Baby TALK (Teaching Activities for Learning and Knowledge) is a community family support program curriculum which provides the framework to guide our family support specialists in nurturing school readiness and optimal child development by supporting infants and toddlers and their parents. Baby TALK employs a relationship-based approach to our work of coming alongside families. Flexible implementation allows us to use Baby TALK to fulfill the real needs of the community and families.

Who does the Baby TALK model serve?

PYC Baby TALK provides a universal approach to all families with children prenatally through age 3 with an emphasis on identifying and serving those families most at-risk.

BabyTALK Mission and Model...

Mission: To positively impact child development and nurture healthy parent-child relationships during the critical early years.

Model: Build....Screen....Identify.....Deliver

Build a system.. We hope to work with others in the community who support young families. PYC Baby TALK seeks to build “a trustworthy system” by collaborating and communicating with other family service providers.

Screen every family.. Casting a net over our community includes going where parents and children already are. Baby TALK’s Encounter Protocol enables us to learn about your family’s strengths and needs. Universal screening may include outreach to hospital prenatal services and obstetric units, WIC or pediatric clinics, and other community locations where families may be found.

Identify the need.. Learning about each family guides our family support specialists to affirm parent and child strengths and to strategize with parents about how to address family needs. Every parent and every child is unique and we consider individual resources which may meet their needs.

Deliver appropriate services.. We first offer home visits and family support to families who are most at-risk. Families with fewer risk factors may be served by group encounters through PYC's playgroups with ongoing efforts to re-examine the development of risk factors over time. All of our services, including home visits, may be offered to families as they are available.