The goal of home-based services in Head Start & Early Head Start is to strengthen the relationship between children and their parents. Home visiting is intended to support parents in their role as the primary caregiver and for the parents to facilitate their child’s growth and development. We believe in strength-based practice as it pertains to home visiting… building on the individual strengths that each family has during home visits. High quality home visiting includes several key elements.
- The Role of the Home Visitor: During the home visit, the Home Visitor acts in the role of a facilitator, coach and supporter. This allows the Home Visitor to partner with the parent to be their child’s first and most important teacher. The Home Visitor steps out of the spotlight and focuses on facilitating parent/child interaction. In the role as Coach, the Home Visitor uses daily routines and helps parents observe, reflect and adapt their behavior to meet their child’s needs.
- Facilitating Parent/Child Interaction: During the home visit, the relationship between the parent and the child is the focus. We utilize strategies to facilitate parent/child interaction, including setting up the environment, affirming parent competence, providing developmental information, and modeling developmentally appropriate interactions. The Home Visitor coaches the parent and empowers them to support their child’s growth and development.
- The Home as a Learning Environment: We often hear about Home Visitors bringing toys and materials into the home visit. While this is done with the best of intentions, we believe in using items found in each parent’s home. By using simple household items and everyday routines, it provides meaningful opportunities for children to grow developmentally. By utilizing things found in the home, parents can recreate these activities between home visits. This continues the learning and provides a great foundation for school readiness.
The “Best Practices of Home Visiting” training includes topics, such as:
- The Home Visitor as the Coach
- Utilizing the Home as a learning environment
- Establishing boundaries
- Building strong relationships with families
- Safety & Awareness
- Strategies to engage fathers
- Working with challenging families
- Adult education techniques
- Successful socializations
- Caring for yourself in order to care for families
Are you looking for highly interactive & practice-based training on “Best Practices of Home Visiting”? Give us a call at (704) 451-3255 or email us at kristinecortina@hsessentials.com.
