Meeting Families Where They Are

Early Childhood Special Education Speech-Language Pathologists will help parents promote early communication in their own homes for their child who is communicatively delayed. Through HEF’s grant, the speech pathologists will receive training in ‘It Takes Two to Talk’, a parent-implemented intervention program with a proven track-record of success across a myriad of spoken languages. Learning will take place in peer groups of parents with similar linguistic and cultural backgrounds, at times convenient for them, and with language interpreters to assist in accurately teaching the strategies. Parents will become empowered to be their child’s interventionist, and to facilitate increased participation in interactions. Finally, parents will learn to adjust their everyday routines (expand and adapt the way they play or read books) to increase and fine-tune the interactions that will increase their child’s language skills.