The goals of this intensive, evidence-based home visiting model are to promote school readiness and academic success by strengthening parent-child verbal interaction and reading and play activities in the home. PCHP is for parents and their children ages 18 months to three years. Home Visitors help parents realize their role as their children’s first and most important teacher, generating enthusiasm for learning and verbal interaction through the use of engaging books and stimulating toys. Parents are encouraged to continue quality play and reading between visits with the books and toys they receive each week. This program is available in all Boston neighborhoods.
- A Home Visitor is matched with the family and visits them for half-an-hour, twice-a-week on a schedule that is convenient for the family.
- On the first visit of each week, the Home Visitor brings a carefully-selected book or educational toy, which is a gift to the family.
- In the twice-weekly home sessions with the parent (or other primary caregiver) and the child, the Home Visitor models verbal interaction, reading, and play activities, demonstrating how to use the books and toys to build language and emergent literacy skills and promote school readiness.
- Over the course of the two years in the Program, families acquire a library of children’s books and a large collection of educational and stimulating toys.
- Each Program Year or Cycle consists of a minimum of 23 weeks of home visits or 46 home visits.
To find out if you or a family you are working with is eligible, contact Lydia Brown.
To see a video segment about PCHP, click here. To learn more about this national program's outcomes, click here. To read about a Boston PCHP family, click on the article, attached below, from the National PCHP spring 2014 newsletter.