About this item
With Thirty Million Words and other early language initiatives making headlines, the message is clear: Talking to young children matters. But how you talk to children makes a big difference - and this friendly, down-to-earth guidebook shows you how to engage with kids in ways that directly support their language skills and overall development. Developed by celebrated early education expert Betty Bardige, the second edition of this warm and wise book takes you on a fascinating tour through six stages in a child's language development - starting with baby babbles and ending with kindergarten literacy skills. You'll get critical new research and updates in every chapter, plus an invaluable toolbox of downloadable resources that help you put the strategies into practice.
About the Author
I am a developmental psychologist, educator, child advocate, author, and philanthropist. In my checkered careet, I've written poems for children, developed pioneering educational software to teach reading and math, authored middle and high school textbooks, done research on adolescents' moral thinking, written guidebooks for parents on children's play and computer use, and advised a number of early childhood, educational, and philanthropic organizations.Currently, I am vice-president of the A.L. Mailman Family Foundation, a medium-sized family foundation with national (US-only) reach. Focusing mainly on the early childhood years, the Foundation has played a catalytic role in efforts to improve our nation's early care and education systems. I am also president of the Brazelton Touchpoints Foundation, and serve on the advisory boards of several early childhood, parenting, and educational organizations.Talk to Me, Baby!, my most recent solo book, came out in 2009. I wrote it for parents and grandparents as well as for professionals. It's full of fun facts and research about the value of "play talk" and effective strategies for supporting young children's language development. Chapters that trace development from early infancy through beginning reading, feature vignettes, games, tips for talking with children, fun activities, rhymes, and children's questions, favorite books, and leaps in language, pretend play, social-emotional development, and emergent literacy.Last year I had the special privilege of revising All About Child Care and Early Education -- a text for early childhood educators that I had worked on with my mother -- with a team that now included my daughter, M. Kori Bardige, an early childhood special educator, trainer, and consultantFour of my books were published in 2005, At a Loss for Words, and three books that I coauthored with my mother, Marilyn Segal -- Building Literacy with Love, Poems to Learn to Read By, and All About Child Care and Early Education. Of those, Poems to Learn to Read By was the most fun to do. It's an ABC book as well as a poetry collection and a resource for parents, grandparents, teachers, and caregivers. Lately, I have been keeping busy conducting workshops and trainings, writing articles, and appearing on radio interviews to promote early childhood literacy and advocacy issues, related to the messages in all of my books, but most succinctly stated in At a Loss for Words. (My son says I have a new career as a keynote speaker.) If you would like more information about my work and my appearances, please visit my advocacy website, WWW.AWEALTHOFWORDS.COM.I live in Cambridge, MA, with my husband, Art Bardige, CEO of Enablearning, an educational software development company. We have three grown children, Kori, Brenan, and Arran.I am most concerned that nearly one fifth of young American children are living in poverty. Nearly a third of our children start school alrea
