{"id":43803,"date":"2022-06-17T19:08:06","date_gmt":"2022-06-17T19:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/?p=43803"},"modified":"2022-07-08T19:28:51","modified_gmt":"2022-07-08T19:28:51","slug":"building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2022\/06\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/","title":{"rendered":"Building language skills with babies and toddlers in northwest Arizona"},"content":{"rendered":"

An early childhood professional development program in the First Things First La Paz\/Mohave Region<\/a> is helping child care providers better understand how babies and toddlers learn language and how they can help that learning during daily activities.<\/p>\n

The La Paz\/Mohave Language Development Project, which is part of a larger professional development program that the FTF La Paz\/Mohave Regional Council is funding, recently wrapped up its four-year term to great success. There are plans to continue the work for a fifth year.<\/p>\n

She oversees the West Region for FTF, which includes La Paz\/Mohave. \u201cThe worry is that early language development is not occurring because children are having less and less quality interactions with their parents and caregivers because of other distractions. This means they are not developing the language skills they need and it will impede their ability to communicate effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FTF grant allowed Early Childhood Education Associates Inc., which is based in La Paz and Mohave counties, to work with Renate Zangl, an international child language researcher, to implement science-based strategies from Zangl\u2019s book, \u201cRaising a Talker: Easy Activities from Birth to Age 3.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the course of four years, 12 child care programs from La Paz and Mohave counties participated in the professional development classes that focused on how teachers can help children birth to age 3 learn language skills.<\/p>\n

The goal is to close the language gap among children. Researchers say that children from lower socioeconomic families enter kindergarten having heard and knowing fewer words than their more affluent peers, which puts them at a disadvantage once they begin school.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Zangl has done the research with the language gap,\u201d said Margee Chieffo, who is president and senior managing associate of ECEd Associates. \u201cHer work is specifically designed to address a child\u2019s brain at the time when it\u2019s learning the fastest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRaising a Talker\u201d was integrated into the culture of each child care center and preschool that participated in the project, Chieffo said. Center directors agreed to have their entire staff take the classes and implement the language program at every level for children birth to age 3 in their care.<\/p>\n

At the heart of the project are language games that the teachers play with the babies and toddlers and build on each other. For example, the book has communication tips based on the ages of the child. In the baby\u2019s first two months, Zangl encourages caregivers to:<\/p>\n