Getting Ready Strategies for Promoting Parent–Professional Relationships and Parent–Child Interactions

It is generally accepted that warm and meaningful parent-child interactions during children's earliest years of life play an important part in supporting young children's cognitive, language, and social-emotional development. In addition, connections between children's home and any out-of-home early childhood experiences are viewed as important to supporting young children's development, and preparing them for later school success. The goal of this article is to describe a set of strategies that can be used by professionals associated with early intervention and early childhood special education programs to enhance parent-professional relationships and advance parents' confidence and competence in interacting with their children in ways that can positively influence the children's growth and developmental trajectory.