Mother Goose on the Loose - Goslings

The Mother Goose on the LooseGoslings program Goslings was developed to address the need for early language and literacy intervention for medically complex infants and the need for additional parental support in the neonatal intensive care unit NICU.1 The program has two primary goals: 1 provide parents with the knowledge, skills and tools to promote early language and literacy through talking, reading, singing and reciting nursery rhymes to their infants; and 2 emphasize the bidirectionality of parentinfant communication by informing parents how to interpret and sensitively respond to infant signals that indicate to a caregiver the infants needs and readiness for interaction. A recent study revealed that Goslings is highly successful in meeting its goals.2 Three major themes emerged from the quantitative and qualitative data. First, the program provided parents with the guidance and materials to promote early language and literacy. Second, the program increased parents confidence in interpreting their infants signals of readiness for interaction. Third, parents intentions to implement what they learned from Goslings increased significantly from their reported behaviors prior to the program. Among those parents interviewed one to two weeks following the program, there was a reported increase in engagement in early language and literacy activities, especially talking and singing to their infants in ways that were responsive to their infants signals and medical status. The purpose of this project is to use the results from this study to revise the Goslings Song and Rhyme Booklet, create a Goslings Instructional Guide, develop a web-based Goslings registration and information page, and to convene a focus group of parents and professionals to obtain feedback prior to finalizing the materials. At the conclusion of the project, the Goslings Song and Rhyme Booklet and Goslings Instructional Guide will be accessible, at no charge, on the NNLM.gov website.