The Effect of Home Based Head Start on the Language Development of Homeless Children
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Date
2013Author
Meinholz, Monica Marie
Publisher
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
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Show full item recordAbstract
Homelessness in the United States is a growing problem. One of the fastest growing segments of
the homeless population is young children. This study examined the effect of a weekly home
visiting program (Head Start or Early Head Start) using the Parents as Teachers Curriculum on
children’s language development. Children and families participated in 19 weeks of this home
visiting program conducted by CAP Services, Inc. After 11 and 19 weeks of receiving home
visits, the home visitors rated the children using widely held expectations in four developmental
objectives from the Teaching Strategies Gold assessment tool. These areas include: language
comprehension, following directions, engaging in conversation, and using social rules of
language. Widely held expectations are defined as a range of scores based on research that are
typical for most children within an age group. The hypothesis was: homeless children, with the
use of the Head Start or Early Head Start Home Based program, implementing the Parents as
Teachers Curriculum, will perform as well as their housed peers on the Teaching Strategies Gold
assessment system in the four language developmental objectives. No statistical significance
was found between the group of homeless and non-homeless children in any of the objectives
during the designated time periods which is consistent with the hypothesis. There was statistical
significance in the performance of homeless children from fall to winter in the areas of language
comprehension, following directions, and engaging in conversations. The percentage of children
meeting the widely held expectations increased in all of the objectives, which indicates program
effectiveness. More research is needed to determine if a program included rating periods more
than eight weeks apart would make more of an impact on the children’s development. This
would allow the family to be provided with additional home visits, which would increase the
exposure the children have to the curriculum. This would be difficult, however, due the transient
nature of the homeless population. Another research approach would be to examine
developmental objectives other than language for homeless children, or a population of children
that is not low income or homeless to determine if the children are making gains due to the
program or as a result of natural maturation and to compare the gains made by children with
higher socioeconomic status.