TMW Center Newsletter September 2024

Parents Reflect on the Power of the 3Ts

Last year, 456 parents and caregivers participated in our group learning programs, 3Ts-Let’s Talk and 3Ts-Let’s Talk Dads. Since the launch of these programs, more than 1,100 parents have taken part, learned about the power of talk and interaction to boost early childhood development, and gained strategies for enhancing the brain-building interactions they share with their own little ones.

Research has confirmed that these 3Ts programs are effective at shifting parental understanding of early childhood development. And testimonials from participants are equally promising. A parent who recently completed the 3Ts-Let’s Talk program facilitated by our long-time partner organization Southwest Human Development, shared the following reflection: * My daughter has blown my mind with the words she’s started to use and she is more descriptive with explaining an object or asking for something. Like, she will say ‘Mommy, this a big blue ball and it’s heavy.’ She just turned two and can say full sentences like that because learning the 3Ts helped me to be more descriptive when I talk to her.

The lessons I’ve learned have totally shaped my frame of mind and made me aware of my own words and how they shape the growth of my child. I can never thank the TMW Center enough for the lessons and skills learned.*

This kind of feedback warms our hearts and inspires us to continue our efforts to deliver evidence-based resources and support to parents at scale. We are incredibly grateful to Southwest Human Development and their great team of facilitators, as well as the other partner organizations who help us bring 3Ts programs to life in communities across the country; and to PNC Grow Up Great, for supporting these programs from day one.

Research Spotlight

In case you missed it, our most recent study was published in Academic Pediatrics in June. This Randomized Control Trial assessed the effects of our 3Ts-Home Visiting Program and found not only that the program was effective at increasing parent-child interactions during toddlerhood, but that those increases led to enhanced language skills when the children reached preschool age.

What We’re Reading

In a new study published in Nature, Emma Hart and others investigate whether interventions to help eliminate income-related disparities in child development should focus on structural factors or individual factors. Importantly, the authors do so by asking the intended recipients of such interventions directly. In a sample of 281 mothers with young children and low incomes, most indicated that both types of interventions could be very helpful for supporting their children’s early development. These insights are vitally important and demonstrate that social scientists and others need not pick one approach over the other. This study reminds us of the importance of always centering the opinions and experiences of those we seek to support.

More

Read the rest of the September 2024 newsletter here.