These are questions Lisa Guernsey has been grappling with herself. She is the mother of two girls, ages eight and 10. She is also Director of the Early Education Initiative at New America Foundation, and author of "Screen Time: How Electronic Media – From Baby Videos to Educational Software - Affects Your Young Child".

Original article

Until I became immersed in research on child development, I thought learning to read was a project confined to the years of kindergarten, first and second grade. But as countless studies have shown, preparing the brain to read starts long before a child has formal reading instruction. No wonder, then, that our country is full of campaigns to encourage parents to read books with their toddlers. No wonder parents today are told to engage their kids in back-and-forth conversations about pictures on the page. 

For nearly a year, the PreK-3^rd Grade National Work Group has hosted free webinars on how to reduce the achievement gap by focusing on children’s early years: pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, first, second and third grades. The last of these webinars, Scale and Sustainability: Implications for State and District Policy, will be held this Wednesday, Jan. 30, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. EST.

One of the least-discussed federal special education programs is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part C grants for infants and toddlers. IDEA Part C is a $443 million program housed in the Department of Education. It currently offers early intervention (EI) services to 350,000 infants and children between birth and age 2.