Supporting Social and Emotional Learning Through Parent-Child Interactions

Supporting Social and Emotional Learning Through Parent-Child Interactions

Roselia Ramirez: Hi everyone, and welcome to the home visitors webinar series. We are so happy that you've joined us today. My name is Roselia, and I am one of your host presenters for this series. I'm here with my colleague Adriana, and we're from the National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching and Learning, or DTL. Adriana, it's so good to see you. How about you tell our guests what we have in store for them today?

Adriana Bernal: Hi, Roselia. I am really excited about the topic we have for our session today. The research tell us that a strong social and emotional foundation in the early years impacts children's attitudes, their behavior, how they perform academically as well as their overall health outcomes as adults. So, today, we're going to talk about supporting social and emotional learning through parent-child interactions.

Roselia: I agree, Adriana. We have a great topic today. As home visitors, we have a unique opportunity to support parents in establishing and developing a foundation for positive relationships. I'm also really excited about our guest speaker for our session today. She may be a familiar face to many of you, as she has presented in this series in the past. We will be welcoming Randi Hopper from DTL, and she's going to be joining us to share some research and knowledge on this very topic. But hey, Adriana, why don't you share with our audience our learning objectives for today?

Adriana: Sure, Roselia. In our session today, there are two key points that we will be focusing on. First, we will share research, and then we will transition into identifying practices and strategies that support social and emotional learning through parent-child interactions. We will highlight two resources that support social and emotional learning through parent-child interactions.

Roselia: Speaking of frustration, when we become frustrated or overwhelmed, it's difficult to remain focused and calm. We need to take care of ourselves, so that we have the physical and the emotional energy to take care of others. One of the strategies that we have committed to incorporating into our webinar series is mindfulness. With practice and time, this technique can help you to become more aware of your thoughts, your feelings, different sensations and the environment around you. We know that all of these can contribute to stress. The goal is to support how you refocus and recenter on the present instead of the past or the future. Deep breathing is a technique that takes just seconds to help clear your mind and to focus on one task at a time. For our deep-breathing exercise today, we're going to pretend that we're smelling beautiful flowers as we inhale and then blowing out a candle as we exhale. Visuals can be a great tool to remind us of how important both of these aspects of this exercise are so that inhale as well as the exhale. The visuals also work great for teaching this practice to young children. The important thing to remember is to try and match the time of your inhale to that of your exhale. So, counting to four can be a great tool as you inhale and then matching that to four counts as you exhale.

So, let's take a few deep breaths together, clear our minds, and commit to focusing on the next hour together. Think about what you would like to take away from our time together, and try to turn off the many thoughts that are running through your head, and just focus on your breathing. So, let's try that together. Let's take that deep inhale and count to four. [Inhales deeply] And then match those counts as you exhale. Let's try that one more time. [Inhales deeply] Inhale ... And exhale.

We want to invite you to make a commitment to take care of yourself. In your participant's guide, write down three things that you will commit to do this month to take care of yourself.

Adriana: All right. Now that we have clearer minds, let us begin with looking at some of the research from "From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development.” Many of you might be familiar with this research in that research. In that resource widget you will find resource links that includes the link to the full document. We know from this research that development in the early years is both strong as well as a vulnerable period. We know that children are born wired for feelings, and they are ready to learn. What happens during the early years provides a blueprint from the later years. We know that all areas of development are intertwined, and overall development can be compromised when children are experiencing social, regulatory, or emotional impairments. During these early years, environments matter, and nurturing relationships are essential. This research tells us that every aspect of development is affected by the environment and the experiences the children grow and try in the context of relationships.

Roselia: The science of early brain development is indeed critical to the work that we do, and we also know from research that these early years are the most important years in the child's development. Over the course of childhood, we build our brains. This massive construction project is a result of both our biology and our experiences. Our biology provides the neurons, the mechanisms to connect them, and defines the structure of the brain. Our brains look very similar to the naked eye, yet at the microscopic level, it is our experiences that influence how our brains are wired. Our experiences guide which neural connections form and which ones will be removed. The more frequent an experience, whether it's positive or negative, the stronger those connections will grow. This combination of biology and experience contributes to all aspects of a child's development.

OK, so this seems like a great place to pause and to watch a video that explains what is happening in the brain as those early experiences are taking place. Some of you may be familiar with this video from the Center on the Developing Child. So, let's take a look, and we invite you to take some notes in your participant's guide as you watch.

[Video begins]

Man #1: A child's experiences during the earliest years of life have a lasting impact on the architecture of the developing brain. Genes provide the basic blueprint, but experiences shape the process that determines whether a child's brain will provide a strong or weak foundation for all future learning, behavior and health.

During this important period of brain development, billions of brain cells called neurons send electrical signals to communicate with each other. These connections form circuits that become the basic foundation of brain architecture. Circuits and connections proliferate at a rapid pace and are reinforced through repeated use. Our experiences and environment dictate which circuits and connections get more use. Connections that are used more grow stronger and more permanent. Meanwhile, connections that are used less fade away through a normal process called pruning. Well-used circuits create lightning-fast pathways for neuro signals to travel across regions of the brain. Simple circuits form first, providing a foundation for more complex circuits to build on later. Through this process, neurons form strong circuits and connections for emotions, motor skills, behavioral control, logic, language and memory during the early critical period of development.

With repeated use, these circuits become more efficient and connect to other areas of the brain more rapidly. While they originate in specific areas of the brain, the circuits are interconnected. You can't have one type of skill without the others to support it. Like building a house, everything is connected, and what comes first forms a foundation for all that comes later.

[Video ends]

Roselia: This is a powerful video that really illustrates the importance of the early experiences and the environment. At this time, I'd like to welcome our guest speaker, Randi Hopper, to talk more about why relationships matter. Randi, thank you so much for joining us today. Welcome back to the home visitor webinar series. Can you tell us more about why relationships matter?

Randi Hopper: Relationships are so important because children learn within the context of the relationships they have with others. And in those relationships, especially the ones with their parents, they learn how they are supposed to interact and respond to others and how their actions impact others. So, within the relationships, children learn a sense of identity and a sense of belonging as well as family language, culture, traditions, and routines. So, as positive relationships are formed and maintained, children develop a sense of trust with the adults around them, and this allows them to explore the world. They know that those adults are there for them, and they're going to support them. So, home visitors have a unique opportunity to support positive parent-child relationships through a parallel process. How a home visitor understands and responds to a family supports how that family is going to understand and respond to their child. So, sustaining reflective and positive relationships with the family then allows that family to support and sustain a positive relationship that's going to nurture growth and development for that child throughout their entire life.

Adriana: Thank you, Randi. You brought up some very important points about why relationships matter. When I reflect on the video as well as the key points that you share, as home visitors, we really have an opportunity to impact the quality of early learning experiences and influence learning and development through the parent-child interactions.

Now, we're going to do a small activity. If you feel comfortable, close your eyes, and I will just read to you this quote: "One generation of deeply loving parents will change the brain of the next generation and with that, the world.”

One of the most important things a parent can do is have a nurturing, responsive relationship with the child. What an opportunity we have. As home visitors, you can help parents develop and grow their knowledge and their confidence to provide nurturing and responsive relationship with the child.

Roselia: This is a great segue into the next portion of our talk today. You know, Adriana, something that I think is important to mention is that when we talk about developing parents' knowledge and confidence, we're really talking about enhancing or strengthening these areas. As home visitors, we're looking through our strengths-based lens, and we're supporting parents to do the same because we know that that can be difficult when we have many stressors around us. So, let's take a deeper look at how parent-child interactions influence social and emotional development and learning. Before we begin, let's take a moment and reflect, and in your participant's guide think about how you define social and emotional developments.

Research tells us that positive social and emotional development in the early years provides a critical foundation for lifelong development and learning. We often talk about social and emotional development, but what do we mean by each of these components? Social development refers to a child's ability to create and sustain meaningful relationships with adults and with other children, but what about emotional development? I'm going to ask my partner to tell us more about this.

Adriana: Yeah, sure, Roselia. Emotional development is a child's ability to express, recognize and manage his or her emotions as well as to respond appropriately to others' emotions. Both social and emotional development are important for young children mental health, and in fact, social and emotional development is in integral part of early childhood mental health.

Also, positive social and emotional development is important when children are ready to learn when they have confidence, the capacity to development good relationships with peers and adults, concentration and persistence with challenging tasks and the ability to effectively communicate emotions, listen to instructions, be attentive, and solve social problems.

Roselia: Absolutely. Young children are social creatures born to learn and social interactions with others, even with strangers. Families know their children more than anyone else and are indeed the most important educators in their lives. Young children can learn so much from adults that they are familiar and comfortable with. Being familiar with the adult effects the social relationship with that adult and therefore the child's learning. When children are familiar with the adult, it increases the number of interactions and opportunities for learning as well. So, what this means for home visitors is that establishing strong relationships between the parent and child enhances and supports children's learning and social-emotional development.

In addition, for teachers who may be listening in today, supporting parent-child relationships may be something that you're placing more emphasis on during remote or hybrid education programming. Be sure to talk with your home visitors in your program about strategies that they use to support families as they support their child's learning. We also invite you to lean in on some of the additional resources that we're sharing throughout this series to support your work with children and their families. You might be wondering what this might look like. Effective parent-child interactions are responsive and sensitive to children's interests, their natural abilities, and they're predictable and consistent. Adriana, how about you share some adult behaviors that are characteristic of effective interactions?

Adriana: Yes, of course. We know that in our work as home visitors what set us apart from the center-based program option — aside from us getting to go into the family home every week — is that our work is done through the parent. We are working to support their confidence in child-development knowledge that will ultimately impact parent behaviors, and for teachers on our webinar today, you are probably experiencing this slightly or not very slightly but different way of working due to offering virtual services. The key point that we want to make here is the importance of not only recognizing but supporting the parent-child relationship regardless of in-person or remote services. Here are a few parent behaviors that positively impact child development and reinforce why it is so important for us to support parent-child relationship and positive interactions.

No. 1 is affection, warmth, physical closeness, positive expressions toward child. Affection is related to outcomes such as less antisocial behavior, better adjustment, more compliance, and greater cognitive ability and more school readiness. We have responsiveness, responding to a child's cues, emotions, words, interests, and behaviors. How does responsiveness relate to children's social and emotional development? It's so when caregivers demonstrate responsiveness, it is associated with child's outcomes such as secure attachment, improved cognitive and social development, increased language development, increased behavior problems and better emotion regulation and empathy. We have also encouragement. Encouragement is defined as an active support of exploring effort, skills, initiative, curiosity, creativity, and play. How does encouragement relate to children's social and emotional development? When caregivers demonstrate encouragement, children show less negativity. They demonstrate a willingness to try challenging tasks, increased cognitive and social development and better language development. We have also teaching. Teaching … We are referring to shared conversation and play, cognitive stimulation, explanations and questions. How does teaching relate to children's social and emotional development? Positive outcomes associated with teaching includes increased cognitive and social development, better language development, more conversations, and more emerging-leader skills. Now, we have talked about teaching. We also want to approach discipline as a means of teaching. We can share strategies with families who are interested in ways to focus on positive behaviors children exhibit. This can be a powerful message for parents or families who want their children to be at their best and do well, right? Play and have fun together, lastly, we want to encourage and support parents to play and have fun with their children. When we think about the impact on social and emotional development, what feels good for the child will likely repeat. We want to think about how we can support families to be proactive and set their children up for success by managing realistic expectations and communicating these behavioral expectations during play and other times when children are relaxed and open to learning.

Roselia: You know, Adriana, I think it's also important that we remember that effective and positive parent-child interactions may look quite distinct and unique within each family. There are a wide range of caregiving styles, playful interactions and emotional responses that all support healthy child development. Parents' responses to children's cues and behavior differ. This may depend on their own temperament, their personal history, their current life situation and their cultural goals and beliefs. Their responses also may vary with their gender. We know that mothers and fathers influence their child's social-emotional development and future academic success in unique ways. Remember that your normal may not be what is normal for others. We must take the time to learn and ask questions and remember that we're partnering with the family to achieve those positive outcomes.

Take a moment and think about the families that you serve and then jot down some of those key considerations that come to your mind or that you have seen regarding these differences. Taking the time to reflect and write down these sort of differences is a strategy that can support our intentional approach to how we respond to something different than what we're accustomed to. Adriana, while folks are jotting down their ideas, why don't you talk about some of the outcomes from positive parent-child interactions?

Adriana: Sure, Roselia. Positive parent-child relationships that are developed through consistent warm and nurturing interactions are central to our work in Head Start and Early Head Start because they are connected to positive outcomes for children. Positive parent-child relationships provide the foundation for children's learning. With parents' sensitive, responsive, and predictable care, young children develop the skills they need to succeed in life. Research shows that early parent-child relationships have a powerful effect on children's emotional well-being, their basic coping and problem-solving abilities, and their future capacity for relationships. Through these interactions, children learn skills they need to engage with others and to succeed in different environments. They learn how to manage their emotions and behaviors and establish healthy relationships with adults and peers. They also learn how to adjust to new situations to resolve conflicts.

What are some additional outcomes that you might expect to see? Take a moment and write those down in your participant's guide.

Roselia: OK, and while you have your thinking caps on and are jotting down some of those ideas, I want to note that when parents are sensitive and responsive to children's cues, they contribute to that coordinated back-and-forth of communication between parent and child. These interactions help children develop a sense of self, and they model various emotional expressions as well as emotional regulation skills such as self-calming and self-control. Families can engage in everyday learning activities even with very young children and help them to develop lifelong motivation, persistence, and a love of learning.

Adriana: OK, let's keep moving forward and shift gears now. Now that we've seen that the way to promote positive child development in home-based programs is for the home visitor to support the parent in positive parenting through their interactions, let's spend some time looking at effective practices home visitors need to use to make this happen. So, in your participant's guide, we encourage you to take some notes as we go through each practice.

Roselia: OK. That's right, Adriana. In this next section, we're going to spend some time exploring, four of the most effective home visiting practices that have been identified from a meta-analysis of multiple evaluations that have shown that these four key home visiting practices effectively increase parents' developmental support for their infants and young children.

OK, so the first one is establishing a positive relationship with the parent, the child and other participating family members. The second one is responding to each family's unique strengths and culture, and then we have facilitating developmentally supportive parent-child interactions. And lastly, establishing a collaborative partnership with the parent to support the child's ongoing development. We're going to spend some time looking at each of these practices in this section of our presentation, but before we get into each of these practices, I'm going to invite my colleague to highlight a couple of resources that we want to kind of weave into this work.

Adriana: Yeah, thanks, Roselia. The two resources that we want to highlight to support your work with families to enhance experiences that provide opportunities for the child's development throughout the learning as well as engagement in interactions that are responsive and nurturing are the Effective Practice Guides and ELOF@Home. If you are not familiar with the Effective Practice Guides, they are organized in four components of learning: how, see, do, and improve. In addition, practices are grouped into three categories: interactions, environments, and individualization. The Effective Practice Guides are broken up into four central domains. These are approaches to learning, social and emotional development, language and literacy, and cognition. Now, social and emotional domain is further broken down into subdomains which is what you see on the screen now. We will focus on the relationship with adults portion of this domain, but we encourage you to visit ECLKC to gain full use of the resource. You will find the link to this resource as well as others in the resource document provided in the green widget.

Roselia: Thanks for sharing those resources, Adriana. I agree that they will support the ongoing work of home visitors in use of these practices. OK, so let's get going with exploring each of these practices. Establishing a positive relationship with the parent, the child, and other participating family members is the first one, and here are some strategies or things that you can do to support this process. First, by showing warmth and acceptance and being respectful and showing courtesy, we can pave the way for building a trusting relationship. And then, by being flexible and open to other viewpoints, we can be supportive, and we can meet the families where they are. This helps us to maintain that relationship. We want to use our active listening skills. This is the ability to listen without interrupting and then letting the other person know that we are listening.

As we develop a trusting relationship, we know that families will share their needs, particularly right now during this time of uncertainty in which we find ourselves. This may push the boundaries of our home visiting role. Although challenging, home visitors can support families who may need additional help beyond what you deliver in your role as a home visitor, so these are things such as mental health, nutrition, or food insecurity. By collaborating with your colleagues or other program staff such as family social workers or mental health consultants, we can connect families to these and other supports that they may need to help them be fully present and engaged in their child's social and emotional learning and development.

Adriana, can you share some specific strategies on how a home visitor might go about implementing some of these practices?

Adriana: Sure, Roselia. One strategy that I think is basic to support these positive parent-child interactions is to remind families how important it is to respond to children's positive and negative emotions in ways that they acknowledge their children's feelings. When you see families responding to children, be sure to acknowledge their interactions with their child saying things like, "I see that you gave Maria access to the object she wanted when she was crying. Did you notice how she responded when you read her cues and met her needs? Now, let's think about what you and Maria can do together now that she's able to grab objects.”

It is also helpful for us to explain how the parents' interaction is supporting their child's social and emotional development. So, in this example, we could share with the parent how they reinforce Maria's ability to be an effective communicator by responding to her cue. That she's learning that her communication can tell you what she wants. We also need to be flexible and open to family's point of view when it comes to child development and child-rearing. For example, one program is required to ask about, say, sleeping practices, and if families feel that their child needs to sleep with them until they are older, embrace their practice. You can say things like, "I see how this practice can reinforce your child's attachments and sense of security until she's ready to be by herself.” You also need to meet families where they are and build from there. For example, if they are not a family that shows affection towards children by smiling back and using gentle nurturing touch, you can support them by modeling activities where that practice is supported and literature that speaks about the benefits of physical contact and responsive practices. Another strategy is to always use your active listening skills to communicate effectively with families. We know that especially now their needs are changing often, and we need to carefully listen to them in the way that we're also reinforcing the importance of communication and can emphasize the idea of observing their own interactions with their child by always responding to a verbal or nonverbal communication before acting and to demonstrate a respect by being at the child's eye level whenever possible and listening closely until your children have finished talking. Celebrate those parent-child interactions by saying things like, "Wow, did you notice the look in Sammy's eyes when you responded to his question? Let's now brainstorm some of the ways that you can expand those conversations with your child.” Those are some of the strategies, Roselia.

Roselia: Those are great suggestions, Adriana, and ones that can easily be incorporated. I like how your suggestions really draw attention to being present in the moment and celebrating changes as we see them happening. So, let's talk a little bit about the second practice of responding to each family's unique strengths and culture. So, here are some ways to do this. We often tend to acknowledge individual strengths, right? But we want you to open up that lens and acknowledge the strengths of the family as well, and then develop culture humility. Culture humility is really our commitment to be respectful and open to learning about each family's culture. We might have some cross-cultural competence based on our own life and our work experiences, but since all families are unique, it's important to always be open to learning more and be careful not to make assumptions. There are often cultures within cultures, and then we want to show openness to adapting practices based on the family's preferences and encourage parents to share in the decision-making. Make it a goal to approach families as equal and reciprocal partners. We want parents to be confidence and embrace their unique strengths as well as their culture, so that they can then instill this confidence in their children.

Adriana: Yeah, that's a great point, Roselia. Facilitating developmentally supportive parent-child interactions is at the heart of the work we do as home visitors, and this is the next practice that we want to talk about. This is a skill set that may be challenging as you develop expectations with the parents, and the parents learn to understand your role.

Here are some ideas that increase parent-child interactions and having the parent take the lead in plan activities. Plan activities together and capitalize on the strengths you have been observing to engage the parent. Comment on the child's development, what the child is doing and link it to development. Use open-ended questions about the child's development. Use materials that are found in the home, so the parent see that you don't need fancy, expensive toys to promote learning and development, or consider what happens when you leave with the materials. Using the materials in the home gives parents the sense that they have the possibility of using what is available to them. Everyday materials and objects allow children to explore and learn in the context of their environment with spurring creativity and supporting open-ended learning.

If you are interested in learning more about this strategy, please see the iPD and take the Leave the Bag challenge. This information can be found at the resource document provided. Lastly, as you develop relationships with the parents, consider using videotaping and providing this to the parent when they are together and engaged in activity, and use that video to talk to actions that went well, what could have been done differently and to ask questions about the child's development. We want to be careful when we use this strategy because we do not want parents to feel that we're judging them or evaluating their interactions with their child. Through the facilitation of effective parent-child interactions, we are developing the parents’ and the child's ability to create and sustain meaningful relationships as well as developing the ability to express and respond to emotions.

Roselia: All right, so this brings us to the last practice that we want to explore which is establishing a collaborative partnership with the parent. Establishing a collaborative partnership with the parent is a good way to keep families engaged and to emphasize the importance of their role in your work together. Establishing a collaborative partnership is also where you can establish boundaries in your work as a home visitor. Take the time to define what your role is in their partnership as well as to how you will connect families to other supports that they may need, and then determine how to best partner during your time together in ways that help families support their child's development and growth.

So, here are some strategies that you can implement to support collaboration. First and foremost is planning jointly. Build in the time to reflect on how the activities went together, and then ask parents what they observe and what they think will happen next. Be sure to listen to parents before sharing your own approach. But how do these practices impact social and emotional development? Adriana, how would you respond to that question?

Adriana: Well, Roselia, I think that this practice really intertwines with the improved competent of learning. When we develop that collaborative partnership with the parent, we can reflect and provide feedback in a manner which is not intimidating or threatening to the parents. So, we can provide suggestions not only based on our observations but based on what the parent is interested in and what we can plan with the parent and develop action steps that will support achieving the desired outcome, ultimately enhancing their confidence in supporting the overall development of the child.

Roselia: I really like how you pointed out that our goal is to support the parent in enhancing their confidence, which ultimately with consistency and practice, we will see those positive parenting practices in action. So, here are some examples of the positive parenting practices that you might see as parents develop their confidence. Parents see how they influence their child's development. They view themselves as competent. Parents recognize that they have what they need to be good parents, and they recognize and support their children's emerging strengths as well as their skills. We do not want to make any assumptions, and we're not saying that the confidence is not there, but what we know is that some parents need that additional support and reassurance for that confidence to surface.

So, take a moment now and jot down some additional parenting practices that you might see or have seen with your families.

Adriana: This is a good spot for us to share a video. In your participant's guide, we want you to jot down what you see happening with the home visitor as well as the parent. Think about the practices we just talked about.

[Video begins]

Boy: Oh, my gosh.

Girl: Excuse me.

Woman: You're OK. You're OK. Sebastian?

Boy: I'm under the dinner table.

Woman #2: You pushed the chair while your sister is sitting there.

Boy: No, I didn't. No, I didn't.

Woman 2: You're OK, Evelyn.

Boy: I was doing this. I didn't do that. Mommy.

Woman #2: OK. OK, Sebastian. Go sit down please.

Boy: She did.

Woman #2: OK, go sit down please. I will pick up the rest of the beads later.

Boy: As she stands up, she push it.

Woman #2: No.

Boy: When you stand up, you –

Woman #2: You OK, Evelyn?

Boy: Mommy, look.

Woman #3: She's a trouper.

Woman #1: She is a trouper.

Boy: When you do this …

Woman #2: OK, buddy. I don't want you doing that, please. Sit down.

Boy: She was pushing the chair.

Woman #2: OK.

Woman #1: So, like, when Evelyn gets scared like that, what are some things that you do that kind of help calm her down and bring her back?

Woman #2: I comfort her. I do. I baby her …

Man #2: Mommy.

Woman #2:  ...because she is my baby. I don't like anything to happen to her. Just like I don't like anything to happen to him. When he's playing outside and he gets hurt, I'm all, like … [Sobs] I feel like a little baby myself.

Woman #1: Do you feel like she's even able to comfort herself now that she's gotten a little older? Sometimes?

Woman #2: Sometimes she can, and sometimes she needs Mommy. Or she needs Daddy to comfort her.

Boy: Or she needs her brother.

Woman #1: Or she needs her brother. But even if I felt she can comfort you, that comfort shows that you guys have that secure attachment, so that's good.

[Video ends]

Adriana: So, what do you think about the video? We have provided some reflection questions for you to consider and write down some thoughts in your participant's guide. Think about some things that the home visitor did well, and then what are some things that could have been done differently?

There is one more strategy that we want to share with you, and that is involving the whole family in your home visits. One of the best ways to engage families is to invite not only fathers but the whole family to participate in home visits. We know that most early childhood homes visits, they target mothers for enrollment, but engaging the whole family in services can help families achieve desired program outcomes. For example, mothers might be more engaged in and stay enrolled in home-visiting services longer when fathers and other family members in the household participate in visits and display positive attitudes. This is a great place to engage our guest speaker, Randi. Randi, what can you tell us about involving the whole family in home visiting, and what are some practices that home visitors can implement?

Randi: Well, home visits are definitely a great place to engage with the whole family because children learn through the interactions that they have with each person in their home. So, when we engage the family, we need to make sure that the whole family is embraced in that relationship, acknowledging that they are in the home, they are in the child's life as well as their role in supporting that child's learning. So, children may have preferences about the activities that they do with certain people such as cleaning with dad, counting with mom, reading with grandma, and we need to make sure that we discuss each of these different activities that children enjoy doing with these people as well as keeping them in mind when we're jointly planning home visit and socialization activities, and some activities that may be less fun for adults, like chores, are very enjoyable for children. And we want to keep this in mind because things like matching socks and tossing them in a basket or making bubbles with soap to wash toys are great learning opportunities, and it allows to create so many positive memories.

Storytelling is another great opportunity to promote creativity as well as the use of language. So, whether you're just reading a book as its written, using the pictures to tell your own story or using imagination to make the whole thing up, all of it supports learning. And no matter the activity, we want to encourage families to engage in engaging and descriptive language and to make sure we're giving that opportunity for give and take or serve and return interactions. Reminding parents that it's really important to pause, wait for their child to respond in their own way during an interaction, so whether that it a nonverbal response like, just pointing or a babble, a word or a whole sentence. Allowing children to identify that spot in the interaction or conversation really helps to encourage a sense of self as well as promote the use of language, and lastly, we want to encourage families to stay in the moment, follow the child's lead and interests, and children really want to be with the people around them, and they learn so much from them that they really want to be a foundation for support.

Roselia: Thank you, Randi. That was some really great information. Following the child's lead is so important, and I really like how you took about storytelling. You know, I can tell you the impact that it had on my life hearing stories from my grandmother when I was growing up. We want to make sure that we have some time to answer some questions, so we're going to move into sharing just a few additional resources. Adriana, what are some of those resources that we want to share?

Adriana: In the resource widget, you will find a document with links to resources on this topic. We want to be sure to mention that Relationship-Based Competencies to Support Family Engagement for Professionals who Make Home Visits. This resource provides knowledge, skills, and individual practices that home visitors need to engage with parents and families.

There is also a brand-new resource released by the National Home Visiting Resource Center is the 2020 Home Visiting Yearbook, the national and state-by-state look at early childhood home visiting. The publication presents 2019 data from evidence-based and emerging home visiting models and from state agencies to highlight where programs operate; families they serve and the families who could benefit but are not being reached; state, tribal and modeled profile services delivered by state awardees of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. Use this to navigate the NHVRC site to access data and download your publication including the yearbook summary. For the first time, the NHVRC is also offering a downloadable file of key home visiting service data. Visit their page to browse this and other resources. Then, lastly, we want to encourage you to continue to visit the ECLKC coronavirus prevention and response page for latest news, updates, and resources.

Roselia: All right. Thanks, Adriana. I want to quickly remind our home visitors as well of these three resources that are available to help them stay connected and expand on their knowledge. First is the MyPeers home visiting community. If you're not already a member, we encourage you to join, so that you can share and receive information with your peers. Then we have the Individualized Professional Development Portfolio, or the iPD, which offers self-paced courses, including the Leave the Bag challenge that Adriana mentioned to you earlier, and then we have the Text 4 Home Visitors. Home visitors can sign up to receive these text messages that are filled with information. So, we do invite you to share and then utilize any of those resources as well.

Adriana: Yes, I want to remind our audience that the ECLKC is a great place to search for resources to support your work. We sometimes forget that we have these available to us. Join Roselia and me as we answer some of your questions about the topic we just presented on.