On the Origins of Baby TALK

In January of 1986, leaders from Decatur's hospitals, libraries and schools met to discuss what they could do to encourage parents in the nurture of their children from the time of their babies' births. We sensed the need to establish a program of education and support, a program that would encourage parents in the all important work of nurturing their children.

The hospitals were interested because after seeing a family through the healthy delivery of their infants they felt a real commitment to sending the family home with information that will make their parenting successful.

The libraries were interested because they house a wonderful collection of resources for parents of small children, and regretted the fact that so many potential patrons were unaware of these resources.

The school district was interested because educators understand that the early years of life are the most instrumental in the development of a child's attitudes and abilities. "If we would get our parents to read to their preschool children fifteen minutes a day," wrote Ruth Love, Chicago School Superintendent in 1981, "we could revolutionize the schools."

The adult literacy project was interested because they know that illiteracy is cyclical, and that its ultimate solution is to instill a love of reading in children when they are very young, before they have become "failures."

We knew from the beginning that we wanted to give every baby a book to start his home library as a gesture that we hoped would encourage parents to read to their babies. Reading to small children not only aids in their language and cognitive development, but also promotes a closeness that is treasured by parents and children alike.

But just giving away books and printed materials, without a warm human being to make contact with these new parents, seemed unlikely to produce the result we were seeking: greater parental confidence and involvement in their babies' development. As we struggled to find a better way through a series of phone calls and meetings over the following months, Baby TALK (Teaching Activities for Learning and Knowledge) was born.

The group decided that we wanted a person to go to the hospitals to meet parents after their babies were born. This person would need to go to the hospitals frequently because mothers don't stay very long after delivery. She would talk to parents about infant development. She would encourage them to be observant of their babies' subtle changes in development. She would encourage them to talk to their babies, to sing to their babies, to play with their babies, and to read to their babies. And she would give them practical suggestions about how to do those things.

We set about planning how we would recruit and train volunteers to accomplish these tasks. However, the hospital representatives voiced the opinion that they preferred a professional in such a position. The committee agreed that, in order for it to be a success, a professional would be needed who would be committed to the program and willing to take responsibility for its definition and implementation. The director would need to be dedicated to the importance of early nurture, be knowledgeable about infant development and reading to young children, and have strong writing and spelling skills. Strength in fundraising would also be helpful!

With a director in place, the search for funding began, and by October 1, 1986, the first Baby TALK classes were held at Decatur's two hospitals. Three classes at each hospital have been held every week since that time, resulting in Baby TALK meeting approximately 2000 families each year.

Despite frequent classes at the hospitals, we soon learned that some mothers leave so soon after delivery that it was difficult to catch them. The nurses were willing to pass out gift books to them, but we wanted them to have some instruction as well.

So early in 1987 we produced a thirteen minute videotape for parents, "Babies & Books: A Joyous Connection." This videotape can be shown individually to parents, and has now been put into closed-circuit programming in the hospitals so that it is shown every day and may be viewed by any patient in the hospital.

The system of quarterly mailings was established and the mailings developed as our first babies became three, then six, then nine, and then twelve months old. Our first "Birthday Party" was held in October, 1987--a tradition that continues each month at Decatur Public Library.

As we became aware that many babies born in our hospital would be residents of out-lying communities, we began the process of involving the public libraries in surrounding communities. We purchased core collections of seventy excellent infant and toddler books for eleven small neighboring libraries. This year, we have expanded to include the entire Rolling Prairie Library System and its 45 communities and six additional hospitals.

Although new parents are bombarded with information about child development from diaper manufacturers and formula companies, we began to sense that there was a real dearth of information about reading to the very young and good books to use with babies. Parents seemed largely unaware of the wonderful body of titles especially created for little ones. To answer this need, we published Babies & Books: A Joyous Beginning in the spring of 1988. This parent manual was made more special by G. P. Putnam's Sons Publishing Company, when they granted us permission to use illustrations from Tomie dePaola's Mother Goose (1985.)