Mission Statement

We are a non-profit organization that works in conjunction with the Literacy Council and Hospitals to promote literacy. Currently, we collaborate with Orange Regional Medical Center so that each mother is given a baby board book when discharged from the Mother Baby Unit. Baby S.T.E.P is not associated with any for profit businesses. We are simply trying to make a difference in the lives of children by promoting a love for reading. We hope to expand to WIC offices, pediatricians, and other low-socio economic communities to inform parents of the importance of reading to babies. By providing an educational pamphlet and the baby's first book...we are we are giving the Gift of Reading and Endless Possibilities!

Child reading a book top view

Working Towards Early Literacy for Babies

My name is Danielle F. Lowe and I am the chairman of the board at Baby S.T.E.P Inc. in Middletown, New York. Since 2011, our nonprofit organization has been working towards early literacy for babies by providing books to mothers and families. Our board members include:

Board Members

Dr. Danielle F. Lowe

Our chairman Dr. Danielle Lowe received her doctoral degree at William Howard Taft University in January 2016. Her dissertation evaluated the effects of attention span and engagement when reading books to infants. She has also developed her own strategy for teaching writing to primary-aged kids and has been gathering data for the past seven to eight years which she hopes to publish in the future.

She found out that children will naturally progress through the developmental stages of writing when they are ready. The key is to offer them opportunities to create. Providing them with different writing tools, such as crayons, color pencils, markers, even shaving cream will build their foundational reading skills, as well as their fine motor skills.

Danielle also presented her research on the effects of bibliotherapy on children internationally. If you are interested to learn about this study and Danielle’s resources, you can reach out to her through our organization.

Tarkan T. Ceng

Tarkan, our treasurer, has received his doctoral degree at The Sage Colleges. He has explored participative leadership for his dissertation and is currently the superintendent of schools in New York. Additionally, Tarkan is a “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” trainer and facilitator.

Students' reading reward: a 'Fancy Nancy' principal

Ceng's costume marked the end of a school-wide reading challenge for students to read five of seven nights a week for three weeks. Tarkan Ceng, principal of Sargent Elementary School in Beacon, reads "Fancy Nancy at the Museum" by Jane O'Connor to a group of first-graders Thursday while dressed as the title character, Fancy Nancy.

As disciplinarians and mentors, a lot of school principals have been called a lot of different things by a lot of students.

But Thursday may have been the first time some students could refer to their principal as "Fancy Nancy."

There was no mistaking just how fancy Sargent Elementary School Principal Tarkan Ceng dressed Thursday. The man in charge of the Beacon city school wore a straw hat, tiara, feather boa, tiny blue disco ball earrings, white shirt with pink stripes, pink tutu, white tights and pink ribbons in his shoelaces in his effort to promote literacy.

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Barbara Ann Reimer

Barbara is our organization’s vice chairman. She recently received her administrative degree from Long Island University.

Mrs. Barbara Ann Reimer

Has been teaching elementary school students for 25 years and has a passion for providing the most effective and educationally successful lessons. Barbara considers herself an early childhood advocate following a John Dewey style; teaching to the whole child in order to guide excellent literacy skills through a method of citizenship. Barbara believes that learning should be natural, sensible and interdisciplinary. Barbara shares her love of learning with her own children as well with her students. Mrs. Reimer has both her Masters in Curriculum Design and a School Building Leadership Certificate from Long Island University. Along with her SBL, Barbara completed an internship with a focus on special education in a supervisory position. Barbara has been a mentor to many new teachers and has been a long time member of the Recommended Teaching Interventions ( RTI) committee helping fellow colleagues best meet the needs of their students. Mrs. Reimer loves serving as the Vice President of the Baby S.T.E.P. organization as she has witnessed countless literacy successes when reading becomes an vital part of a child's life.

Laura Guardarramas is an asset to the Baby S.T.E.P. Inc. family! She has been a teaching assistant in an inner city school district for over 15 years working with children in grades K-12. Laura is an excellent planner and event organizer! She facilitates the organization and distribution of the baby bags each month. (more to follow 🙂

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Laura Guadaramas

Laura is our secretary who helps to meet the needs of students in special education. Her experience includes helping children from kindergarten to the eighth grade.

Get To Know Dr. Danielle F. Lowe

For over 20 years, Danielle taught pre-kindergarten through seventh grade in an inner-city school district in New York. She also taught undergraduate and graduate courses for over15 years. In 2023, Danielle started Dr. Lowe's Play Academy, where she created a child led, nature based , evolving curriculum to meet the needs of each and every child. 

Dr. Danielle F. Lowe

Kindergarten Teacher Danielle F. Lowe

In her classroom at Truman Moon Primary Center in Middletown, is working on her doctoral degree. Her work on how books can help children cope with crisis is attracting some attention in various academic circles.

danielle lowe_C

Middletown teacher finds books can help kids in crisis Research draws global attention

By Heather Yakin - Times Herald-Record
Published: 2:00 AM - 09/28/09

MIDDLETOWN - As a kindergarten teacher, Danielle Lowe is a believer in early intervention.Early reading helps kids learn later in life, and books can help young children cope with crisis.Lowe, who teaches at Truman Moon Primary Center in Middletown, has been a teacher for 10 years, and kindergarten is what she loves.They're sponges up till age 6, Lowe said.

Lowe also teaches graduate courses as an adjunct professor at SUNY New Paltz, and she has just started working on a doctoral degree through William Howard Taft University. One of her focuses is using books to help children deal with crises. Kids face issues from the everyday, such as test anxiety, to more dire things such as violence. There's a lot of scary things in their lives, Lowe said.

On Sept. 12, 2001, Lowe said, she learned from three crying students that they each had a parent who never came home the night before. One child asked her to read a book and calm was restored. She started collecting books to address the crises kids face; not happy topics, but needed topics, she said. I do the research behind the topic and suggest books. She mentions Was it the Chocolate Pudding; a book that helps kids understand divorce and that it's an adult problem, not the kids' fault. The use of literature to do this is called bibliotherapy.It's important to help kids with these issues. In talking to children, at that age, a lot of them do think it's their fault, she said.

Lowe's work has drawn attention in academic circles. In March, she presented her research article "Helping children cope through literature at the Oxford Round Table at Pembroke University in Oxford, England. She presented her work at the National New England Teacher's Conference in Nashua, N.H., in 2007, and in July at the "I Teach K!" National Kindergarten Teacher Conference in Las Vegas.

Last year, Lowe and some colleagues started a Books for Babies program with Middletown Thrall Library. They handed out reading-tip pamphlets and books to parents at hospitals and in poor neighborhoods. She hopes to restart the program because early reading goes a long way.In Ireland, where Lowe co-taught in 2006, schools send liaisons to parents to encourage early reading. Lowe has also made international education a focus of her studies. They start at birth there, talking to parents," she said. I really think that's what we need to do. We need to support early childhood development.

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My Professional and Educational Background

In 2006, I was able to observe and co-teach in the inner-city classrooms of Dublin, Ireland, and collaborated with Irish teachers and administrators on early childhood assessments. In those classrooms, I learned that schools work with parents in the community beginning at birth.

Aside from that, I also worked with teachers and administrators in London, United Kingdom. I was intrigued by the families’ approach to collaborate with schools even before their children reach school age.

In the following years, I presented for the Staff Development for Educators at the National New England Teachers Conference in 2007, followed by the National Kindergarten Conference in Las Vegas in 2009.

In March 2009, I also presented my research article, “Helping Children Cope through Literature,” at Pembroke University in Oxford which was later selected for publication. By the end of that year, I was awarded a scholarship to pursue my doctoral degree at William Howard Taft University.

In January 2011, I worked in the orphanages and classrooms of Belize and presented at the Belize International Symposium for Educators. This is where I was fortunate enough to share my research with the country’s ambassador.

Later in August that year, I decided to create the nonprofit organization, Baby S.T.E.P Inc., in hopes of promoting literacy through hospitals, WIC offices, pediatricians, and more. We were formally granted nonprofit status and recruited board members to help us in our vision and mission to provide support to parents and community members in promoting infant literacy.

Join My Research Today

If you would like to join my study on early childhood education and development, reach out to Baby S.T.E.P Inc. today. I look forward to having you and your baby on board.

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Working Together

Our board members like to collaborate to create special projects. For instance, Diane and Danielle Lowe authored and illustrated a children’s book entitled “Trixie the Christmas Pixie.” On the other hand, Danielle, Tarkan, and Barbara are all facilitators and trainers at Starlab.