State University - June 20, 2008

"Offers exactly the kind of guidance and information that interventionists need to turn good intentions and theoretical ideas into practical activities and supports for families."

Kathy Thornburg, Center for Family Policy & Research, University of Missouri - May 28, 2008

"A must read for professionals who support families! The ideas in this book can help practitioners help parents provide the developmental support children need in their early years."

Authors: Lori A. Roggman Ph.D., Lisa K. Boyce Ph.D., Mark S. Innocenti Ph.D.

Read the article

Home visitors: Try the "developmental parenting" approach

Read the report

The HOVRS (in Appendix B) is included in the Home Visit Observation Brief about home visit observation instruments for assessing home visit quality and content from the Design Options for Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Evaluation (DOHVE) Technical Assistance team.