Becoming Parents Program seeks study participants … PlayBright early learning curriculum … Vital statistics … and MORE …
Becoming Parents Program Seeking Study Participants
A local parenting research group is seeking couples to take part in one of several studies aimed at answering a common question: Do classes that teach moms, dads and parents-to-be ways to communicate better and resolve conflicts fulfill their quest to strengthen families? The federal Administration for Children and Families wants see if data gathered over several years make a compelling case that classes, like those offered by Seattle-based Becoming Parents Program, Inc., can help prevent the kinds of problems that social service agencies spend vast amounts of money and time trying to fix when families break up and children wind up neglected or abused.
To be eligible for the Supporting Health Marriages study, couples must be: married or in a committed relationship, expecting a baby or have a child, at least 18 years of age, English speakers, and make $60,000 per year or less. Participants take a series of parenting and relationship classes taught over several weekends or weeknights and meet monthly for a year with a nurse “family resource partner.” Dates and times vary to meet couples’ scheduling needs. After the program ends, participants will be periodically contacted by a survey company gathering data about their relationships through 2012. Becoming Parents, one of eight organizations across the country that’s involved in the study, provides transportation assistance, like cab rides or gas vouchers, and reimburses participating couples for child-care expenses.
Classes, which are free for participants, are taught at Becoming Parent’s offices (1016 E. Pike Street, Suite 110) in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. There also are classes for paying couples. They cost $385 for a 21-hour series. For more information, visit www.becomingparents.com or call 206-686-1880.
PlayBright Early Learning Curriculum
Children’s Home Society of Washington has developed a new line of easy-to-use early learning guidebooks for parents and preschool teachers. The PlayBright curriculum, developed by leading experts who reviewed hundreds of early brain and child development research findings, lays out simple explanation of developmental stages, suggests “brain-boosting” activities and toys that leading researchers have recommended, plus basic strategies to support learning. Three activity books ¬– for birth to 1-year-olds, 1- to 2-year-olds, and 2- to 3-year-olds – are organized around the four key ways babies’ brains develop: through feeling and connecting, sensing and moving, listening and talking, and thinking and remembering. The books offer simple reminders of very basic things parents can do to enrich their children’s experiences. The advice is easy to understand – it’s written from the baby’s perspective: “No matter what skill we are working on, please TALK! TALK! TALK to me! – this helps me learn language and eventually learn to read.”
Children’s Home Society of Washington is using the PlayBright books, published in both English and Spanish, in play-and-learn groups it offers at the more than 30 childcare, youth and family resource centers it runs throughout the state. And it’s promoting the curriculum to Head Start programs, preschools and parents, noting that an independent pilot study in 2008 showed that children whose caregivers and family members used PlayBright in its play-and-learn groups demonstrated improvements in knowledge, behavior and school readiness.
A Keys to Learning guide costs $39.95, and each of three activity books costs $29.95, with discounts for 10-book sets. For more information, go to www.playbright.org.
Vital Statistics
• 88,944 babies were born in Washington state in 2007. • 71 percent were delivered vaginally, down from 81 percent in 1992. • 29 percent were delivered via C-section, up from 19 percent in 1992. • Top 5 girl names: Olivia, Emily, Emma, Sophia, Isabella • Top 5 boy names: Jacob, Ethan, Alexander, Daniel, Logan
Source: Washington State Department of Health.
NEWS TO TALK ABOUT
New Technology Will Reveal More about How Babies Learn
At the Institute for Learning and Brain Science in Seattle, brain scans using nylon caps and suction cup-like electrodes read babies’ neural activity and reveal that little ones can recognize familiar faces and sounds within days after birth. The (Vancouver, Wash.) Columbian reports that next year, the institute’s researchers will be the first in the world to use a $2.5 million machine to test the faint magnetic fields that emanate from a child’s brain. The MEG machine will be able to identify precisely what part of the brain is stimulated when an infant interacts with, say, her mother vs. a stranger. Danielle Kassow, a researcher at Thrive by Five Washington, a public-private venture that works to improve early education across the state, says advances in brain research have confirmed older empirical research and pushed lawmakers to pay for early education programs.
C-Section Babies Fare Best When Born Close to Due Date
A recent study of U.S. births shows that babies delivered by Cesarean section do best if the surgery is performed no sooner than seven days before their due date. Those delivered earlier had more complications, including breathing problems, even though they were considered full term, researchers reported in The New England Journal of Medicine.
The study, by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, recommends that elective C-sections be scheduled after 39 weeks unless tests show an infant’s lungs are fully mature. Due dates are set at 40 weeks gestation, and infants are considered full term at 37 weeks. About 31 percent of U.S. babies are delivered by C-section. In 2006, a government panel urged women not to seek a C-section without a medical reason, since surgery brings risks, and babies born by Caesarean have a greater chance for respiratory problems.
Study: Prenatal Exposure to Traffic Pollution Could Increase Asthma Risk
U.S. researchers have found that traffic pollution may cause genetic changes in the womb that could increase a child’s risk of developing asthma. HealthDay News reports that University of Cincinnati and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health researchers found evidence of a possible new biomarker associated with prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are byproducts of carbon-containing fuels such as gasoline. Their findings, published in the journal PLoS One in February, point to a potential clue in predicting environmentally-related asthma in children, particularly those born to mothers who live in high-traffic areas.
See these and other headlines in the News to Talk About section of our Web site to stay current on the latest headlines of interest to parents.
Editor’s Note: We have corrected “C-Section Babies Fare Best When Born Close to Due Date” to note that the study recommends that elective C-sections be scheduled after 39 weeks of gestation, not 29 weeks as stated in the version that was published in our print edition and previously ran in the News to Talk About sectionof our Web site.
