Messages From Home

"Leading scholars disagree about the value of home-visiting services in improving child development. This book presents an evaluation of one of our nation's oldest and most theoretically sound home-visiting programs, adding evidence that home visiting is a worthwhile strategy for the early years. Must reading for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers."
—Edward Zigler, Ph.D., Sterling Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, Yale University

"This new edition of Messages From Home documents Dr. Phyllis Levenstein’s unique understanding of the importance of early parent-child relationships and the value of creating language-rich home environments. The forty years of evaluation summarized in the book demonstrate that the program is as effective and relevant today as it was in 1965."
—Sarah E. Walzer, Executive Director, The Parent-Child Home Program

"Messages From Home is a fascinating book, documenting this important program from the inspiration and the needs it meets to the nuts and bolts of the ethical issues it raises."
—Marsha Weinraub, Laura H. Carnell Professor, Chair of the Psychology Department at Temple University and investigator on the NICHD Study of Early Child Care

"Messages From Home depicts a thriving, growing, and remarkably effective program that helps busy parents connect with their children through play. By focusing on playful talk during the critical years when children are learning language, this program primes children to succeed despite the many obstacles associated with poverty. I will treasure this well-referenced book and its evocative stories of parents, children, and home-visitors playing and growing together."
—Betty Bardige, author of At a Loss for Words: How America Is Failing Our Children and What We Can Do about It

“Messages from Home is an important resource for those interested in child development and education. For researchers and for those who are beginning their careers in research, it demonstrates what can be learned through a well-thought out and well-conducted longitudinal investigation. Further, it provides insights about how Phyllis Levenstein and her colleagues grappled with issues of randomization, adequacy of research measures, fidelity of implementation, and the ethics of working with families. For practitioners and others who might want to replicate the Parent-Home Program, there is enough detail provided to make that decision. Finally, policy makers can learn about a very low cost intervention that has had a long-term impact on children who are at risk for educational disadvantage and their families.”
—Teacher’s College Record