Pamela Nuttall NasonPamela Ainsley Whitty

Language, Literacy and Healthy Development: The Work of CAPC and CPNP Projects

By Pamela Nuttall Nason and Pamela Ainsley Whitty (2004)

Published by: The Early Childhood Centre, University of New Brunswick

Project Direction: Pamela Nuttall Nason

Editor: Gail Taylor

Research Assistance: David McCormick, Irene Jar Yee Tan, Lynda Homer, Rachel Diamond, Diana Lockyer,

Kendall O’Regan

Design and Layout: Mandy Wright and Dirk Lenentine

Printing: UNB Division of Integrated Technology Services

Front Cover: Photo submitted by Sylvie Palin, Health Canada

The production of this document has been made possible with funding from the CAPC/CPNP National Projects

Fund, Health Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the official policy of Health

Canada.

More than 100 CAPC and CPNP projects from every Health Region in Canada

have contributed to the development of this resource. We are sincerely grateful

for their insights. Their ideas and their words illuminate the pages of this

publication.

Our gratitude also goes to the Project Advisory Committee. Each Advisory

Committee member represented a Health Region: Nicole Lindstrom, British

Columbia; Brenda Hall, NWT, Yukon and Nunavut; Judy Dube, Alberta; April

Dahnke, Saskatchewan; Gail Wylie, Manitoba; Mary-Ann Meagher, Ontario;

Debbie Smith, Atlantic Provinces. In addition, Anne Stenhouse represented

The National Projects Committee of Health Canada. Their support and guidance,

always given with grace and good humor, has been invaluable.

Project research assistants Dave McCormick and Irene Jar Yee Tan deserve special

thanks for their superb technical skills and unfailing dedication to developing

the on-line survey and analyzing data. Their enthusiasm and energy helped to

carry the project through its more tedious moments.

We must thank Lynda Homer, Rachel Diamond, Diana Lockyer and Kendall

O’Regan for able research assistance, and Tracy Breustadt for her secretarial

support.

We also thank our editor, Gail Taylor, for her expert advice, tactfully given;

UNB Imaging Services for their patient consideration of our concerns; Mandy

Wright and Dirk Lenentine for their inspired graphic design; Glenn Langille for

his careful proof reading; and, our colleagues, family and friends who supported

us and gave us encouragement.

AcknowledgementsAcknowledgements

Table of contents

1. Exploring literacy/health connections in CAPC/CPNP projects

Introduction

Purpose of this resource

Practitioners supporting practitioners

Literacy for the 21st Century: What counts?

Literacy health connections

Literacy outcomes for CAPC/CPNP Projects

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1Exploring literacy/health connectionsin CAPC/CPNP projects

Literacy is related in multiple ways to healthy development. Consequently it

has become a serious concern for Health Canada. Recognizing literacy as a major

health issue, Population Health notes that “literacy is an important factor in its

own right, and closely related to practically all the major determinants of health.”

The effects of literacy on health are both direct and indirect; whether the health

issue is the safe administration of medications and infant formulas or the ability

to secure food and housing, literacy is involved

(How Does Literacy Affect the Health of Canadians? Health Canada. Population

Health, Government of Canada. 3 July 2003 <http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hppb/phdd/

literacy/literacy2.html>).

A great deal of literacy education and support is ongoing in Health Canada’s

Community Action Program for Children (CAPC) and the Canada Prenatal

Nutrition Program (CPNP) projects. Often this kind of assistance is deeply

embedded in the health education and parenting support these projects offer;

sometimes it may take the form of specific literacy programs directed to parents

and children. To capture the richness and diversity of this ongoing literacy work,

Health Canada’s National Projects Fund invested in a survey of CAPC and CPNP

projects across Canada. The results of this survey have provided the basis for this

resource, which relies heavily on the words and ideas of project staff. In this way,

the work and words of those on the front lines can inspire the future of literacy

education and provide concrete guidance to CAPC and CPNP projects across

Canada.

Introduction

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To communicate how CAPC and CPNP projects make connections

between language, literacy and healthy development

To provide relevant support to CAPC and CPNP managers and staff so

they can:

Ensure that families with diverse language and literacy backgrounds

can access information about maternal and child health, child

development and parenting;

Address the everyday literacy needs and desires of Canadian families;

Choose literacy programs and practices that build on families’

strengths to support infant/child development.

Practitioners supporting practitioners

Because this resource draws heavily on the experience of project staff who

incorporate literacy education and support into their health, parenting and child

development programs on a daily basis, we have used their ideas and words

extensively. More than 100 of them responded to the Literacy Matters survey,

which was distributed to all English and bilingual CAPC and CPNP projects in

Fall 2003. Responses were diverse, as might be expected in a vast, multi-cultural

country such as Canada.

While the survey identified some differences in how CAPC and CPNP projects

approach literacy education and support, there were striking similarities too.

These included:

Practical, down-to-earth approaches to literacy education and support;

Respect for the dignity of participants who struggle with print;

Sensitivity to literacy, linguistic, and cultural diversity;

Commitment to honour participants’ strengths and address their needs;

Ingenuity in adapting literacy practices, programs, and materials to meet

these needs.

Purpose of this resource

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Literacy for the 21st Century. What counts?

The very meaning of literacy changes with the times. For instance, advances in

technology mean that information can now be accessed using computers, websites

and videos. Canadians are learning to negotiate hypertext, icons, audio tracks,

moving images and multiple screens, all at once. For many, the screen holds

more allure than simple, printed texts. A picture tells a thousand words. Being

literate is therefore no longer confined to reading words on a page.

Neither is literacy just a set of skills that can easily migrate across social, linguistic,

and cultural boundaries. Canadians bring many different languages and cultures

as frames of reference to understanding what they read. In fact, without the

appropriate cultural and linguistic context, print just doesn’t make sense.

And being literate in one sphere does not even guarantee it in another. Try

reading a computer manual to test this out! Even if you can mouth the words,

do you know what they mean? And can you put them to use?

So what counts as literacy? And whose literacy counts? Reading, writing and

speaking in languages other than English or French all count as literacy, even

though standardized Canadian literacy tests would discount them.

Understanding culturally specific information – such as First Nations oral

traditions – also counts. In fact, any communication practice that enables a

person to function effectively in their local social and cultural contexts and

participate in decisions that affect them must also be understood as literacy.

The amount of stigma surrounding the term ‘illiterate’ is obvious andthe term is incompatible with health promotion values

Rootman, I. and Ronson, R. Literacy and Health Research in Canada: Where have

we been and where should we go? Canadian Institute of Health Research 2003

<http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/index.shtml>

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It is with this new vision of literacy, embracing technological advances as well as

social, linguistic and cultural diversity, that health professionals must step forward

into the 21st century.

Race, gender and socio-economic status are all factors that criticallyeffect whose ‘literacy’ counts. Some literacies have become powerful anddominant, while others have been constrained and devalued. The problemis not so much a lack of literacy as a lack of social justice

Denny Taylor Many Families, Many Literacies. Washington, DC: NAEYC, 1997

A Healthy Start… one of nine posters from a postnatal poster set produced by parents and staffand available for purchase from Healthy Start for Mom & Me. Winnipeg, MB.

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Literacy outcomes for CAPC/CPNP Projects

The Literacy Matters survey asked CAPC and CPNP projects to identify which

literacy outcomes were achieved by adults and children. The results indicate

that whilst a range of adult literacy outcomes are achieved, the primary emphasis

in CAPC and CPNP is on adults in their capacity as parents, and on children.

Outcomes for Adults

According to the survey, outcomes most often achieved for adults in their own

right are: participation in a group; advocacy for self and others; powers of

communication, and confidence in talking and writing. Many projects noted

that participation in a group is counted as a major accomplishment for participants

who have formerly been socially isolated.

Personal pleasure in reading, job related skills, and cultural literacies were also

identified as outcomes for adults, but by fewer projects (See graph 1).

Graph 1: Number of Projects Responding = 112

Projects indicated multiple outcomes

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Graph 2: Number of Projects Responding = 112

Projects indicated multiple outcomes

Outcomes for Parents

Almost all programs reported that parents gain knowledge and a range of skills

in their capacity as their children’s first literacy teachers. Parents also gained a

better understanding of texts relating to child development, health and safety in

almost 50% of the projects.

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Outcomes for Infants and Young Children

Outcomes relating to oral language – confidence in speaking and attention to

patterns of language - were most often reported. Access to books and recognition

of print patterns were also frequently mentioned. These factors, along with play

and drawing, which were also identified, are generally recognised as foundational

to the development of literacy in young children.

ESL outcomes were identified by a relatively small percentage of projects.

However, this should not be taken as an indication of responsiveness to ESL

participants, since most projects reported sensitive and innovative strategies to

include a range of linguistic and cultural groups (see Section 2).

Graph 3: Number of Projects Responding = 112

Projects indicated multiple outcomes