“Itsy Bitsy Spider” plays softly as parents step into the gleaming lobby at Educare, an early childhood education center that opened in 2013 in New Orleans. On this particular day, the spider might want to give up on the waterspout and find a leaf to huddle under. Rain from Hurricane Harvey’s outer reaches lashes at the floor-to-ceiling windows.

But in an infant-toddler room just down the hall, dispositions are sunny. Three teachers and eight children are on the rug, engaged in the all-consuming business of using words to build developing brains.

All five preschool years — Educare’s program encompasses from birth to age 5 — is best, but even two has a measurable, long-term effect. And the earlier, the better developmentally, says Keith Liederman, CEO of the social service provider Kingsley House, one of the groups that joined forces to get an Educare in New Orleans.

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