Just as a child needs an adequate amount of healthy food for physical growth, that same child also needs adequate language for brain development. The good news is, language nutrition is free. All parents have to do is talk, interact, and engage with their children in every day life conversations.

This simple, yet critical task is at the heart of Talk With Me Baby, one of the Get Georgia Reading Campaign’s four core pillars, an innovative effort that is already attracting national attention. President Obama this week hosted the White House Summit on Early Childhood Education, where he highlighted new efforts to ensure that every child in America has access to high-quality preschool and rich early learning opportunities.

During his speech, the president mentioned Talk With Me Baby, stressing its potential to “make sure language learning begins at the very first weeks of a child’s life.”

Talk With Me baby also is featured on the White House’s website. Maya Shankar, senior adviser in the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, recently sat down with Arianne Weldon, director of the Get Georgia Reading Campaign, to hear more about the Campaign’s work, new developments, and future plans for Talk With Me Baby.