REVISED PRINTS

The Revised PRINTS is off the press. A major change is that there are now 2 levels of Parent's Handbooks: Ages 0 to 2, and Ages 3 to 6. While the earlier version of PRINTS was intended for all pre-school age levels, there were few Activities for the very young children. As you are aware, the interaction between parents and children of 4 months, 8 months, or 1 year, is very different from the kind of interaction possible between parents and 3,4, or 5 year olds. Also, as you are aware, for the very early levels, parents will take a greater role in leading, modelling, talking, enabling, observing, and being patient. There are 37 Activities across the 5 PRINTS STEPS for parents of children ages 0 to 2.

The Parent's Handbook for children ages 3 to 6 very much resembles the earlier Parent's Handbook. There are now 45 Activities for this age level. However, what is significant is that for all levels, many of the Activities integrate literacy and health development, as both go hand-in-hand and health initiatives for young children are currently very prominent. It is often through health initiatives that project funding can be obtained.

The Facilitator's Handbook now includes Session Plans for parents at both age levels. If a facilitator works with a mixed age group, then he / she can pick and choose Activities across levels. Another addition to the Facilitator's Handbook is that at the end of the second Session for each STEP, there is a focus group discussion on some aspect of child development/mental health (for example, stress, expectation). Key or basic evaluation tasks are still found in the Facilitator's Handbook. However, all supplementary and research instruments for PRINTS/ early literacy are included in a separate book: Growing Into Literacy: Measurement and Research Instruments.

An official launch of the revised PRINTS will be held later.