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MM4M Intervention Program

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Goal: The Math Made 4 Me (MM4M) program aims to promote math talk between parents and their preschool children during family routines (e.g. play, commuting, reading, eating/drinking) to foster children's math skills.

Program description: MM4M is a 6-week intervention delivered through videos each targeting an important preschool math skill and how to incorporate the skill in a particular family routine. The set of videos that each family receives is personalized to that family based on the routines the parent reports are used frequently in a regular day. In addition, parents receive text reminders to practice the skills with their children throughout the week.

Results of the feasibility study: There were 76 parents and their preschool children who participated in the feasibility study of the MM4M program. Parents who participated in the MM4M program showed greater increases in their math talk and reported home math activities compared to parents in a control condition. There was no change in children's math skills across the two conditions.

What does this program require of parents?: This program is provided completely online, with text messages containing video links being sent to parents each week. All we expect from parents is to watch the video and implement the skill with your child throughout the week.

Are you interested in the Math Made 4 Me program? Contact Graduate Research Assistant Rebecca McGregor, Principal Investigators Dr. Diana Leyva and Dr. Melissa Libertus.

Project funded by an internal grant from the University of Pittsburgh Learning Research & Development Center.

Interested in knowing more about the development and implementation of the MM4M intervention program?

Here are a few short clips in English and Spanish:

May 17, 2020

Diana Leyva is featured in Child Trend News. here is a Spanish and an English version of the news and a link to a 10-min interview about her research "Keep Kids Learning at Home During COVID-19!" Full interview with Dr. Leyva Source

Here are some publications related to the program: