ERIC Number: EJ994312
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 9
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0009-4056
EISSN: N/A
Promoting Preschool Literacy: A Family Literacy Program for Homeless Mothers and Their Children
Di Santo, Aurelia
Childhood Education, v88 n4 p232-240 2012
Literacy programs often target preschool children who are from minority groups, are from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and are second language learners, as they are deemed to be at risk for academic difficulties. The family literacy program described in this article is unique in that it focuses on families who have an additional risk factor--homelessness. Compared with children living in permanent homes, homeless children suffer more from a lack of educational opportunities and from developmental delays (Raising the Roof, 2004) and deal with many stresses that other children do not experience. Children who are homeless deal with disruptions to their home, school, and family structure; consequently, they tend to perform poorly in school (Community Social Planning Council of Toronto, 2006). Thus, the aim of this project was twofold. The first was to offer, to preschool children living in precarious circumstances, literacy experiences that would result in sustained home exposure to reading and writing. The second was to empower their mothers by affirming their role as their preschool child's first literacy mentor. Offering the mothers an opportunity to engage in a family-based literacy program with their children exposed them to literacy strategies that they could then employ with their children; thus, the families could continue to engage in various quality family-based literacy activities after the program was complete. (Contains 1 table.)
Descriptors: Educational Opportunities, Risk, Family Literacy, Emergent Literacy, Family Structure, Preschool Children, Disadvantaged Youth, Homeless People, Family Programs, Program Descriptions, Mothers, Parent Role, Parent Child Relationship, At Risk Students, Academic Achievement
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A