Looking for Literacy in All the Right Spaces: The Laundromat

Neuman, Susan B.; Portillo, Maya; Celano, Donna

doi:10.1002/trtr.1905

Cited by 14 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Adding artifacts and texts from actual community sites can prompt more realistic and richer play center pretense. Moving literacy play from classrooms to community outreach, Neuman et al (2020) created sociodramatic play centers in local laundromats and found a dramatic increase in literacy practices as children pretended to read books to their families or engaged environmental print on empty detergent bottles and laundromat signs.…”

Section: Relevant Recent Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serious Play for Serious Times

Wohlwend¹

2022

The Reading Teacher

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A contributing factor to the loss of play in many early childhood classrooms is a sharp separation between literacy learning as serious, even urgent, academic work and play as optional, socially‐beneficial‐at‐best, fun. To recenter play in the academic curriculum, early childhood educators must not only demonstrate how play benefits the existing literacy curriculum (the first half of this article), but we must also recognize play as an important early literacy in its own right with particular relevance for digital literacies (the second half of this article). The following sections review recent literacy research that provides support for recentering play in the early childhood curriculum. This review updates an already well‐established foundation of play‐based literacy research, adding current research that can help teachers integrate literacy play in early childhood settings. The article concludes with a framework for implementing play‐based early literacy in preschool through second grade classrooms.

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Section: Relevant Recent Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serious Play for Serious Times

Wohlwend¹

2022

The Reading Teacher

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“… Háblame Bebé (HB): HB ( https://apps.apple.com/us/app/h%C3%A1blame-beb%C3%A9/id1349793334 ) is a language-promoting smartphone application that encourages low-income Hispanic mothers to talk more to their children in their native Spanish with the goals of (a) improving their children’s early language environment, (b) promoting bilingualism, and (c) monitoring developmental milestones (Baralt et al, 2020 ; Baralt & Darcy Mahoney, 2020 ; Larson et al, 2020 ). The Family Read, Play, and Learn Spaces (FRPLS–Laundromat) Intervention: The FRPLS–Laundromat Intervention is an intervention delivered in laundromats ( https://laundrycares.org/family-read-play-learn-space-kits/ ) that uses families’ visits to the laundromat as an opportunity to engage in language-rich activity (Neuman et al, 2020 ). FRPLS kits acquired through funds provided by the National Laundry Association create a language-learning center context in laundromats for parents and children to use while waiting for their wash. Materials and laundry aligned talking tips are included to build vocabulary.…”

Section: Interventions At the Child/family Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Family Read, Play, and Learn Spaces (FRPLS–Laundromat) Intervention: The FRPLS–Laundromat Intervention is an intervention delivered in laundromats ( https://laundrycares.org/family-read-play-learn-space-kits/ ) that uses families’ visits to the laundromat as an opportunity to engage in language-rich activity (Neuman et al, 2020 ). FRPLS kits acquired through funds provided by the National Laundry Association create a language-learning center context in laundromats for parents and children to use while waiting for their wash. Materials and laundry aligned talking tips are included to build vocabulary.…”

Section: Interventions At the Child/family Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This interaction style has been the focus of a number of interventions for enriching children's language-learning environment for use by parents in their homes (Carta, 2018;Heidlage et al, 2019), as well as a number of city (Wong et al, 2020) and community contexts such as well-child visits in primary care (Mendelsohn et al, 2011), home visiting (Buzhardt et al, 2018), childcare and early education (Walker et al, 2020), laundromats (Neuman et al, 2020), libraries (Beecher & Van Pay, 2020), grocery stores (Irvin et al, 2019), and so on.…”

Section: Interventions At the Child/family Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Progress Toward a Multisectoral Community Intervention Approach to Prevention of the Word Gap

et al. 2021

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Children learn language through the interactions they have with their parents/caregivers beginning at birth. Hart and Risley ( 1995 ) discovered an inequity in the home language input children received from parents/caregivers. Children reared in low-income families received less input (conversations, turns) from parents than did children reared in more advantaged families. Less language input was linked to a disparity in children’s vocabulary learning by age 3. The long-term result of this social determinant of early language/literacy learning is a life trajectory of poor educational, economic, and health attainment for many children in families with limited resources, at vast cost to individuals, communities, and the nation. What is needed is an approach to word-gap prevention that is capable of achieving positive individual, community, and population outcomes. Translating research into practice, we developed the Bridging the Word Gap Community Action Planning Guide (BWG-CAPG) using a combined behavior-analytic, community psychology, and public health framework for this purpose (Greenwood et al., 2017 ). We also developed a progress-monitoring measure, the online BWG Community Check Box Evaluation System, to provide feedback on a community’s actions and progress in implementing their plan. Results from an initial pilot investigation within and across three community sectors in a large urban city were promising. BWG Community Check Box results indicated a number of desired outcomes: (a) capacity development and mobilization, (b) community implementation actions, and (c) community changes in practices, programs, and policies. Implications are discussed.

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“…Our initial evidence suggested that children engaged in 30 times more literacy‐related activities than those without (Neuman et al, 2020). At the same time, although we observed behaviors extensively, we did not measure increments of time and therefore, could not estimate how children’s time was allocated while in the play area, and whether it might promote the type of enrichment activities associated with literacy learning.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Literacy in Everyday Settings: Creating an Opportunity to Learn for Low‐income Young Children

Neuman

Knapczyk

2022

Reading Research Quarterly

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Persistent concerns about income and social inequality have raised questions about how to address opportunity gaps in access to literacy learning for lowincome young children. Recognizing the need to strengthen learning opportunities, this study examines how specially designed hybrid spaces within the 'everyday' place of a neighborhood laundromat might support children's literacy development. Twenty laundromats in high-poverty neighborhoods from a large urban city participated in the research: 10 in which small spaces were reconfigured to create literacy-related play settings; 10, in which remained "business as usual" control sites. Conducted over two phases, the 7-month study examined changes in children's literacy activities resulting from the physical design changes alone, and subsequent changes when combined with a trusted messenger, a public librarian, who assisted in their activities. Results indicated that these hybrid spaces dramatically increased children's time on literacy-related activities, especially when given adult assistance, averaging 47-minutes per child of sustained activity. These results suggest that intentionally-designed everyday spaces may play an important role in increasing young children's access to resources and opportunity to learn. L iteracy learning for young children is not bound in time and space. Everyday events, from simple routines to errands and chores can become catalysts for children's word learning and literacy-related activity (Roskos et al., 2003). Initiated by the child or other people, these activities may include talking, singing, pretending to read stories, scribbling and drawing, and are likely take place across many different settingsat home, in childcare and in the neighborhood (Teale and Sulzby, 1989). In these informal, day-to-day places children may begin to discover the many purposes for literacy, long before they develop the technical skills associated with its development.Over 80% of young children's time is likely to be spent in these informal settings (Meltzoff et al., 2009), compared to the 20% time in more institutional-like learning contexts such as childcare or preschool. Yet the bulk of the research in early literacy has typically taken place in these institutional settings under the influence and guidance of adults (National Early Literacy Panel, 2008). Rarely, however, have we examined how children can propel their own development. In its absence, we miss the opportunity to investigate literacy learning when it flows from the initiatives of the learners themselves in contexts that may have personal meaning and value for them.It may also overlook the influence of these informal activities on children's verbal skills and subsequent school readiness in the early years. In an analysis of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development

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Looking for Literacy in All the Right Spaces: The Laundromat

Cited by 14 publications

References 6 publications

Serious Play for Serious Times

Serious Play for Serious Times

Progress Toward a Multisectoral Community Intervention Approach to Prevention of the Word Gap

Early Literacy in Everyday Settings: Creating an Opportunity to Learn for Low‐income Young Children

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