An Exploration of Ready, Set, Share A Book! Intervention for Enhancing Parent Book Sharing with Infants and Toddlers

Shared book reading is a well-established intervention for promoting child language and early development. Although most shared reading interventions have included children 3 years of age and older, recent evidence demonstrates dialogic strategies can be adapted for parents of infants and toddlers. The current study examines gains in parent book-sharing skills during a brief, structured intervention. Parent-child dyads participated in an 8-week book-sharing intervention, Ready, Set, Share A Book!, designed for 12- to 36-month-old children. Parent book-sharing skills were assessed at baseline, weekly during the intervention, and at intervention end. Parents demonstrated significant gains in book-sharing skills from baseline to end of intervention, and results also indicate immediate skill gains in response to instruction. Furthermore, improvement in book-sharing skills at end of intervention was evident within the same book. The current study extends previous evidence for the benefit of a brief, low intensity, targeted intervention to enhance parent book-sharing interactions with infants and toddlers. Future directions for research and implications for practice are discussed.