To give ALL children a better, early start by creating, producing and distributing effective and enjoyable tools for new parents, especially disadvantaged parents, that bring them closer to their child, involve them in their child's education and foster an early love of learning.

Description:
THE PROBLEM: Estimates are that some 1.3 million children enter school each year unprepared to learn. The two most significant predictors of school success are parent involvement and reading. Research has shown that early reading in the home not only makes for good readers in school, but reading also fosters a child's healthy social and emotional development.

The root of the problem is that too many parents don't take up this ideal activity in the home early or often enough, so the window for reading starts to close and TV takes over. The reasons parents don't start reading early vary from not being able to afford books, to their own struggles with reading to being too busy or bored to do it. As a result many children lose out on this important development opportunity and don't acquire the needed pre-reading skills. Too many of these children will fall behind in school and require remedial instruction.

THE NEED: A set of fun, easy to use tools that get parents started using and enjoying books early, stimulate them to become an involved parent and enthusiastic teacher and gets their children to love books --the first step in learning to read and succeeding in school.

History:
A SOLUTION: The Bonding with Baby Kit consists of an in-home parent education video and a developmentally-geared series of wordless picture books for the first year that parents of any background and skill enjoy "reading". These specially-developed books stimulate joyful parent-child interaction and "hook" families into the pleasure of regularly sharing books before reading them. The books and video was independently evaluated in scientific research with representative parents by Dr. Grover J. Whitehurst, State University of New York, Stonybrook, an expert in the prevention of language difficulties in children. It was shown to significantly increase both the pleasure and frequency of book-sharing with infants --a first in the field of emerging literacy. The program has been endorsed by leading authorities in the field including Dr. Robert Coles, Harvard University, and is being used in the exemplar Healthy Families America program and in the Public Library Association's Preschool Literacy Initiative.

Programs
The Bonding with Baby Book Donation Program's major operations focus on supplying our books free of charge to families who can't afford them and whose children are at greatest risk for school failure. As of May 2003, over 2,200 free video and book Kits have been donated to disadvantaged families in various clinic, family center and home visitation programs throughout the U.S.

Our main collaborative service partner in this effort is Healthy Families America, the exemplar early intervention, home visitation program of Prevent Child Abuse America. Eighty-six Healthy Family sites in Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia are currently using our Kits to enhance outcomes in family strengthening, in early literacy skills and whole child development. To date we have received funding to supply free Kits to 11,000 participating families, but need further financial support to reach approximately 40,000 more Healthy Families families each year in the remaining 38 state

Contact person: Tom Berquist, Executive Director, (phone), (email)
Office fax number: (203) 380-0456

Address:

2048 Elm St. Stratford, CT 06615 (See a map)

Web Site: None specified

Directions:

Going NE on 95 Take Exit 32 W. Broad St. Go straight off ramp to Light (Main St.) Turn right at light Go one block past second church Turn Left on Academy Hill Go one block to Elm St. Turn left on Elm Third House on right 2048 Elm. . . (more)   Nearest Metro/Subway Stop: Stratford,   Walk distance (in minutes): 10