1. FRSA Conference 2014 Wellbeing for Children, Families & Communities: Future Policy, Programs & Practice Adelaide Convention Centre, November 4 - 6

2. The Antenatal Opportunity –BM 600 My disclaimer – Mat Haslett I don’t represent any organisation today. I’ll tell you what I see and what I’m doing about it.

3. My Journey Yr 8-10 students being excluded from school Rather be seen as naughty than dumb. Can’t engage with materials.

4. Be confident in the Education system. It is full of people that care

5. Funding and Education. In real terms, School funding per student has gone up since 2001 In real terms, Class sizes have gone down in since 2001. During this time, child literacy levels have been static or marginally declined. SOURCE; [ABS – Australian Social trends – Cat # 4102.0. 2011]

6. It’s unlikely that schools will ever solve the literacy issue by themselves

7. There are 168 hours in a week In the first 5 years of a child’s life, they spend 0 hours per week at school.

8. Reading rates of progress according to NAPLAN DATA – 2011 to 2013

9. If we extrapolate backwards towards birth, what do we see?

10. What about life? BIRTH Start school

11. What is happening in the houses of children with the best early literacy skills??

12. Word count and turns for children with advanced and non – advanced language skills Adult word count Conversational turns Advanced Skills [top 10%] 14690 578 Non advanced Skills [bottom 90%] 12,395 364 Over a 36 month period the differences are huge : Shorter sentences equals more turns. Variation in words is 2.51 million words. Variation in conversational turns is 234 000 – more attempts at talking!

13. Mothers speak 75% of the words Mothers speak 9 % more to their daughters Second born boys are spoken to significantly less by both parents

14. Good news for parents and us 80% environment, 20% genetic Its not about the money. If you were no good at school, you still have the capacity to give your child a good start.

15. SOURCES for previous slides: Engaging Families in the Early Childhood Development Story Pam Winter Ph. D. Neuroscience and early childhood development: Summary of selected literature and key messages for parenting. Pediatrics – vol.124 no.1 pp 342 - 349 [2009] Teaching by listening: The Importance of Adult – Child Conversations to Language Development. Zimmermann, FJ. Gilkerson, J. etal. The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3 By Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley The Power of Talk – 2 nd edition [2009] – Impact of Adult Talk, Conversational Turns and TV During the Critical 0-4 Years of Child Development. – LENA Technical report. Gilkerson, J PhD and Richards, A.J M.A.

16. Project 1 – Antenatal BENCHMARK 600: Narrative living and responding Antenatal Classes - last contact with both parents. Midwives and CAFHS Mum’s groups Play groups Aims – present data, demonstrate, Dad’s job, reading, Narrative Living and Questioning.

17. Results Attended every antenatal session in the last 2 years. Surveyed all participants 95% can see how their actions will shape their child’s future 89% of men and 75% of women are thinking about their parenting role differently now. Women still value ‘Mum’s groups’ more than men. 95% are more aware of the influence of screen exposure.

18. Statewide opportunities There are 20 000 births per year ~8000 are to new families. If 10 families attended each antenatal class, that would be 800 classes per year. If it cost $200 per class, it would cost the Government $160K per year to deliver an educational message to every new family in the state. Group participants by postcode to encourage connections.

20. CONTACT: mat1973@bigpond.com