The Hanen I’m Ready!^™ Advanced Workshop

Parents play a powerful role in supporting children's emergent literacy skills – the building blocks for learning to read and write. At the I’m Ready!™ Advanced Workshop, you'll learn how to train parents to use shared book reading and conversation to build the key emergent literacy skills that prepare young children for school success. This includes children who are typically developing, at risk of a language delay, or who have a mild language delay.

Why Take an I'm Ready! Workshop?

Certification to lead a research-based, early literacy intervention program to groups of parents

The I’m Ready! Advanced Workshop certifies participants to lead The Hanen I’m Ready!™ Program for Building Early Literacy in the Home. The I’m Ready!™ Program offers parents the chance to help their child (aged 3-5 years old) develop the early literacy skills they need before starting school. Like the strategies in all our other programs, the strategies in I’m Ready! were designed to be truly flexible: parents will learn how they can promote early literacy while reading, but also throughout the entire day.

Multiple studies have demonstrated the power of shared reading and other literacy focused activities in promoting language and literacy development in young children. I’m Ready! strategies come from the evidence-based ABC and Beyond™ - The Hanen Program^® for Building Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood Settings. While ABC and Beyond empowers educators to help children develop emergent literacy skills, I’m Ready! gives that same power to parents, giving children complete literacy support both in the classroom and at home.

I’m Ready! is also the first Hanen Program to include sessions for parents and their children. While parents work with the program leader, their children are in another room with trained support staff – having fun while also taking part in activities that promote their early literacy skills and language development. The parents and children then come together to practice what they’ve learned, while the program leader and trained support staff offer coaching and feedback to help parents put the strategies they’ve just learned into practice.

Learn more about the Hanen I’m Ready!™ Program for Building Early Literacy in the Home.

 
Training for support staff

After completing this workshop, participants receive all the training materials needed to prepare support staff for running the children’s sessions and assisting with parent coaching – at no extra charge. I’m Ready! is the only Hanen workshop to include training for multiple people, giving participants the support they need to run the program, and giving other staff additional training they can use both in the program and in other contexts.

Flexible program

While offering weekly sessions is suggested, it’s also possible to adjust the duration of the program if it’s more convenient to have longer intervals between each session. The program can also be offered in a variety of settings: it’s appropriate for a speech and language clinic, an early years centre or a school. In addition, while offering the full program of six sessions and an orientation session is encouraged, we also have several pre-approved shorter versions that participants can offer instead, depending on parent need and availability.

Option for online delivery

You’ll have access to an additional license to offer the program to parents online. The online version of I’m Ready! maintains all the best practice elements of the in-person program, including discussion and live practice opportunities.

Learn more about the online license.

Downloadable materials

After completing the workshop, participants receive all the materials needed to offer the I’m Ready! program. These materials (including the Making Hanen Happen Leaders Guide and Program Slides with Embedded Videos) are all downloadable.

Please note that while the workshop does not include the I’m Ready! guidebook (an essential part of the program), participants receive a one-use discount code to help them order the book and become familiar with the content they’ll share with parents in the program.

Ongoing support

As Hanen members certified in I’m Ready!, participants will receive frequent updates on further developments in the I’m Ready! Program, as well as the latest news and research in emergent literacy development. The I’m Ready! Program Director and the Hanen Team are also always happy to offer support in any way we can.


Workshop Format

I’m Ready! is a 9-week workshop that includes asynchronous self-directed online learning and three live zoom sessions with the participants and workshop facilitator. Learning activities include self-study components, online small group activities, discussion forums and live online sessions with the other participants, facilitated by the workshop instructor.

Taking the I’m Ready!™ Advanced Workshop

The I’m Ready! workshop is open to all Hanen members. Sign up to be notified when a workshop is available.

*Please note that I’m Ready! is not yet registered for ASHA CEUs.