Research shows that a child's first 1000 days are critical to their social and emotional development.
To support this, the South Australian Government will fund the expansion of the Words Grow Minds initiative, which provides resources to parents and caregivers to help babies and young children thrive.
Following successful trials in Mount Gambier and Whyalla, the Words Grow Minds program - an initiative of the Department for Education's Early Learning Strategy - will now be rolled out more widely to children across the state.
The program provides tools, advice and resources to parents and carers to increase interactions with their baby through talking, reading, singing and playing - all things research shows make a significant difference to brain development.
It also teaches families that all they need to support their children's growth is their time, attention and imagination, and empowers them with activities and tips to try out and home and in their community.
Words Grow Minds was piloted by the Early Years Taskforce, a coalition of non-government and government early years services and agencies from across South Australia.
Raising Literacy Australia (RLA) plays the convening role for the Early Years Taskforce, chaired by Kate Ellis who said expanding Words Grow Minds would "change children's lives".
"We cannot ignore the fact that South Australian children’s development is behind the national average before they even start school," Ms Ellis said.
"The research is clear, with up to 85 per cent of brain development occurring in a child’s first three years, increasing positive interactions with young children will improve outcomes throughout their entire lives.
"What we are announcing today is an innovative, Australian-first program to do something truly meaningful and change South Australian children’s lives for the better."
The South Australian Government has also committed to continue funding of nearly $1 million to RLA for the ongoing production and distribution of packs of books for newborns.
This will enable 21,000 ‘baby book packs’ to be distributed to South Australian families to help support the foundational numeracy and literacy development of children from birth.
This is in addition to a further $600,000 in funding to support more than 23,000 preschool book packs for families across the state.
The Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care handed down by Royal Commissioner Julia Gillard recommended the expansion of the Words Grow Minds initiative.
The South Australian Government has agreed to adopt the first recommendation in the royal commission's report, to reduce the rate of South Australian children entering school developmentally vulnerable from 23.8 per cent to 15 per cent within 20 years – well below the national average of 22 per cent.
