Evidence

PUPPETalk™ (PUppets to Play, Praise, Educate, and Talk®) is a simple, low-cost intervention that uses finger puppets to support positive, language-rich caregiver-infant interactions promoting language development and early relational health.

The first three years of a child’s life constitute the most critical and rapid period for brain growth. Children struggle to catch-up from language deficits that occur during this crucial time. Increasing children’s home exposure to positive caregiving behaviors (e.g., talking, reading, and playing) from an early age can significantly improve early language and child development, particularly for children in families experiencing social and economic adversity.

The provided puppet and accompanying activity sheet are a vehicle for professionals to introduce the importance of early talking and to facilitate caregiver-infant interactions, while the actual intervention is the care- giver’s subsequent communications to the child that take place long after the puppet has been provided. Findings from pilot studies have been encouraging, suggesting that families receiving PUPPETalk™ in early infancy had better outcomes related to:

• Decreased maternal postpartum depression symptoms ¹

• Enhanced cognitive home environments ^2,3

• Increased preverbal skills and early language development ^3,4

• Improved social-emotional developmental trajectories ⁵

^{1 Matern Child Health J. 2023;27(2):346-355
2 Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2023;62(12):1497-1507
3 Child Youth Serv Rev. 2023;155:107172
4 Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2020;59(4-5):380-387
5 BMC Pediatr. 2023;23(1):162}