Welcome to the Beginnings Guides
website for pregnancy and parent education materials and training to promote health literacy and reflective practice
It matters what a mother knows and what a mother does. Beginnings Guides are designed to complement counseling during office and home visits for prenatal and parent education and family support.
Look what medical and managed care experts say about
Beginning Guides
"I felt the training with Sandra was thought provoking and insightful.
My staff were excited to learn a new approach to use with clients. I believe the clients will get more from our program because of the training with Sandra."
-Belinda Ray, Aspiranet Welcome Home Baby
"The books are great. I
have presented the book at the Medical Society Task Force on Family
Violence meetings. The feedback from the pediatricians and OB-GYN
members have found the information very empowering to their patients
These professionals also work with at-risk and battering couples, and
have provided this book as a measure of hope and education."
“I really like taking out the
Beginnings curriculum because it
allows mother to play an active role
in learning about their baby. The
reflective questions encourage
mothers to observe and learn from
their infant’s non-verbal cues. My
clients really enjoy the reflective
coloring sheets. In many cases the
fathers have taken over this activity.
In the past, when I am facing a lack
of communication from clients I
used the coloring sheets because the
relaxation and expression in their
artwork sets up a framework for
future communication. I have had
mothers scribble black lines all over
a picture of a pregnant mother and
later state that they felt ugly and
messy.”
Lalakesha Holmes-Allen
Healthy Families MOM Project
Doula
"We feel this high quality patient education material increases our effectiveness as providers and is a tremendous time saver."
"I think Beginnings is the best product of its type on the market."
"The Beginnings Guides for pregnancy and parenting have been a wonderful asset to our home visiting program."
"Your website and materials are amazing. I appreciate the simplicity of the key messages poster.'
What mothers say about Beginnings
"It was very educational for me as this was my first pregnancy. I also enjoyed the graphics and format of the information. GREAT!"
"I seemed to get the right information at the right time through all the stages of my pregnancy. It was helpful to get information in stages, not all at once."
"I used the booklets as a ready reference as I needed them. I looked forward to them. They’re wonderful."
Download of the Week
This
project assesses how maternal health literacy impacts children’s early
development including communication, gross and fine motor, personal
social, problem solving, social emotional, and regulation.
What's New on Site
HANDS UP for Health and Physical Literacy is a three part illustrated
video series that will teach children and youth about the importance of
physical and health literacy in a fun and engaging way.
Featured Content
-At the first Annual Research
Meeting at the University of Washington Tower Sandra Smith presented a
scientific poster on preliminary results of a study on the impacts of
maternal depression on mothers’ health literacy in the context of home
visitation. To view the poster
click here.
For Information on The Purpose of The Life Skills Progression
click here.
I'm always eager to hear about your program and assist with order planning & shipping. We can talk about the content, health literacy or life skills development. Please feel free to share your thoughts about the new website. For detailed information on training, research & development, the evidence base & program evaluation with the
Life Skills Progression visit our
training and
research page.
Sandra Smith, MPH, PhD
Updated May 20, 2013
