Promoting Communication (PC) Talk
Project Description:
This project will bring together Educare Early Learning Network Schools and collaborating Local Evaluation Partners, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center at University of North Carolina, and the Juniper Gardens Children's Project (JCGP) at University of Kansas in partnership to demonstrate the impact of PC TALK to support the language learning of infants and toddlers and young children who may have disabilities. Designed to build the capacity of early educators and parents to promote the communication opportunities and development of infants and young children, the Promoting Communication (PC) strategies will be embedded into randomly selected Educare classrooms across each participating school, followed by implementation in wait list control classrooms. Promoting Communication Invervention (PCI): the language intervention to be implemented includes (1) embedding the PC TALK naturalistic language promoting strategies into daily classroom routines (2) ongoing coaching and professional development for teachers implementing the intervention, (3) ongoing monitoring of teacher fidelity intervention implementation and child language by Local Evaluation Partners (LEP) using the PC-Obs app, and (4) provision of graphs and reports as performance feedback with classroom teachers to inform their use of the intervention in practice.
The roles of the LEP at UMaine will be:
JGCP research staff and Educare school administrative staff will finalize intervention delivery content, training, and professional development sessions for implementing PC TALK.
UMaine will collaborate via videoconference and email with JGCP and with key staff from all participating schools as needed for planning and decision making about study activities including start-up, ordering materials (ECI kits and stands used for recording ECI assessments), professional development, coordination of study, and ongoing reporting about successes and challenges
UMaine will perform ECI and PC-Obs training and observations at Educare Central Maine
Keyword(s):
Early Childhood – General
Core Function(s):
Performing Research or Evaluation
Area of Emphasis
Education & Early Intervention
Target Audience:
Professionals and Para-Professionals
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances
Primary Target Audience Geographic Descriptor:
Mulit-County
COVID-19 Related Data:
N/A
