Child Strength: Supporting communities through executive functioning and early literacy strategies

It is evident that children require support for executive function and emergent literacy development to optimize their personal well-being, school, learning and life success. This project focuses on how to best support executive function [EF] and early emergent literacy [EL] acquisition for our children by providing a parent and early childcare community with strategies on how to engage and immerse young learners in developmentally appropriate activities. Executive functions, or the thinking skills, emerge in the first year of life and are supported and enhanced by language (including language spoken by parents, caregivers and others in the child’s environment including playmates). In order to ensure EF skills and EL are introduced and reinforced in our children, there must be a concerted effort to strengthen the knowledge and skills of parents and preschool teachers related to foundational EF and EL skills. This research study involves working with the early childcare educators and parents of the Coalhurst, AB Parent Link Centre’s Stay and Play [SnP] program over a one-year period. The researchers will create and assist in implementing developmentally appropriate EF and EL strategies to both the early childcare educators and parents.

Faculty Supervisor:

Drs. Bryan Kolb & Robbin Gibb

Student:

Sarah Raza & Allonna Harker

Partner:

Barons-Eureka-Warner Family & Community Support Services

Discipline:

Medicine

Sector:

Service industry

University:

University of Lethbridge