providence talks
Description:
25 Dorrance Street
Providence RI 02903
- A free, confidential and completely voluntary early intervention program.
- Participating families receive access to a “word pedometer” and bi-weekly coaching from trained home visitors.
- Developed by the Colorado-based LENA Research Foundation.
- Designed to filter out background noise.
- Counts and records the number of words spoken by adults and the conversational interactions the child engages in on a daily basis.
- Participating families receive these data during a bi-weekly coaching visit.
- Families receive targeted coaching and information on existing community resources.
- For a child’s vocabulary to develop on an appropriate trajectory, children need to hear at least 21,000 words per day (the rough equivalent of reading Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat nearly a dozen times a day).
- Children in the lowest income bracket miss that benchmark by more than 5,000 words every day.
- In one pilot study, caretakers presented with data on their child’s vocabulary development increased their adult daily word count by 55% on average.
- Director: Andrea Riquetti, M.A.
- Phone: (401) 421-2489 Ext. 406
- Mailing Address:
25 Dorrance Street
Providence RI 02903