DELAWARE - Read Aloud Delaware is partnering with a national nonprofit, LENA, to close the talk and literacy gap in children across the First State.
The talk gap is also referred to as the 30 million word gap. Experts say children in low income families might hear 30 million words less than children in more affluent families by the age of three.
"Trying to stem that so children are exposed to more words and don't have the inequities traditionally they have,” said Read Aloud Executive Director, James Spadola.
The virtual LENA Start Program is free and aims to impact a minimum of 100 Delaware families over two years with talk pedometer technology.
"Which is able to track language activity between the parent and the caregiver, and with that comes 10 weekly coaching sessions where we are able to analyze the data from the talk pedometer, and coach, and instruct the family on how to improve the interaction and conversational turns,” said Spadola.
Spadola says one month in this program is equivalent to two months of brain development.
According to LENA, a child's vocabulary at age three predicts language and reading skills at the time they're finishing third grade. Third grade reading scores strongly predict high school graduation, the organization explains.
"It’s geared to the parents but it's all about how to talk to your children when you're in the kitchen, how to incorporate talking about math to your child all in the course of everyday living,” said Spadola.
The new program received a grant from the Delaware Community Foundation for $20,000, which Spadola says will be given back to families for participating in the free program.
"There’s so much that I think we will be able to tell, not just from the families that we are impacting, but in terms of the brain development in the child and the proper ways to increase the development, and decrease the amount of educational inequities that we have in our society,” said Spadola.
The program launches this October throughout Delaware. Read Aloud Delaware is currently recruiting families to join. Click here to sign up.