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Project Sites - Dartmouth

DARTMOUTH - Semi-urban, Low income, High risk

BASE: Dartmouth Boys & Girls Club Preschool & Dartmouth Family Resource Centre

AGE: 4 - 5 years (Preschool) AGE: 0 - 5 years (Family Resource Centre)

ACTIVITIES: Enhanced Preschool Program Parent-Child Interactive Programs: Parent/Tot Interactive Rhyming Program Baby Talk (based on Keys to Caregiving) Parent Education Programs: You Make the Difference Speech-Pathology Consultations: Learning Language & Loving It Involving teachers as language facilitators

The Nova Scotia site was located at the Dartmouth Family Resource Centre, situated in a low-income area of North Dartmouth, which is part of Greater Halifax. Nova Scotia TLC³ hired a speech language pathologist to be the TLC³ coordinator and to work on a team basis with families and staff in this community-based, non-clinical setting. The TLC³ coordinator delivered programs, provided coaching to parents, trained staff and parent facilitators, and worked with staff to incorporate language and cognitive development strategies into all programs of the Family Resource Centre. A preschool program was established in partnership with the Dartmouth Boys and Girls Club, with programs and training to enhance language development. There were 21 spaces for children in the preschool, three of which were reserved for children with special needs. Approximately 84 children participated in TLC³ parent-child programs.

TLC³ programs covered the age range from infants to preschoolers:

• Baby Talk, a modification of the Keys for Care-giving Program to encourage a parent's sensitivity and responsiveness to baby's cues;
• You Make the Difference, which focuses on on developing children's communicative competence through parent-child interactions;
• Parent and Tot Program, which teaches rhymes, songs and stories, modified from the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program;
• TLC³ language-enhanced preschool where staff were trained in Learning Language and Loving It, parents were encouraged to be involved in the preschool, and the focus on language and literacy was knit into the fabric of the learning environment.

- Site Final Report - Executive Summary