Services Provided:
 
Since 2000, HABLA has been offering low-income, low-SES families in Orange County, CA its program of home visitation 
for their 2 to 4 year-old children.  For 23 weeks of each of the two years of the program, families receive two 
half hour visits per week.  These visits must include both child and parent (or caretaker) and are conducted in the 
home by our extensively trained, bilingual staff members chosen for their cultural competence, language skills, 
experience with preschool children as well as their ability to be a positive role model for the children and families 
being served.  The home visitors use toys and books (Spanish and English are available but most clients opt for Spanish) 
to model and coach parenting techniques that will increase verbal interaction and promote child learning and expressive 
language, the first visit each week is for coaching and the second is for observation and further coaching as necessary.  
Some of these activities focus on health and hygiene, others focus on mental development and pre-school skills in math, 
science and reading. Each week focuses on a book or toys that is left to stay in the home for continued use.  HABLA 
books often become the only books that the family owns and the first books that the children learn to read. 

Since 2005, HABLA-English has been offered to a subgroup of the children completing HABLA, first at Warwick Square 
Apartments and now at El Sol charter School as well.  In this eight week program, children meet in small groups of 
8-12 with a English speaking adults at an adult to child ratio of no less than 1:2.  The groups meet twice a week for 
two hours and the children and their teachers join in school activities that use the English versions of the books 
initially provided in HABLA home visits and now developed into literacy, counting and craft activities.  Thus the 
Spanish-English cognates become a scaffold for helping children begin to use English while the school-like setting 
and pacing help children transition to being in school.

Since 2006, HABLA-Sibling has been offered, at the insistence of some of our parents at the Warwick Square Apartments.  
Having had one child successfully complete HABLA, these parents were eager to have a second child enrolled. Since they 
already had the training and the curriculum of books and toys, we developed a shortened 23 week version which included 
only 1 new book or toy a month and only one visit a week.

Since 2006 HABLA K-for-K has teamed with Project Access to provide children in project complexes with activities that 
include both pre-schoolers and their older siblings who are becoming accomplished speakers of English.  The older children 
read to the younger ones and share in gardening or craft activities and often receive an English book for their involvement. 
As part of K-for-K we are also establishing small libraries of English language books at the Project Access Resource centers 
in two of the complexes we serve.