EARLY HEAD START
- A free voluntary home visiting service for expectant and new parents.
- Support throughout pregnancy to promote a healthy prenatal experience for parents and baby.
- Support for parents in their roles as the primary caregivers and teachers, during early childhood years.
- Comprehensive services including:
- Nutrition
- Health & Safety
- Mental Health
- Disabilities Services
- Family Engagement
- Social Activities (called Play & Learn)
Parents will take part in activities to share with their child and play, create, and learn together.
Our Home Visitors will plan activities with parents that promote parent-child interactions and educational experiences.
Home Visitors talk with parents about goals, community resources, child development, and other topics that are important to the family.
- Learning through play! Play has been proven to be the most effective way for children to learn. A child’s play is exciting, self motivating, freely chosen, and fun.
- Social-emotional development through activities with parents, caregivers, and other children.
We focus on ensuring healthy development and the future success of your child, including:
Brain Development: Brain development begins early! Experiences, before birth and in the first few years of life, form connections in the brain. Relationships with the important people in a baby’s life build these pathways and create the structure of the baby’s brain.
Screening, Assessment, Evaluation, and Observation: These are tools for learning about a child. They provide information about each child’s interests, strengths, and needs. We parter with early intervention providers to serve families when there is concern about a developmental delay or disability.
Curriculum: We use the Growing Great Kids curriculum that is proven to work—it is research-based. The materials address all areas of developmental growth, identify early concerns, encourage healthier lifestyles, support parenting skills development, and more!
Our Early Head Start Programs are available for families in Snyder, Union, and Mifflin Counties.
