FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW BOOK HIGHLIGHTS MODEL PROGRAMS THAT SUPPORT EARLY LITERACY

Baltimore, Maryland (March 2019)— Brookes Publishing’s newest research-based title, Connecting Through Talk: Nurturing Children’s Development With Language, focuses on an idea essential to early education: Language development is not just another developmental domain, but central to them all. Written by two renowned researchers on language and literacy development, this book explores the interwoven strands of early emotional, social, neurological, and language development—and provides snapshots of more than a dozen programs designed to support young children.

One of the core messages in Connecting Through Talk is that any effort that supports the quality and quantity of parent–child communication will have long-lasting, positive impacts on children’s development. The model programs highlighted in the book aim to improve outcomes for young children by promoting thoughtful, responsive adult‒child interactions and expanding children’s access to books. As Catherine E. Snow, Ph.D., notes in her foreword, the descriptions of these research-proven programs offer “a template that should be exploited to guide those interested in selecting, initiating, or expanding efforts to support families.”

The model programs described in the book include:

• Play and Learning Strategies
• The Juniper Gardens Children’s Project
• Video Interaction Project
• Háblame Bebé
• Thirty Million Words Project
• Providence Talks
• Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters
• Project beELL
• Bridging the Word Gap
• National Save the Children Research Network
• Reach Out and Read
• Children's Learning Institute's Interventions to Support Preschool Teachers and Parents
• Dolly Parton's Imagination Library
• Bookstart
• Sifriyat Pijama and Maktabat al-Fanoos
• The Campaign for Grade Level Reading
• Family Reading Partnership
• Five Steps to Five

Susan Neuman, Ed.D., a professor of Childhood Education and Literacy Development at New York University described Connecting Through Talk as “the most comprehensive analysis of children's early language development to date.” Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D., a distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago, stated that the book is “an erudite, well written, engaging, and wise exploration of children’s language growth and of the programs designed to encourage it.”

For more information on Connecting Through Talk: Nurturing Children’s Development With Language or to read a chapter excerpt, visit http://bit.ly/Connect-Talk.

About the Authors:

David K. Dickinson, Ed.D., is Associate Dean for Research and Strategic Initiatives and the Margaret Cowan Chair of Education at the Peabody College of Education, Vanderbilt University. For more than 30 years, he has studied early language and literacy development among children from low-income backgrounds. Using observational and intervention research, he has sought to understand factors that foster short- and long-term development of language and reading comprehension and to improve the quality of support children receive.

Ann B. Morse, M.Ed., has worked for more than 30 years on behalf of young children from low-income backgrounds and their families. Through the Head Start National Training and Technical Assistance Network, she provided professional development to programs related to supporting children with disabilities and enhancing literacy skills. She has also coached pre-K teachers through intervention research projects at Vanderbilt University.

About Brookes Publishing:

For 40 years, Brookes Publishing Co. has been a leading provider of professional resources and assessments in early childhood, literacy, and special education. An independent company, Brookes Publishing Co. is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. For more information, please visit www.brookespublishing.com.