Alabama Partnership for Children - Feed Me Words

Program Overview

• Promoting Language Nutrition throughout the community by showing how talking, reading, singing, and playing during daily routines fuels early brain development and lays the foundation for language and literacy

• Equipping trusted professionals such as home visitors, early interventionists, and other family-facing providers to coach families in using rich language and responsive interactions

• Providing free, research-based training for professionals who support children from birth through age five in homes, classrooms, and community settings

• Encouraging early care and education providers to increase their knowledge and skills, while potentially earning cash incentives by completing free online professional development courses at CoxCampus.org

Cost Info

Student and Volunteer Success Stories

“Through the classes and training, I am more aware of how I interact with children and how they respond to me. I've learned to be a conversational partner with my children. I've really enjoyed introducing new books to them and am more aware of the importance of 'tuning in' to my children's behavior." Childcare Teacher

“I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to further my training in Early Childhood Education. Through this training, I have been exposed to a very innovative and exciting way to teach children. I was so impressed with all the different techniques. This was a game changer for me. While going through the training I kept thinking how it would help the children. Any child who can be taught by teachers who are using these skills will be a step ahead in their education." Early Childhood Program Specialist

“As a birth to three-year-old teacher, it is difficult to find trainings that focus on my age group. I loved the training and will be implementing all my new tools in my classroom. I have already shared information about serve and return conversations with my parents. I can't wait to start back to school and continue scaffolding my student's language development. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to grow and learn." Infant-Toddler Teacher

“It was wonderful to see the outcomes of this program. Seeing the teachers' progress with increased language usage, enhanced child engagement, and conversational turns in the classroom, made a huge impact on our children." Preschool Director

“Bringing books alive with these strategies really made a huge difference in the classroom. Overall, the children were just more interested in books and reading due to the intentional use of books by the teacher." Reading Coach

“The teachers as well as administrative staff at our center are excited about being a part of such a powerful initiative. It is evident that the active language between the teachers and children in the classrooms has increased. Each teacher has expressed how eager she is to learn more and improve in her skills as a professional." Childcare Instructional Coach

“I have enjoyed sharing with others these practical approaches to supporting early language development. I serve an average of 75 or more families a month." Early Intervention Occupational Therapist

“Reading with your child is a huge part of the Parents as Teachers (PAT) program. We incorporate reading into every visit. The resources you shared will help to provide a visual and easy-to-remember way for parents to implement these strategies." Parent Educator

“In the training, I learned that brain development increases as children are exposed to language and that it is pruned due to lack of exposure. This will be great knowledge to pass on to the families I work with daily to help them understand why language development is vital from the start." Early Intervention Provider

“I loved everything about this training! GREAT information and strategies to share with providers and parents." Inclusion Specialist

“I think this training stresses the need for early intervention/early evaluation since so many parents seem to want to wait until after their children are 3 or in school to address some of the language and speech delays that their children are clearly exhibiting." Early Intervention Specialist

“The language nutrition training helped me see how much reading impacts a child's vocabulary, and how important talking is to your child's language development." Home Visitor