{"id":48305,"date":"2022-12-15T01:40:15","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T01:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstthingsfirst.org\/?post_type=family-stories&p=48305"},"modified":"2022-12-15T01:41:57","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T01:41:57","slug":"building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona","status":"publish","type":"family-stories","link":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/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 that is funded by the First Things First La Paz\/Mohave Region is helping child care providers better understand how babies and toddlers learn language and how they can help that learning during daily activities.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u201cThere\u2019s a lack of awareness of how early babies begin to develop language skills and how critical it is to their future development,\u201d said FTF Senior Regional Director Ashley Pascual.<\/span><\/p>\n

\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<\/span><\/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<\/span><\/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.<\/span><\/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.<\/span><\/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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThink of it like a cookbook,\u201d Margee Chieffo said. \u201cYou must follow the explicit steps. What happens when you leave out the eggs? The games are based on developmental language skills.\u201d<\/span><\/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 get the baby\u2019s attention through happy speech, eye contact, smiles and gentle touches and have face-to-face chats.<\/span><\/p>\n

These are some of the invitations for the baby to look, listen and touch. And there are suggestions on how to do these activities, for example: \u201cSit with the baby securely placed on your thighs, his face oriented toward yours. Look at home and sing or say his name in a friendly, slightly higher tone than usual as you make eye contact: \u201cHello, Harry. How\u2019s my little baaaby?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The project provided precise games for parents to help support language learning at home. The program included developmental checkpoints to progress monitor in real time the language and brain growth of the children cared for by teachers in the training.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to improvement in language skills among children in their care, teachers also saw levels of aggression greatly reduced in the children because they were able to communicate their feelings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Directors and staff at child care centers across both counties were provided with Zangl\u2019s monthly intensive hands-on training and three times each year. Zangl visited the preschools and centers to observe the teachers in action.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The FTF La Paz\/Mohave Region funds the Language Development Project, a professional development program for early childhood professionals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":48278,"template":"","tags":[173,273],"class_list":["post-48305","family-stories","type-family-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-la-paz-mohave","tag-professional-development","regions-la-paz-mohave"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBuilding language skills with babies and toddlers in northwest Arizona - First Things First<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The FTF La Paz\/Mohave Region funds the Language Development Project, a professional development program for early childhood professionals.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Building language skills with babies and toddlers in northwest Arizona\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The FTF La Paz\/Mohave Region funds the Language Development Project, a professional development program for early childhood professionals.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"First Things First\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AZFirstThingsFirst\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-15T01:41:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/La-PazMohave-2022-Impact-Story.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"393\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AZFTF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Tiempo de lectura\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutos\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/\",\"name\":\"Building language skills with babies and toddlers in northwest Arizona - First Things First\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/La-PazMohave-2022-Impact-Story.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-15T01:40:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-15T01:41:57+00:00\",\"description\":\"The FTF La Paz\/Mohave Region funds the Language Development Project, a professional development program for early childhood professionals.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/La-PazMohave-2022-Impact-Story.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/La-PazMohave-2022-Impact-Story.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":393},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/home\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Region Stories\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Building language skills with babies and toddlers in northwest Arizona\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/\",\"name\":\"First Things First\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"es\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#organization\",\"name\":\"First Things First\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/firstthingsfirst_card_gray.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/firstthingsfirst_card_gray.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":450,\"caption\":\"First Things First\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AZFirstThingsFirst\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/AZFTF\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/azfirstthingsfirst\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/first-things-first\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/FTFArizona\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Building language skills with babies and toddlers in northwest Arizona - First Things First","description":"The FTF La Paz\/Mohave Region funds the Language Development Project, a professional development program for early childhood professionals.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/","og_locale":"es_ES","og_type":"article","og_title":"Building language skills with babies and toddlers in northwest Arizona","og_description":"The FTF La Paz\/Mohave Region funds the Language Development Project, a professional development program for early childhood professionals.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/","og_site_name":"First Things First","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AZFirstThingsFirst\/","article_modified_time":"2022-12-15T01:41:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":393,"url":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/La-PazMohave-2022-Impact-Story.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@AZFTF","twitter_misc":{"Tiempo de lectura":"3 minutos"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/","name":"Building language skills with babies and toddlers in northwest Arizona - First Things First","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/La-PazMohave-2022-Impact-Story.jpg","datePublished":"2022-12-15T01:40:15+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-15T01:41:57+00:00","description":"The FTF La Paz\/Mohave Region funds the Language Development Project, a professional development program for early childhood professionals.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"es","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es","@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/La-PazMohave-2022-Impact-Story.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/La-PazMohave-2022-Impact-Story.jpg","width":750,"height":393},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/building-language-skills-with-babies-and-toddlers-in-northwest-arizona\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Region Stories","item":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/region-stories\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Building language skills with babies and toddlers in northwest Arizona"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/","name":"First Things First","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"es"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#organization","name":"First Things First","url":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es","@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/firstthingsfirst_card_gray.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/firstthingsfirst_card_gray.jpg","width":800,"height":450,"caption":"First Things First"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AZFirstThingsFirst\/","https:\/\/x.com\/AZFTF","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/azfirstthingsfirst\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/first-things-first","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/FTFArizona"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region-stories\/48305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region-stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/family-stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region-stories\/48305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48317,"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region-stories\/48305\/revisions\/48317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}