We are excited to announce that Teaching Strategies, a dynamic educational publishing company serving the early childhood community, has acquired the Parenting Counts product line, our research-based family of products designed to support parents and caregivers in raising socially and emotionally healthy children. We want to thank everyone who has been part of this remarkable journey. We are thrilled to have found the right organization to continue this important research and significantly expand the national and global distribution of these great products that we spent more than a decade developing.

Our goal for Talaris has always been to help parents and caregivers understand that learning begins at birth, the foundation for lifelong learning and relationships rests on the social and emotional development from birth to five, and the parent-child relationship is the most essential factor in a child’s healthy development. In the early years, our emphasis was funding research at the University of Washington. We created the Center for Mind, Brain and Learning (CMBL), which later became the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (I-LABS), and made John Gottman’s Bringing Baby Home project possible.

In 2003, we realized that it was vital to put relevant, reliable research in the hands of parents. We developed Parenting Counts, a compilation of resources and materials to help parents and caregivers learn to interact with children in everyday situations. Today, the Parenting Counts product line includes over 140 resources, such as parenting kits, books, videos, handouts, and online material. The best known of those products may be our interactive developmental timeline, which features more than 250 articles and videos on a child’s development from birth to age five, and we are excited the timeline will remain permanently available at ParentingCounts.com website under the leadership of Teaching Strategies.

In addition to resources for parents, Parenting Counts offers tools for early learning professionals, including a new, innovative 20-hour online training program, The Parenting Counts Professional Training Program. The course, which launched this past July, offers state-of-the-art online training focused on the social and emotional development of children from birth to age five. Parenting Counts Professional Training prepares early learning professionals with the information and tools to teach parents and caregivers the skills needed to successfully raise children. The training focuses on four pillars of development, and is composed of 25 modules containing 40 scenarios, 60 videos, and 75 learning activities illustrating concepts and key messages for all learner types.

Those products are now in the exceptionally capable hands of Teaching Strategies, a socially minded for-profit, which brings curriculum, assessment, professional development, and family connection resources to programs serving children from birth through kindergarten. Its mission is to provide the most effective early education resources to support the critical work of early childhood educators. Teaching Strategies will continue to offer the Parenting Counts product line for purchase and plans to work closely with Parenting Counts customers to ensure a seamless transition.

We’re proud of the many ways Talaris has made a difference in the lives of families and young children. After twelve years focused on developing resources for families, we believe this is the right time to partner with a like-minded organization who can take our materials to a much greater scale. We are thrilled that Teaching Strategies is acquiring these amazing parenting materials, as they are the perfect organization to carry out our mission. The Talaris Institute will remain intact and we look forward to the next chapter of our journey. Additionally, the Talaris Conference Center will continue to remain the leading retreat, event and meeting destination in Seattle.

Lastly, we would like to thank our founders, Bruce and Jolene McCaw, whose vision guided our endeavor. It was their tremendous leadership and generosity that allowed us to make a meaningful difference in the lives of thousands of families.

With great appreciation,

Craig W. Stewart
Board President

“When we started Talaris, shortly after the birth of our first child, our goal was to translate research on early childhood brain development into practical tools that parents and caregivers could trust. We’re proud of the many ways Talaris has made a difference in the lives of families and young children,” said Jolene McCaw. “After 12 years focused on developing resources for families, we feel that this is the right time to partner with a like-minded organization who can take our materials to a much greater scale. We are thrilled that Teaching Strategies is acquiring these amazing parenting materials, as they are the perfect organization to carry out our mission.”

“We are eager to share this important work with our customers around the country and the world,” said Diane Trister Dodge, founder and president of Teaching Strategies, Inc. “We are grateful for the trust that the McCaw family has placed in Teaching Strategies and thank them for their support of early learning over the years. We are so pleased that a wider group of parents and educators can now benefit from their vision. A partnership between families and teachers has always been an important part of all editions of The Creative Curriculum©. Also, Family Connection is one of our four essential pillars to creating a high-quality early childhood program. We are excited to strengthen our product line with these rich, research-based resources from the Talaris Institute.”

Teaching Strategies will continue to offer the Parenting Counts product line for purchase and plans to work closely with Parenting Counts customers to ensure a seamless transition. “We recognize that children’s first and lifelong teachers are their families, and it is our goal to strengthen the bond and partnership that families have with their children and their children’s teachers,” said Diane Trister Dodge. “We share Talaris Institute’s commitment to providing families and early childhood educators with the most up-to-date, research-based information, and assure Parenting Counts customers that they can count on Teaching Strategies to provide the same high quality support and assistance that they have received from Talaris.”

About Talaris Institute™ and Parenting Counts
Talaris Institute is a Seattle-based nonprofit whose mission is to support parents and caregivers in raising socially and emotionally healthy children. To learn more about Talaris Institute, please visit www.talaris.org.

Parenting Counts is the research-based family of products developed by the Talaris Institute. There are over 140 Parenting Counts products including parenting kits, books, videos, handouts, and online resources, all designed to support parents and caregivers in raising socially and emotionally healthy children. Parenting Counts also offers resources for early learning professionals, including an innovative new 20-hour online training program, The Parenting Counts Professional Program, focused on the social and emotional development of children from birth to age five.

About Teaching Strategies, Inc.
Teaching Strategies is a dynamic educational publishing company that serves the early childhood community exclusively, bringing curriculum, assessment, professional development, and family connection resources to programs serving children from birth through kindergarten. Its mission is to provide the most effective early education resources to support the critical work of early childhood educators.

To learn more about Teaching Strategies, please visit www.TeachingStrategies.com.

CONTACTS
Grant Davies, (301) 634-0818, x1132
GrantD@TeachingStrategies.com

Jonah Stuart, (301) 832-6697
JonahS@TeachingStrategies.com

Amy Houser, (301) 634-0818, x1705
AmyH@TeachingStrategies.com

http://www.livescience.com/13719-speech-stumbles-teach-toddlers.html

Product Update – Baby Feelings

John Gottman Press Release 4-5-11

Studies of parental depression usually focus on mothers, but depression in fathers can also negatively affect a young child’s health and development.  A recent study published in the April print issue of Pediatrics examined the associations between depression in fathers of 1-year-old children and specific posititive and negative parenting behaviors discussed by pediatric providers at well-child visits.

http://www.healthychildren.org/English/News/pages/Depression-in-Dads-Affects-Parenting-Behaviors.aspx

Product Update – Experience, Explore, Learn: The Amazing World of Play

Dr. Karp’s book/DVD, The Happiest Baby on the Block teaches simple techniques to quickly reduce crying (even most cases of colic) and boost an infant’s sleep. His book/DVD The Happiest Toddler on the Block presents novel and rapidly effective ways to build cooperation and patience and stop many tantrums in seconds. Over a million parents, from working moms to superstars like Madonna, Michelle Pfeiffer and Pierce Brosnan, have used Dr. Karp’s techniques for making their children happy.

Thousands of specially trained Happiest Baby educators lead classes teaching pregnant couples his baby calming/sleep promoting ideas in hospitals, military bases, clinics and teen parenting programs throughout the US and many other countries to help parents feel more confident and to prevent the terrible consequences of persistent infant crying and parental exhaustion (e.g. postpartum depression, breastfeeding failure, marital stress, child abuse, SIDS, etc). 

Dr. Karp is an advisor to Parents, Ser Padres and American Baby magazines.  He’s part of Barnes and Nobles’ Expert Circle and he’s a parenting coach for AOL. He has appeared numerous times on Good Morning America, The View, Larry King Live, Dr. Phil, etc.  And his work has been featured by the Associated Press, The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, People Magazine, and more.

In addition to his passion for teaching about the normal needs of young families, Dr. Karp is an outspoken advocate in the fight to stop environmental threats to children. Over the past 20 years, he has been a spokesman on environmental issues for the NRDC, PSR, EWG, AAP and the State of California.  He helped launch two of the nation’s premiere watchdog organizations on children’s environmental health. He is also an advisor to National Geographic’s “Green Guide” and editor and contributor to the critically acclaimed green-living guide, Healthy Child/Healthy World (Plume, 2009). Last year Dr. Karp’s work inspired the passage of a new federal law banning a toxic plastic — phthlates — from the toys of young children.

Dr. Karp and his wife reside in Los Angeles and his daughter is a student in New York City.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704279704576102164041456434.html

http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/434010_kids24.html