Ladder of Words – Bridging the Language Gap for Low Income Children

Ladder of Words was developed to bridge the language gaps of low-income children and promote social mobility. The program is operated in daycare centers by a team of speech therapists and includes two components:

Working with Children

Ladder of Words sends a team of speech therapists into daycare centers for a professionally led, year-long, weekly language development program. The team works with all children in small, level-based groups and with a tailored curriculum based on screenings conducted at the beginning of the year. Each session includes a book reading and a language enrichment play-based activity. Each book is taught for 3-4 weeks, where each week focuses on a different linguistic purpose. Additional tests help the team ensure that all kids reach their language goals.

Working with Staff

Daycare staff receive bi-weekly training from the Ladder of Words team and utilize skills modeled by the team on their daily work with the children.

סולם של מילים2
סולם של מילים1

What makes us special?

  • Ladder of Words is the only program in Israel that targets children from as early as 6 to 36 months old. The window of opportunity, according to research, where preventative and corrective efforts are most affective. Other language programs are usually offered only through the public education system (which starts at ages 3 years old and up) when the "developmental window" that allows for significant change is significantly lower.
  • Ladder of Words is conducted by speech therapists rather than educators. Whereas other programs intend to merely expose children to a richer language, Ladder of Words is designed to be as close to a speech therapy session as possible and is specifically tailored to bring each child to where they need to be developmentally.
  • Ladder of Words was evaluated by Dr. Yair Ziv from the Department of Counseling and Human Development at the Haifa University from 2014 to 2017. The evaluation compared the language development of participants to a control group, and found a significant advantage in favor of program participants.
  • Ladder of Words has been successfully operating for the past 8 years in preschools in Tirat Carmel, Haifa, Pardes Hana and Tel Aviv. Its unique model is attracting attention and has been presented in professional conferences and workshops.
שלוחה ראשית: מבנה חצב – רח’ חצב 1 טירת כרמל | מבנה אלמוג – רח’ אלמוג 3 טירת כרמל  | מעון קשת – רח’ בן צבי 24 א טירת כרמל 
טל: 8575216 -04 /04-9539001   פקס: 8570776 – 04 merkazhapaot@gmail.com

כל הזכויות שמורות למרכז לפעו”ט 2021

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