Toddling Toward Reading: Selected Quotes

Parker Child-Parent Center, Chicago

Sonja Griffin: We know that the more the parent works with the children at home, and the more involved they are, the more it carries over to the later grades.

Coralwood Diagnostic Center, Decatur, Georgia

Rebecca Blanton, Principal: The program originally began for students with special needs. But in about 1990 we realized that for children to learn from other children we needed some typically developing students in the building and it has worked great because both sets benefit from it.

Dr. Susan Neuman: The special needs child in very early years benefits tremendously from being in these classrooms. They develop friendships. They see how other children work. They learn to adapt and accept their own disability. And they learn to have peers who help them in certain ways.

Zavala Preschool, Corpus Christi

Dr. Rebecca Palacios: I think what people don't understand is how much work goes into a quality preschool program.

Dr. Rebecca Palacios: When we ask children to rise up to the higher standards, or higher expectations, they don't let us down… I think that the curriculum that we've developed is pretty demanding.

Denise Caldera: Before I started working with Dr. Palacios I thought preschool was about babysitting, and naps and playing but… these kids go through strict curriculum. By no means is it naptime and daycare.

Dr. Rebecca Palacios: I think being a clinical teacher to pre-service teachers is really important. We're seeing a huge shortage because a lot of these young teachers or new teachers leave within the first 3 to 5 years of their teaching experience. They cite that one of the things is lack of mentoring. They are not helped when they come into the classroom.

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