Helping Head Start Parents Promote Their Children's Kindergarten Adjustment: The Research-Based Developmentally Informed Parent Program.
Head Start enhances school readiness during preschool, but effects diminish after children transition into kindergarten. Designed to promote sustained gains, the Research-based Developmentally Informed (REDI) Parent program (REDI-P) provided home visits before and after the kindergarten transition, giving parents evidence-based learning games, interactive stories, and guided pretend play to use with their children. To evaluate impact, two hundred 4-year-old children in Head Start REDI classrooms were randomly assigned to REDI-P or a comparison condition (mail-home math games). Beyond the effects of the classroom program, REDI-P promoted significant improvements in child literacy skills, academic performance, self-directed learning, and social competence, demonstrating the utility of the approach in promoting gains in cognitive and social-emotional skills evident after the transition into kindergarten.
The Pennsylvania State University.
Karen L
KL
Bierman
The Pennsylvania State University.
Janet A
JA
Welsh
The Pennsylvania State University.
Brenda S
BS
Heinrichs
The Pennsylvania State University.
Robert L
RL
Nix
The Pennsylvania State University.
Erin T
ET
Mathis
D000328:Adult; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006792:House Calls; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010290:Parents; D012917:Social Adjustment