A University of Notre Dame initiative emphasizing the importance of talking and singing often to babies has gotten another boost from the Lilly Endowment, this time aimed at spreading the program throughout the region and state.
The university’s Robinson Community Learning Center in 2023 won a Lilly grant to expand its Talk With Your Baby program. It’s based on a growing body of neurological research finding that children benefit greatly when their parents or caregivers talk to them frequently in their first three years of life.
The Memorial Health Foundation started the program in 2009 but the Robinson Center took it over in 2013. They’ve distributed over 22,000 books.
The 2023 grant of $500,000 let the center hire a full-time coordinator and two part-time parent educators, growing participation from 125 to 400 parents a year. On Thursday the center announced they’ve won a second, much larger Lilly grant of $3.7 million.
Among other things, the money will let them expand to Elkhart, Marshall and LaPorte counties, and develop a curriculum to be used by early care providers across Indiana.
"We know now from lots of research that this is an area that can really dramatically impact children and their schooling, their learning, for many years after birth to three," said Robinson Center Director Susan Devetski.
