In a recent ECEpolicymatters blog post “Raising Baby”, Susan Ochshorn talks about the ways in which the chorus for babies is growing. She includes in that chorus, the strong voice of our very own Dr. Lally!

Here’s an excerpt from Susan’s blog: “He started working with babies 46 years ago, creating the Program for Infant and Toddler Care, and starting up ZERO TO THREE.  But in 2012, he’d had enough, and launched For Our Babies, an initiative that advocates for universal prenatal health coverage; nine months of paid leave; two years of well-baby care; affordable developmental screening and services for children with special needs; and high-quality infant/toddler care.  In April, the book, For Our Babies, was born, a call for action to end “the invisible neglect of America’s infants. “I never thought I would have to write a book of this nature—not in the United States,” Lally writes in the preface.  Indeed.”

Click here for the full ECEpolicymatters blog post.

Click here to order Ronald J. Lally’s book, For Our Babies: Ending the Invisible Neglect of America’s Infants.

If you haven’t already signed the For Our Babies pledge please do so today and ask your friends and families to as well. Your signatures will help continue to grow a powerful chorus for babies!

Today, in honor of the National Early Learning Day of Action, I am reprinting a statement “First Things First” written by J. Ronald Lally in which he answers why we should invest in babies before others. As Dr. Lally tells us, “the potential for a strong American future is right in front of us. It starts with how we treat babies”.

“First Things First” by J. Ronald Lally

Since the start of the “For Our Babies” campaign, many people have asked me why should America alter its funding priorities during this very challenging economic time to spend more money on babies. Why babies before others?

The answer is a simple one. Based on what we continue to learn about the developing brain from conception to age 3, we know that without paying attention to infants whatever we do later with children and adults either builds on or compensates for a weak foundation.

It is not that services for older children and adults are not important and necessary. Infancy is only a foundation for later learning and life. But building on a weak foundation causes later problems. Fixing and reconstructing what should have been built properly in infancy is both difficult to accomplish and expensive to undertake. If we don’t build things right from the start, we will have to do more work and pay more later to get them right.

For Our Babies says attend to infants first, not because we want to diminish the importance of other periods of development, but rather because we see that without the foundation of healthy infancy, the other periods of development will be diminished. Paying attention to infancy maximizes the opportunity for children to take advantage of experiences that come their way in later periods of development. Attending to infants makes it easier for children to learn, teachers to teach, and adults to achieve their potential.

I know that this is a tough economic time for our country; the notion of spending money in new areas and on new services might seem foolhardy. But investment in infancy is the antithesis of foolhardiness. We need Americans functioning at full capacity – emotionally stable, intellectually strong and verbally fluent – especially in tough economic times. Those fully functioning Americans will come from the wombs and homes and childcare centers that have been adequately supported to actualize the development of our infants.

Unless we take a fresh new look at what science is telling us about the development of babies and act on it, we will always be trying to catch up and compensate. The potential for a strong American future is right in front of us. It starts with how we treat babies.

Please join with me in my effort to get more support for America’s babies. Get involved in our “For Our Babies” campaign. Let’s see how many people we can inspire to act pragmatically, roll up their sleeves, and do “First Things First”.

NAEYC’s 2013 National Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development theme is “Developmentally Appropriate Practice: The Next Era”. Will you attend? It’s not too late to register. We’d love to see you there. J. Ronald Lally and Peter Mangione are presenting a featured session on Tuesday, June 11th 10:30-12:30p titled  “Building infant and toddler intellect and language on a social-emotional base: The developmentally appropriate roots of school readiness”. Directly following this session at 12:45p, Dr. Lally will be signing his new book For Our Babies: Ending the Invisible Neglect of America’s Infants  in the Exhibit Hall at the Teachers College Press Booth # 117. If you don’t have your copy yet, the book will be available for sale there as well.

Here is a flyer with details on the book signing event. Hope to see you there!

What could we be doing differently? What could we do to be smarter?  These questions are at the heart of a 5- minute video titled “Building Adult Capabilities to Improve Child Outcomes: A Theory of Change”.  This short video, narrated by Jack Shonkoff, MD, explains the Frontiers of Innovation community’s theory of change for improving outcomes for children and families. It describes the importance of building the skills and capacities of the adults (i.e. parents and caregivers) in a child’s life and strengthening the communities that together form the environment of relationships essential to children’s lifelong learning, health, and behavior.

The For Our Babies campaign similarly advocates for policies that will help support the adults in a baby’s life thereby increasing the likelihood of positive outcomes for everyone, including the baby. For example, the For Our Babies campaign advocates for: affordable prenatal care for all expectant mothers;  home visits for all families during the first two years of life by professionals who are trained in parenting, healthy development and counseling; paid parental leave during the first nine months of their child’s life; and affordable high quality infant and toddler care including training, compensation and professional stature for infant and toddler teachers at the same level as K-12 teachers. To quote the video “It’s all about being able to plan for the future…to have a future. That’s why this is so important.”

Click here to watch the video on Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child’s website.