Rally4Babies and other information from ZERO TO THREE

As I continue to read the different newsletters from Zero To Three I become more and more impressed with the organization and what they stand for. On December 10, 2014 advocates at the ZERO TO THREE NTI and across the country Rallied for Babies to increase early learning investments that start at birth. Rally4Babies was part of a Twitter storm, hosted by NWLC, ZERO TO THREE, and MomsRising, in support of the White House Summit on Early Education. I also loved that the organization joined with the Strong Start Coalition for a tweet storm on September 10, 2014 to remind Congress that learning happens from the start, and so should our investments in children.

Another interesting topic that was brought up in the newsletter was how interactive media is used with children and what type of values does it bring. The use of interactive screen media such as smart phones and tablets by young children is increasing rapidly. Interactive media is typically used in schools for educational value, TV shows such as Sesame Street or Blue's Clues can promote early academic skills in preschool-aged children, children <30 months cannot learn from television and videos as they do from real-life interactions. Interactive media allow for contingent responses to children's actions and thus may facilitate more retention of taught material. According to the newsletter research suggests that interactive media such as learn-to-read apps and electronic books (e-books) may increase early literacy.

Newsletter also states how mothers speak less clearly to infants than they do to adults. Infants learn language at an incredible speed, and one of the first steps in this voyage is learning the basic sound units of their native languages. It is widely thought that caregivers facilitate this task by hyperarticulating when speaking to their infants. People tend to have a distinctive way of talking to babies and small children: We speak more slowly, using a sing-song voice, and tend to use cutesy words like "tummy". While we might be inclined to think that this kind of "baby talk" is easier for children to understand, new research suggest that mothers may actually speak less clearly to their infants than they do adults.

Resources:

Cristia, A. (2015, January 27). Mothers' "Baby Talk" Is Less Clear Than Their Adult Speech. Retrieved from Association For Psychological Science: http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/mothers-baby-talk-is-less-clear-than-their-adult-speech.html

Jenny S. Radesky, M., Schumacher, J., & Zuckerman, B. (2014, December 29). Mobile and Interactie Media Use by Young Children: The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown. Retrieved from Pediatrics: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/135/1/1

THREE, Z. T. (2014, December 14). ZERO TO THREE Rally4Babies. Retrieved from https://storify.com/ZEROTOTHREE/rally4babies