TMW Center Newsletter November 2019
Spanish Home Visiting Wrap Up
Earlier this fall, we completed the pilot study of the Spanish language adaptation of TMW-Home Visiting (TMP). Ninety-five families participated in the 12-month effort, which included 12 bi-weekly meetings between the parent and home visitor. The children ranged in age from two- to two-and-a-half-years-old at the outset, and we followed the families to six months post-intervention.
The TMP team has already put the wheels of our of feedback-driven-innovation-cycle in motion by hosting a focus group of participating parents. The goal of this meeting was to hear first-hand what TMP parents thought of the experience, with an eye toward improving the existing curriculum. The comments were overwhelmingly positive, with parents demonstrating a clear understanding of their role fostering their children’s early brain development, as well as mastery of the 3Cs: Conectarse, Conversar, y Compartir Turnos.
Said one TMP graduate of her experience, “Now I’m always looking for ways to interact and play more with my child. I find that we have a closer connection because of the program.” Said another, “I really see the difference in my child. He’s more social, confident, and independent.”
We look forward to sharing findings from the pilot in the coming months.
The Incubator Begins
The inaugural year of the Griffin Applied Economics Incubator is officially underway, with the TMW Center playing a critical leadership role. The year-long initiative, which is focused on expanding early childhood research with an emphasis on the science of scaling evidence-based interventions, is hosting a variety of events and producing a series of publications throughout the year.
One of the Incubator’s most exciting and ambitious projects is the development of an edited volume called “The Scale-up Effect in Early Childhood and Public Policy: Why interventions lose impact at scale and what we can do about it.” The volume brings together the latest and best research to address the fact that the great promise of evidence-based early childhood interventions has yet to be realized; that we have yet to achieve population-level change for children living in poverty.
Later this month, the TMW Center and the Griffin Applied Economics Incubator will host a two-day closed workshop for authors who are contributing to the project. Authors will present their chapters, receive feedback from one another, and work together to develop recommendations for the field. With a group of authors and attendees that includes accomplished economists, psychologists, physicians, field researchers, and early childhood practitioners, the workshop is certain to be lively, enlightening, and an important part of the book’s development. The result will be a volume that advances the efforts of those who are working to improve outcomes for millions of children across the world.
Any Time is 3Ts Time Campaign
We at the TMW Center are honored to continue our partnership with the PNC Foundation and their PNC Grow Up Great initiative with Any Time is 3Ts Time, a multimedia campaign that fosters knowledge and builds actionable skills that enable parents to promote their children’s foundational brain development. At the core is the 3Ts – Tune In, Talk More, and Take Turns – a simple, yet powerful tool that helps parents make the most of everyday interactions with their young children.
Any Time is 3Ts Time will allow us to have an impact on thousands of families across PNC markets through a community-driven suite of online, print, and in-person resources for families. This content, available in both English and Spanish, will mark the next phase of TMW’s evidence-based interventions, shown to have meaningful outcomes for children ages 0-3. As with everything we do, science will be at the heart of this work, guiding a data-driven approach to optimize our efforts and deepen parents’ learning.
Perhaps most exciting for us is that the first community to adopt Any Time is 3Ts Time will be our hometown of Chicago. In collaboration with Metropolitan Family Services, an organization that supports local families, we’ll roll out campaign resources including Let’s Talk!, a group program that aims to provide parents a greater understanding and mastery of 3Ts strategies. Beginning in January, we’ll pilot Let’s Talk! at 3 Metropolitan Family sites, with the cities of St. Louis and Lexington following in early spring.