Family & Community Adult Education Family Literacy
Massachusetts Family Literacy Consortium

Our vision is successful families. Our mission is successful partnershps.

May 2006

Dear Parents, Caregivers, and Service Providers:

We are pleased to release    Promoting Social and Emotional Health through Early Literacy, a research-based handbook for parents and caregivers that promotes social and emotional health in children ages birth to seven (7) and provides information for adults looking to upgrade their own literacy skills. This publication recognizes and supports the important role parents play in talking and listening to their children from the very beginning and continuing as they enter school and beyond. Its release in May is particularly timely because May is Mental Health Month in Massachusetts.

Developed in partnership with the Parent/Professional Advocacy League (PAL), Massachusetts People/Patients Organized for Wellness Empowerment and Rights (M-Power), and staff from the Departments of Early Education and Care, Education, Mental Health, and Public Health, this handbook offers an opportunity to support parents in insuring their young children's early literacy skill development while strengthening their social and emotional health. It will be widely distributed to parents, community providers, interagency staff, early education and care programs, health centers, libraries, schools, pediatricians, and others working with parents and families.

We are proud of our state's progress in education reform but know we can - and will - do more as we come together to articulate the commonalities in our work and form strategic alliances on behalf of our state's children and families.

Thank you in advance for using this handbook to support parents and caregivers in their role as children's first and most continuous teachers and helping us reach ever higher levels of emotional health and well-being in our state.

Sincerely,