Zumm Briefing Paper

Zungumza na Mtoto MchangaTalk to Your Baby

Report of a Research and Intervention Study 2013 – 2015

by Janet and David TownendZUMM Founding Directors

This study was project managed by Children in Crossfire Tanzania (CiC Tz) and

Matthew BanksDirector of International Programmes, Children in Crossfire Northern Ireland (CiC NI)

Local Partners:

• Children’sDevelopmentTrustFundNetwork(CDTFN),Morogoro(mainstudy)• SharingWorldsTanzania(SWT),Dodoma(mainstudy)• TanzaniaHomeEconomicsAssociation(TAHEA),Mwanza(mainstudy)• TanzaniaWomen’sResearchFoundation(TAWREF),Moshi(pilotstudyandmainstudy)• CholeSocietyforWomen’sDevelopment(CSWD),Mafia(pilotstudy)• MitaParish,DioceseofCentralTanganyika,Mvumi,Dodoma(pre-pilotwork)

16 Page Briefing Paper.indd 1 01/12/2015 08:17

Zungumza na Mtoto Mchanga TalktoYourBaby


Zungumza na Mtoto MchangaTalktoYourBaby

How ZUMM came into beingWenoticed,whenwecametoliveinTanzaniain2008,thatmothersdonottalktotheirbabiesverymuch,frombirth.Everywherewewent,wesawbabieswithlivelyeyes,obviouslycuriousabouttheirenvironment,butwith silentmouths.ManyTanzanianpeople,mostlywomen,haveconfirmed that,usually,infantsarenottalkedtomuchuntiltheybegintospeak.Ofcourse,thereareexceptions,andofcourse,manymothersdosingtotheirinfants.Whenwestressthatby‘babies’wemeaninfantsinthefirstyearoflife,peoplebecomemorecertainthatthereisnotverymuchverbalinteractionbetweenthesebabiesandtheirparentsandcarers.

Talkingverymuch,intherightway,totinybabies,iscriticallyimportantfortheirdevelopment,asyoucanreadinthenextsection.Wetalkedtomany,manypeopleoverthenexttwoyears,andgatheredagooddealofenthusiasmfortheidea,aspeoplecametorealiseitsimportance.

A group of about 24 stakeholders fromGovernment andDevelopment Partnersmet at the end of2011todecidewhattodo;itwasagreedthatthefirststepshouldbearesearchstudy.Tanzaniawasleadingtheway;thisisthefirststudyofthelanguageenvironmentofbabiesinsub-SaharanAfrica.Thequestionsthisstudysetouttoaddresswere:

• ‘Whatisthelanguageenvironmentofbabiesinthefirstyearoflife,inTanzania?• ‘How,ifnecessary,mightitbedeveloped,insuchawaythattheeducationalpotentialofinfantsand

childrenwillbeenhanced?’

During2012,supportedbyChildreninCrossfire,studieswerecarriedoutinMoshiRuralandonCholeandMafiaIslands.UBSOptimus,aSwissbankfoundation,offeredtofunda large-scalestudy,sotheresearchdesignwasmodifiedinthelightofthefindingsfromMoshiandMafia,whichbecamethepilotstudies.AuthorisationfromCOSTECHwasgivenin2013,foraclusterrandomisedcontroltrialofmorethan1,000 families infiveDistricts:MoshiRural;Mvomero (Morogoro); Ilemela (Mwanza);Misungwi(Mwanza);Bahi(Dodoma).Byspreadingtheworkacrossseveralregions,wehopedtoidentifyanylocalculturaldifferencesinbringingupbabies.

Thiswasalongstudy;wewantedtoengagewithfamilieswhiletheirbabieswereintheirfirstyear,buttoreturntoassesshowmuchlanguagetheycouldunderstandwhentheywerenearlytwoyearsold.Asfaraswecanascertain,thisisthefirststudyofthelanguageenvironmentofbabiesinthefirstyearoflifeinAfrica.



Some facts and figures about early language

Why should we talk to babies? What the international experts say

There is a great deal of international evidence of the importance of talking to babies, very much, from birth, and in the right way, and an unusual degree of agreement between the researchers. Here are some of their conclusions:

Brain development is at its peak at the beginning of life

The formation of links between brain cells is the physical process that lays down and fixes learning. Everything the human body and mind can do, from the most basic process to the most complex, depends on these links. The basic links are laid down first, and the more complex links build on the basic ones. This means that if the early ‘brain wiring’ is poor, what comes later will also be poor, like a house built on weak foundations.

From “In Brief: the science of early childhood development”, Harvard University Centre on the Developing Child.

This diagram shows the time frame for the sequence of establishing brain connections for vision and hearing, followed by language, followed by the higher cognitive functions. Note that the shaded box represents the first year of life. Of course, babies are not talking at this age, but the brain-wiring is being established. Clearly the period of greatest brain development for language is the first year of life.The brain development depends on genetics and the environment; this wiring process does not just happen naturally. While genes determine when brain links are formed, how they are formed depends on the experiences of the infant. The child needs good language experience in the first year of life for successful brain development for language.

• Most of the brain connections for language are made between birth and the first birthday.• A 2 year old child who does not know 50 words, and who is not putting 2 or more words together is considered to have delayed

language development, according to the internationally accepted definition.• A three year old child should be using about 300 different words on average, including adjectives, and making quite long

sentences. (MacArthur-Bates, 2007)• A baby in the UK or the USA, in an educated family, hears about 2,000 words per hour at home; in a family that is low on the

socio-economic scale, the figure is 600-800 words per hour.• Roulstone et al (2011) show that there is a very strong correlation between a child’s spoken language skills at age 2 and that

child’s performance across all subjects on entering primary school.

Talking to babies takes up no additional time; it can be done during normal daily life. It is not necessary for time to be set aside for this activity, so it does not interfere with work.



Interaction between the infant and the primary caregivers is of crucial importance

It is most important to talk to babies, and to respond to their attempts to communicate. If this interaction does not happen, or if it is inappropriate (for example, by a parent or carer speaking harshly to a baby), then the brain development described in the previous section is adversely affected, and this can in turn affect future learning and even behaviour.

Babies like to communicate. The baby will be encouraged, by the parent’s responses, to interact and communicate more. As the parent responds to the baby’s initiative (babbling, smiling, gesture, etc), the baby is developing motivation to communicate and listen, which, of course, is essential to learning. If a 6-8 month old baby’s babbling brings no response, the baby will gradually stop babbling, and become silent for a time.

Responding well to the sounds babies make has been shown to lead to better language understanding at 12 months, and better understanding, pronunciation and vocabulary at 2 and 3 years, compared with a control group. Long term studies have even shown that such children have increased vocabulary comprehension at 12 years. The educational benefits are clear.

It is the quality of the interaction between caregiver and infant that makes the difference

It is often stated that babies develop well if they spend a lot of time with the mother. Research shows that this is not enough; what brings about good development is the quality of the time spent. In other words, what the parents do is more important than just being there. It does not matter what their job is, or their financial situation, or how much the toys cost, but how they interact with their infant is very important indeed.

“Poor mothers with few qualifications can improve their children’s progress and give them a better start at school by engaging in activities at home that engage and stretch the child’s mind”

(Sylva et al., 2008)

Researchers found that poorer and very young mothers talked less to their babies, spent much less time reading to them, and used more negative comments compared to positive comments, than more educated and more mature mothers.

The success of literacy learning depends on spoken language skills

The links between early language skills and literacy learning have been recognised for many years. There is a very strong correlation between a child’s spoken language skills at age 2 and that child’s performance across all subjects on entering primary school. The number of words a child knows at age 5 is the single best predictor of academic success throughout life. All education depends on being able to understand what one reads – comprehension. The research evidence is that reading comprehension depends crucially on spoken language skills. As we know, the most important time for development of language skills is the first year of life.

Language skills are the key to poverty reduction for the individual

There is evidence that those who have good language skills (and now we know that these depend on the earliest experiences) have, on average, fewer behaviour problems in childhood and adolescence, fewer mental illnesses, better employment opportunities, better social integration and are less likely to engage in criminal activities. Those with good language skills will contribute to the economic growth of the nation by becoming well-educated, engaging in professional and business activities, and paying taxes. They will in turn be parents who talk to their babies, creating a strong home learning environment, thus benefiting future generations.

Tanzanian research supports the international evidence

According to a survey carried out in Moshi Rural, the link between early language and later success in education is not well known. In fact, only 0.5% of respondents identified ‘intellectual development’ as a reason for talking to babies Nearly 60% of respondents did not start talking to infants until either ‘the child begins to see and hear’, (a few months old), or even later, when the infant begins to use words. 62% of respondents thought it was not important to talk to babies in the first six months of life; the main reasons were ‘the baby would not understand’ and ‘the grandparents would not permit it’.

(A longer version of this ‘International Research’ can be read at www.childrenincrossfire.org/programmes/talktoyourbaby)



The Research Design The Research Study

1,035 babies were recruited; 883 completed the study. 60 Tanzanian research assistants collected data in the homes, 30 local teachers led the capacity-building sessions for families, and the work was locally managed by four partner NGOs working in early childhood development. The project was managed overall by Children in Crossfire, a UK registered NGO based in Dar es Salaam. Janet and David Townend, Founding Directors of ZUMM, designed the study, produced all materials, worked closely with the translator, and visited all the partners on several occasions to deliver training to the teams of data collectors and the teams of intervention facilitators. The CiC office liaised with the partner organisations. The structure of the study can be seen in Table 1.

Table 1

Phase Activity

Phase 0

Families with young babies are recruited, in 2 separate, but similar communities in each of 5 Districts. One community in each District is randomly assigned the position of ‘Intervention’ Group; the other community becomes the ‘Control Group’. Parents are told it is a study of child development; the details are kept deliberately vague to avoid compromising the outcome.

Phase 1

Data collectors visit all families 3 times, on different days, at different times of day, each time recording the number of words spoken to the baby in 30 minutes (so that a number of words per hour can be derived from the data).

A Knowledge, Attitudes & Practice (KAP) Survey is completed on visit 3 by interviewing the mother.

Phase 2a Families in ‘Intervention’ communities receive 3 x 2 hour capacity-building sessions, led by a team of two facilitators, usually qualified teachers, in groups of up to 30 (3 people from each family invited). Control Groups are left alone.

Phase 3 Data collectors return to all families and carry out 3 further word counts, and a second KAP Survey.

Phase 4 Data collectors return to all families when babies are 20-24 months old and administer a specially designed, simple Test of Language Comprehension to the babies.

Phase 2b Families in Control communities receive capacity-building, for ethical reasons, but after all data has been collected.

Phase 5 Data is analysed, conclusions drawn, report written and presented.

The Intervention sessions, designed by ZUMM, and delivered by the facilitators, were lively and varied, with many different activities:

• Group discussions• Short talks on the importance of talking to babies• Demonstrations of how to talk to a baby• Practical activity: the parents tried it out for themselves• Sharing experiences• Watching and discussing the ZUMM DVD• Making simple toys from scrap materials, suitable for a small baby (very popular!)• Role play: small groups rehearsed and then performed a short drama to show how they could talk to their baby in a given situation, such

as a family meal, or when working (also very popular!)

The work was carried out in all Districts at approximately the same time, and the data sent to the CiC office in Dar es Salaam where it was recorded and sent to the ZUMM Directors for analysis.

Talking to babies is a great idea: it costs nothing, so it is something even the poorest parent can do to give their child the best possible start in life, and to improve their future prospects, in education and beyond.



As well as all the data they collected, the research assistants were able to provide a number of interesting stories about their experiences in the field, and passed on comments made by some of the families.

The data collectors became familiar faces in the villages they visited, and when there was a gap, as between the first and second round of word-count visits, they were missed by their new friends. They got to know the families, accompanied mothers to the market, and to the fields, sat in their homes and even shared food. A great sadness for everyone involved in the study was the news that a very small number of the babies had passed away between visits.

It is not easy to carry out large-scale research on a relatively modest budget, especially with such a wide geographical spread. In rural areas, transport and communications can be a challenge; the data collectors and facilitators often had long journeys to villages. Despite careful preparation, and everyone’s best efforts, delays happened. Sometimes this meant that a window of opportunity was lost, before the rains, for example, and visits had to stop until the roads were passable again.

Recruiting families randomly proved to be a problem. It seemed that the best way was to obtain lists of names of recently-delivered mothers and their babies from the local health facility, information that they were prepared to release. However, the list contained the mothers’ official names (a given name and a surname), while in the community they were known by the name of their firstborn child. Matching up a name such as Neema Moyo with Mama Juma, who had just given birth to a second child called Pendo became a very big job indeed for the data collectors. It is to their credit that they overcame the difficulties and succeeded in recruiting over 1,000 families.

In one or two places, either some of the parents or some of the village elders were suspicious of what the data collectors were doing, because, of course, if the data collectors admitted that they were counting words, that would influence the behaviour of the mothers. This could be overcome by a reassuring visit from the local project coordinator.

The facilitators reported that the families who attended the capacity-building (Intervention) sessions seemed to enjoy the experience. Among the most popular activities were the role play,

which was entered into with real enthusiasm, and the toy-making, which in some places became quite competitive. They enjoyed the short, specially made DVD, though many people found it difficult to extract much learning from it. They learned most from the practical, hands-on activities. This is something that has informed the implementation stage, which is about to begin. It is clear from the data and from the stories that learning and behaviour change took place.

Some families moved away, or decided to drop out of the study, but overall the attrition rate was low. The study began with 1,035 families, and 883 families remained until the end.

In one village, the elders advised the families not to attend the intervention sessions; the facilitators arrived, but nobody came! Local project coordinators travelled out to explain, and the problems were solved. The most senior elder

was the first person through the door when the meeting was re-scheduled, and went away happy, to talk to his little granddaughter!

Challenges and Encouragements

A grandmother on Chole showing her granddaughter the wooden spoon dolly’ she has made.

This two-year old was a baby in the pre-pilot. Her mother has learned the importance of imaginative play (but she had to give the bear back to its owner!)



The findings of the study When analysing the data of skewed (irregular) distributions, best practice uses median values rather than mean values. The median value represents the minimum level achieved by half the sample, and provides a figure which is not distorted by a small number of large scores. A summary of the main findings is shown in Table 2.

Table 2

WordsperHourspokentothebaby

LanguageComprehensionTest

Note:CG = Control Groups

IG = Intervention Groups Base

line

Prog

ress

%In

crea

se

Base

lineto

Pr

ogre

ss

Scor

e/80

Ratio

IG/C

G

All babies median 63 133 111 18

All babiesCG/IG

comparison

CG median 58 106 83 131.8

IG median 65 171 163 23

We can see, from Table 2, the number of words per hour spoken to babies at the beginning of the study, (the ‘baseline’). This figure is derived from an average score for each family of the word count on the first three visits; it is similar in both groups. The Control Group babies hear 58 words per hour, and the Intervention Group babies hear 65; there is no significant difference.

If we look at the word count derived from the average of the second three visits, we can see that the babies in the Control Groups are now hearing 106 words per hour, an 83% increase. This should not surprise us, although the Control Group parents had received no training. Parents speak more to babies as they get older and more responsive, so we would expect an increase in the number of words spoken per hour (wph) in the Control Groups between the first word counts (at 9 months) and the second (at 19 months).

Based on this ‘natural’ increase, we would expect the word count in the Intervention Groups to rise from their baseline of 65 wph to 119 wph. However, they actually increased to 171 wph. This represents an additional 44% increase, which can be attributed to the intervention (capacity-building) the families received. This figure is, inevitably, an underestimate of the effectiveness of the capacity-building sessions, because it was not possible to allow for those parents in the Intervention Groups who did not attend the sessions.

On testing how much language the babies could understand, by a simple test, we found that in the Control Groups the median score was 13/80, while those in the Intervention Groups did better (by 77%), with a median score of 23/80. It was important to test the

babies themselves, to verify the evidence from the word counts. Now that the Intervention Group mothers knew what was being assessed, after attending the training, they might speak more to the baby to please the data collector. The much higher LCT scores obtained by the Intervention Group babies shows that the training of their parents had been effective.

In summary, the major findings, shown in Table 2, reveal that the language environment was very poor among both groups, with few words spoken to babies in the first year of life. However, the Intervention Group parents demonstrated behaviour change in their increase in the number of words spoken to their babies. This is confirmed by the higher scores attained by their babies in the Language Comprehension Test.

This photograph was taken just moments after the mother first found her voice to talk to her baby.



Table 3 shows the same information in diagram form.

Table 3

The KAP Surveys revealed that there was very little knowledge among the families about the importance of talking to babies from birth, or how to do so. However, they revealed no cultural barriers to talking to tiny babies. It is clear from the differences in responses between KAP 1 and KAP 2 that learning had indeed taken place, which supports the evidence of the Language Comprehension Test and second round of word counts. Many parents, once they know why, and especially how, to talk to their babies, change their behaviour and begin to talk more.

A number of other useful details emerged from the KAP surveys: for example, it was clear that what parents had learned about talking to babies came mostly from demonstrations and trying it out for themselves. They learned from experience much more than from being told facts. Apart from the data, several interesting stories were collected by the teams, and some of them can be read in this report. Some of the stories come from our pre-pilot work in Mvumi (Dodoma), others from the pilot studies carried out in Moshi Rural and on Chole and Mafia Islands, and yet others from the five Districts where the main study was carried out. Many families reported that, when they talked to their babies, the babies became happier and that the fathers became more involved as they saw how the babies responded to language.

At one meeting, the facilitator asked the families if they talked to their babies. “Yes we do!” came the reply. Slightly taken aback, she asked them what sort of things they said. Their answers included “If they are doing something bad, we tell them not to”, and “We send them to fetch things for us”. This did not sound like the sort of thing one would be

saying to a baby, so the facilitator asked a follow-up question. “At what age do you start talking to your babies?” “18 months,” said one. “No, older than that – two years”, added another. “More like three,” came the last reply!

“Would you be surprised to hear”, she asked, “that it is very important to talk to babies from birth?”

“The whole world would be surprised to hear that”, remarked a young mother on the front row.

Babies love – and need – repetition, so parents should say the same things over and over, use the same words and sentences when feeding or washing the baby. It is not necessary to keep thinking of new things to say.



The most striking conclusion is what the study revealed about the present language environment that our babies are experiencing. When we consider that adults normally speak at about 120 words per minute, it is clear that the babies at the start of the study were being spoken to for less than one minute in each waking hour! Even after training, the Intervention Group families, who were talking much more to their babies than the Control Group families, were still only speaking to them for less than two minutes per hour. This is a significant increase, and even that number of additional words heard by the baby led to improved understanding of language. However, it is clear that there is still a long way to go before babies in Tanzania have the rich early language experience that they need in order to reach their potential.

The study demonstrated that behaviour change can be brought about by information presented in an accessible way. Fears that there may be cultural barriers proved unfounded, and families, on the whole, embraced the ideas with enthusiasm. There appeared to be no resistance from grandparents, and because there was a group of families involved, the fear of being thought ‘crazy’ for talking to a baby was mitigated. On the contrary, there is some evidence that some families shared their new knowledge with friends and neighbours, helping to spread the messages.

A question that arises is ‘Why did the mothers who attended the intervention not learn more?’ It is very striking that the families who attended the intervention learned most from practical work and from experience. They were rewarded by their babies, who responded with sounds, smiles and gestures as they were spoken to. Considerable learning did take place, but the increase in ‘head knowledge’ was less than might have been expected. The most effective learning seemed to be that which was concerned with the ‘here and now’. For example, the fact that talking to babies is a powerful way to enhance their future educational prospects, beginning with better chances of literacy learning, did not seem to resonate much with parents, although it is one of the most important reasons for doing so.

Some of the mothers’ responses to questions in the first KAP Survey were very striking, especially the evidence of how many believed that babies are unable to hear at birth (80%). Only 11% of them believed that it was important to start talking to their babies at

birth or before, using real language; two thirds believed it was unnecessary until after the baby was six months old, and half of those thought it was unnecessary until after the first birthday.

It became clear from the KAP 1 responses that in general, the mothers had very low expectations for their infants’ language development, which is not surprising in view of the beliefs mentioned in the last paragraph. One third of the mothers did not expect a child to start using words with meaning until 18 months, and a fifth of them did not expect words until two years or over. More than half the mothers expect the child to have 20 words or fewer at age 2, and two thirds did not expect more than 40 words at two. Two thirds of the mothers did not expect the infant to put words together until after his second birthday. These statistics should be compared with the internationally recognised definition of delayed language development: having fewer than 50 words, and not putting two or more words together by age two. Note also that vocabulary (how many different words the child knows) is the best single predictor of educational success.

These results clearly show that there is a great need for the messages of ZUMM to reach communities, especially when we consider how important early language is to literacy and to educational outcomes. The good news is that the main barrier to parents talking to babies is simply that they do not know how to, or even that they should. Once parents have been told, and shown, how to talk to their babies, many of them change their behaviour. Because the baby rewards the parents by responding with smiles and sounds, this new behaviour continues and often spreads through the community.

The intervention took the form of three two-hour sessions; this is an expensive method of spreading knowledge and skills, and requires considerable commitment on the part of the families. It has never been intended that the purpose of the research was to test a form of intervention that could be ‘rolled-out’ more widely. The purpose of the intervention was to ascertain whether the language environment of the infants could be improved, and how, in order to inform plans for future implementation of a ‘Talk to Your Baby’ campaign, if it were needed. It has been shown that such a campaign is very much needed, and if designed in the right way, has the potential to be very effective.

Conclusions

The Intervention Programme had a remarkable effect on some fathers:

One said he now wanted a special time each day with his baby, so he would take over the daily bath.

Another, soon after the Intervention, took his baby daughter to the clinic, instead of sending her with his wife.

One young father borrowed a kanga from his wife and left carrying his baby on his back! Nobody had seen that happen before.



Recommendations There is now enough evidence to begin to implement the ZUMM messages in a series of initiatives under the umbrella title ‘ZUMM into Action’. In order to make any initiative sustainable, the involvement of Government is essential, and especially desirable is acceptance of the fact that ‘education begins at birth, and the parents are a child’s first teachers’. A coming-together of the three Ministries most closely involved in the lives of young children (Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children, and Ministry of Education and Vocational Training) to spread this message would indeed be a powerful force.

It is especially important to promote the ZUMM key messages to mothers of newborn infants. One way to achieve this is to combine the message of the benefits of a rich language environment with the message about the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. ZUMM has found the strap-line “Feed the body, feed the brain” is very well received by mothers. Local nutrition officers and clinic nurses are very well placed to spread these important messages to new mothers.

An important consideration is the low level of expectations of early childhood language among the families studied. One aim of ZUMM going forward must be to raise expectations of what infants are capable of, by carefully planned capacity-building for parents. Memorable and meaningful slogans, practical, experiential learning, repetition and the establishment of new habits should be key components of all future ZUMM initiatives.

Behaviour change is brought about in a number of ways: information comes in from outside, ideally through a number of sources (the clinic, the radio, village meetings, etc) and encouragement to embrace the messages and change behaviour comes from within: friends and family, neighbours, as well as local leadership, including village elders, village chairpersons, and faith group leaders. A successful campaign needs to address both levels and to target communities through a number of routes. Table 4 shows how important the clinic nurse is as a source of chidcare information to mothers.

Table 4

Sustainability can best be achieved by using existing channels of information dissemination, particularly because these require nothing new to be set up; they are ongoing, and as they become embedded, they do not incur any additional costs. One example of this would be to include a short capacity-building module about ZUMM in the training of clinic nurses; there are many others.

The future The evidence generated by this study, that there is a very strong need for the knowledge to reach parents of young babies, and that behaviour change in talking to babies is possible, provides a firm base on which to build for the future.

Work has already begun on the implementation stage, and plans are moving forward rapidly. The initiatives introduced below are expected to be put into place over the next three years.



Knowledge about early childhood development is growing, and child rearing practice has changed over the generations in the more-developed countries in the light of this. Several countries, including the Netherlands, the UK and the USA, have had information campaigns in recent years to promote talking to babies. It appears that there has not been such a campaign in Africa up to now. Tanzania is leading in this initiative in Africa, and it is certain that lessons learned here will be used elsewhere.

ZUMM into Action 1

This three year project with CiC is to develop high-quality training courses and resources, including self-study options and a film, and make them available, cost-free, from a dedicated website. Janet & David will be leading the work, based in Dar es Salaam for at least two months a year, and a Project Coordinator will be appointed. We very much hope that Government and Development Partners will participate.

ZUMM into Action 3

In 2013, a successful funding bid to GPE included $500,000 for ZUMM.The project was to develop courses to train Adult Literacy tutors about ZUMM and how to deliver a specially written capacity-building programme for adult literacy students, many of whom are, of course, parents, and to trial the programme in 9 Districts. We hope the funding, now transferred to PMO-RALG for implementation, will soon be available.

ZUMM into Action 2

ZUMM is partnering with Development Media International (DMI) to seek funding to develop an 18 month ZUMM national radio campaign, from 2016. It will include information slots, drama, phone-ins, and more.Beginning in Tanzania, the plan is to go international after that, and take ZUMM to other developing countries.

ZUMM into Action 4

ZUMM has been invited by DFID to partner with them on a large Stunting project in Lake Zone, called ASTUTE. It is clear from research evidence that stunting is best addressed by a combination of nutrition and making the child’s environment more stimulating, including of course, language. (UNICEF will be doing similar work on stunting in southern Tanzania).

ZUMM into Action

...and more to come...

• ZUMM has started discussion with UNICEF about whether its messages could be included in a regional (East Africa) child development project.

• ZUMM has been asked to provide material to be included in an ECD television series in Tanzania.



How can busy people talk to babies?

Talking to babies takes up no additional time; it can be done during the process of daily life. It is not necessary for time to be set aside for this activity, so it does not interfere with work. Mother, father, grandparent or whoever is with the baby, carrying him or her on the back, or just being in the same room, can tell the baby how beautiful he or she is, or how much he or she is loved. They can also give a running commentary on the activities going on. For example, the parent or carer may be washing dishes and saying things like this:

‘Are you watching me wash the dishes?’ ‘Here’s a dirty plate – here comes the water – oh look, now it’s clean!’

Instead of washing the baby in silence, the parent or carer could be chatting during the activity:

‘Let’s wash your face - and your hands – one hand, two hands – now your tummy….’

In this way, and by naming things, and asking questions as the baby is carried around (even on the mother’s back), in the house, on the shamba, in the village or on the daladala, the baby is hearing many of the words he or she will be using in the months to come. He or she will not, at this stage, understand everything, but all the language being heard will be feeding and contributing to the developing brain.‘Can you see the flower? Isn’t it pretty? Shall we look at it? It’s blue, isn’t it? etc, etc’,

Of course, at first the baby will appear to be making no response. Gradually, the parents will notice how he or she looks at whoever is speaking, and at a few months old will start to make noises, which the parents or carers should copy, while looking at the baby and smiling; the first ‘conversation’ is taking place! It is not necessary to think of many new things to say; babies need many repetitions, so, for example, it is good to name the parts of the body every day while washing the baby. Singing to babies is also good for language development but, alone, it is not enough.

When talking to babies, older children and adults naturally, it seems, speak more slowly than usual, exaggerate the intonation patterns (the voice goes up and down much more), extend the length of the vowels (so the sounds are exaggerated) and they use many repetitions. This is exactly what young babies need. All of this stimulates activity in the brain that leads to the baby “babbling’. Babbling is the stage before using real words ‘ba ba ba’ ‘mumumum’ ‘gang gang gang’ etc. This stage should be encouraged and responded to by parents and carers; it is an essential stage in learning to talk. Babies babble naturally, and if they hear a lot of language, spoken in the right way, they will babble more, and go on to use many words a few months later. Babies who are not spoken to very much cease to babble, and their language acquisition will be slowed down and their potential put at risk.

These are very strong words, but the scientific evidence is quite clear. We ignore it at the peril of future generations.

After each training day for data collectors or facilitators, the ZUMM Directors asked the learners to complete a feedback sheet about what they had learned and if the knowledge had been put across clearly, and so on. We were struck by some of the replies to one

question posed at the end of the training day on how to administer the Language Comprehension Test:

The question was: Have you learned anything today that has amazed you?”

Among the responses were the following:

“It is amazing for a baby to know the parts of the body before attending school.” (The infants, at 21 months, are asked to point to their hair, then hand, ear, mouth and finally, their foot).

“I am amazed to see some questions asking a baby to identify (point to) different materials, for example a cup and a spoon”.

When we introduced the test, someone remarked, “At this age, our children can do nothing!”



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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors are grateful to the following individuals and organisations, without whose support and willing involvement this study, and the Zungumza na Mtoto Mchanga initiative, would never have come into being:

Children in Crossfire International, Londonderry; Children in Crossfire, Tanzania; Voluntary Service Overseas; Mr Salum Mnjagila and colleagues at the Directorate of Adult and Non-formal Education, Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Tanzania; members of the ZUMM Project Coordination Team, Dar es Salaam; local partner organisations: Childhood Development Trust Fund Network (CDTFN), Mvomero; Sharing Worlds Tanzania (SWT), Dodoma; Tanzania Home Economics Association (TAHEA), Mwanza; Tanzania Women’s Research Foundation (TAWREF), Moshi; the organisations who participated in pilot and pre-pilot studies; and, of course, all the families who took part.

They also wish to thank Professor Margaret Snowling, President of St John’s College, Oxford, and Professor Charles Hulme, University College, London, for their advice and encouragement.

This study was kindly funded by UBS Optimus Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Janet Townend is a speech and language therapist, specialist teacher in literacy and dyslexia, teacher trainer and author. David Townend taught chemistry at Eton College for 38 years, and was involved in many aspects of school life. Since retiring in 2006, they have worked as professional volunteer tutors and tutor mentors at a large Government Teacher Training College in Tanzania, and established the ‘Zungumza na Mtoto Mchanga’ (ZUMM) or ‘Talk to Your Baby’ initiative.

CONTACT DETAILS

For more information about ZUMM:

Visit www.childrenincrossfire.org/programmes/talktoyourbaby or email [email protected] For more information about CiC:

Visit www.childrenincrossfire.org



Government & Nonprofit

Zumm Briefing Paper