Over three hundred teachers/directors in eight states have now had the privilege of attending ECLE seminars. They have been thrilled to learn to use a program that teaches parents how to teach infants as young as six months of age!  New data issued by the Carnegie Task Force on Meeting the Needs of Young Children indicate that unless young infants' brain cells are stimulated, unused brain cells are eliminated and permanently lost. The need for early stimulation of children's oral language, thinking ability, and motor skills supports ECLE's data collected during a five-year study: Children whose parents participated in ECLE classes made almost three months' gain in mental and psychomotor development on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (Psychological Corporation) for every month in class.

The ECLE process combines class and home instruction. In the classroom setting, working colla- boratively with ECLE professionals, parents (or other care providers) learn how to develop their children's oral language, thinking and motor skills. Here, instructional techniques are modeled for parents who then practice with their children under the guidance of ECLE teachers. Once the skills are mastered, parents replicate the activities in the home.

The ECLE program emphasizes the development of a comprehensive set of psychomotor and cognitive skills. The program consists of activities to develop: large and small muscle coordination, sensory stimulation, oral language, print and number awareness, interest in children's literature, musical ability and rhythm, and concept development.