What is Parents as Teachers (PAT)?

Let’s set the stage: You are a parent of young children. You have had 

A. DAY. with said young children. One is still not sleeping through the night, and one has a major case of the whines. You have read the books (well, parts of them, at least–who has time to read?!). You have Googled, followed, and swiped all things parenting.That village you hear about--where do you go about finding one of those? Well, today is your lucky day because you have found it! Not only that, but what if I told you it was no cost, tailored to your own family and situation, and is all delivered to your doorstep?

Missouri families: listen in because we can hook.you.up--for FREE!

Find Your PAT  Program

Find Out More About the Kirkwood MO PAT Program

Welcome to Parents as Teachers

Parents as Teachers (Nationwide)

Transcript

Welcome to Skip Hop, the Kirkwood Parents as Teachers podcast, hosted by the Kirkwood School District Parent Educators. We are a group of trained and certified parent educators offering support on a variety of parenting topics. The topics we discuss are based on submissions from parents in our community.

We are not therapists and our input is not a substitute for recommendations or advice from a medical or mental health professional. You can find a recording of our podcast on Spotify as well as following the links on our website. Resources on the topics discussed will be available as well.  Welcome. My name is Penny Chastain and I am the program coordinator for the Kirkwood Parents as Teachers program.

Today I am here with our PAT team and we are talking about one of the topics that we can actually claim we are expert level on, us.  All kidding aside, by the end of this episode, we hope that you not only will have a better understanding of what our program is and what we can offer, but you will also feel confident and excited to share with other parents of young children that you know. 

Okay, we are going to jump right into this.  Believe it or not, Parents as Teachers has been around for 40 years.  It's quite possible if you were a young parent listening, you might have participated as a child with your own parents. The quick explanation is that we are a home visiting program offering services to families with children prenatally through just before kindergarten entry.

As you can imagine, there is so, so much more.  Missouri is the only state that funds and mandates each school district to offer parents as teachers. There have been some changes over the years, but this remains the same. Just know that if you are listening and you are not in the Kirkwood School District, you can still receive services.

You'll just contact the school district you live in and they will be able to connect you.  Every program looks a little different, but some features are consistent between the programs. Our services are completely free, We use the same curriculum. Visits and services are delivered by highly trained and certified parent educators.

Services are available to all families with children under 5 years old, and they're made up of four main components. We have home visits, which are the heart of our program, developmental screenings, group connections, and connections to resources in our very own community. After that programs operate independently catering to community needs.

Since we are all from Kirkwood here, that's the lens in which we are going to talk about things today. And with that, I'm going to toss it out to the experts, our parent educators. Let's take a look at the first component, home visits. Share a little bit about what these look like and what topics you might be working on with them.

Um, do home visits have to take place in a family's home, for instance? If the family is a two parent household, do both parents have to be present on a visit? So, um, can you just share a little bit about, like, what visits look like here in Kirkwood? One thing that I like to say is that no one visit is ever another.

I mean, there are so many different varieties. We can do visits in the family's home. We can do visits outside in the backyard. We can even do visits Um, at a different location outside of the home or even  on the telephone or via FaceTime. This time of year I like to go to the park and maybe do a little scavenger hunt  for communication and language. 

Or we have, did you say discovery room? No, I didn't, but that's another good one. Yeah, the discovery room, that's really nice. Lots of different options for play. And each home visit consists of three areas. So there will be a parent child interaction time where there's, that's where you do the activity. And then there's um,  there's reinforcement around developmental, development centered parenting.

So that will be something like, I don't know, potty training or um, routine. And then, um, the third area is family well being. And so these are not just visits for your child, it's for your whole family. And so that's when we'll kind of check in on, you know, how, how is the family motor running in general? Um, any changes to the routine coming up? 

So, that's basically every home visit hits on those three topics.  Speaking of the whole family too, um, I mean, if, if there's more than one caregiver, you know, if there's more than one caregiver, In the home, um, all caregivers are welcome to participate in visits, but that's certainly not required. You know, if you want to take turns, or if it's primarily one caregiver or the other, or if grandma or grandpa happens to be in town for the weekend and want to sit in, um, you know, a different perspective, or for them to even learn, you know, more about their grandchild, or, you know, modern parenting, um, we welcome that as well. 

And home visits are really fun. Uh, you may think there is like this lady coming to evaluate you. And, uh, but it's not like that where they're just to support you, to share all the things you're observing with your child. And, uh, sometimes you may think like, Oh, I have this question, but it might be dumb, but there's no dumb questions.

Like, we answer everything, and if we don't know it, we have a big, a team that we can always ask and support you guys. So, um, I really enjoy it. Uh, seeing all the family growing and living the journey of having kids.  And I think too, um, that it doesn't matter if you have a lot of experience in early childhood and know a lot about, um,  child development.

You know, we have people participate that are doctors or, um, teachers and when you add the element of. Um, that it's your baby, your little one. You kind of need that outside, it can help sometimes to get perspective on things, you know, because, um, which you, you should. Not see that stuff, you know, you want to just be the parent  Like Holly mentioned a visit can take place many different ways whether it's at a home, a park, a phone visit Community location, but one thing is having a home visit Really we hope that you are not thinking about  The state of your home, we're used to moving toys around, to sit on the floor, and we're just rolling up our sleeves and having fun.

We're not, um,  the, the state of your house is of no concern of ours.  Another component of our Kirkwood Parents as Teachers program is called Group Connections. Um, one of my favorites that we've done in the past have been, um, special Kirkwood Parents as Teachers only mornings at the Magic House.  And I hear that if you do the mornings at the Magic House, they give you a wristband and then you can go home, have lunch.

And then go back to the magic house for free in the afternoon, which is kind of cool. Miss Gabby has done some small groups, right? Miss Gabby. Oh yeah.  Yeah. I have done a bilingual group that, uh, where I can, um, read books. I do read books. And then we sing a lot of songs in Spanish and English. And it's a really fun activity room because, uh, you can see the kids learning new words and also the moms or dads participating and singing two languages. 

I think it's important too to note we have all kinds of group connections going on. Sometimes there are fun things like we mentioned that, um, the parents do with their children, but we also offer things on topics just for parents like, um, We do these Lunch and Learns, sometimes it's discipline, sometimes we'll have a speaker about  feeding, or picky eating, or potty training.

And so we really are just trying to cater to the needs of the community, and we try to listen to our parents, and um, what they need. What they're asking for. We can't forget our two big signature group connections. We have one in the fall, and that is our snowy day. And it is an outside fun with snow machine and just fun, exciting activities for all ages.

And then we have another event in April called Messy Play, and Messy Play has been a signature event probably, um, ever since Parents and Teachers started, probably close to 30 years here in Kirkwood. And it's all the fun stuff that you really don't want to do at home that has to do with shaving cream, dirt, and just a wild and crazy time. 

I think  that's a really a large group connection and um, I think one benefit of the smaller ones is just building connections with each other too. Sometimes we have families that don't have other family around to support them so they're really looking to connect with other parents their kids ages, um, maybe a play group or something like that. 

Another unique feature of our program is that on Monday mornings we offer an open play time for families in our program. Um, and so it's a great opportunity just for families in our area to come together to meet one another. We have multiple families that have made connections with each other and are, um, enjoying each other's company outside of our program and just really strengthening and developing those relationships with each other. 

And Holly, I'm going to put you on the spot that, um, Can you talk a little bit about what that meant to you when your kids were in parents as teachers? You really formed some lasting friendships. Oh, I sure did. In fact, um, I, my oldest child is 25 years old and actually it was this past weekend, Sunday, I met for brunch with a group of Kirkwood moms that we met when our children were about 18 months old.

Um, one's married, one's in the Space Force, and we have just been. on our parenting journey, um, since the beginning and had really made some lifelong friends, thanks to parents and teachers. Another really big component of our program is doing screenings for families, the children, once a year. And we do all kinds of screenings that give us a great snapshot of where the kiddos are in development.

Um, also it just, it's really, Identify strengths. I mean, I think, um, we often do not go into screenings, um, with an idea that we're trying to catch anything. Is that what you all would think too? I mean, I know when I'm doing screenings, um, it gives me  just great discussion points with parents. You know, and you really can highlight a lot of their strengths because we don't often ask these specific questions.

specific questions. For me, it helps plan the home visit too. Um, because if there is an area for growth, then I know what to focus on the next time, say fine motor, then I'll bring fine motor activities. Um, but also highlighting the areas of strength in those visits too. And, um, you can really get a sense of where the child has their interests, which is,  um, really helpful in planning. 

Because then it's helpful too in how you parent. You know, if you really, um, are able to highlight that kiddo's strengths, then you're able to make suggestions to parents then on, um, what might be effective in certain areas of parenting.  And I think it's important to point out that all the screenings we do are play based.

We do our best to make our kids feel comfortable in their natural environment so we can really get an accurate. And a little bit, um, Glen's of where they are and what they're doing. Um, so we offer developmental screenings, we do hearing and vision screenings, and those are all done annually. Uh, we also do social emotional screenings.

Yeah, you mentioned Tara that they were you mentioned that, um, All of our screenings are play based, and that is definitely true, um, zero to three, but three to kindergarten age, we do something kind of unique where the kiddos come to us instead of in the home, and they're, um, in groups of three or four, and we did that because we changed that a little bit, and they certainly could be done in the home, that's still an  But at that age, social development is really becoming a priority.

Um, at the forefront, and we want to be paying attention to that, um, how they act around peers, what that might look going into school. So we place the, them in a situation where they're around children their own age and lead them through all of the screening activities. Also play based, they have no idea, they're just having a lot of fun.

Uh, and as much as these screenings are helpful for being able to identify the strengths that a child has. If there are areas that you have concerns about for your child, we can also use the screening to sort of help identify what those might be and put you in touch with other organizations or other individuals who are more, who are,  So, for like a more formal evaluation.

Yeah, we can put you in touch with other individuals or other organizations to pursue a more formal evaluation of your child for that area of concern.  Yes, Eileen, I think that is, um, true that we would connect them with other entities that would pursue a more formal evaluation or services and with that, I'll go, lead into our last component of the PAT program, which are resource connections.

So, you know, when you hear that, um, at, at first you're just thinking, Oh, you know, I'm sure I can Google that stuff. You know, what do you all think? makes us so different. When we say resource connections, what is behind that research?  Right. We're just we there's so much information out there and it can be overwhelming sometimes.

And it can even make you feel, you know, even worse about your parenting because you don't know which way to go and  What to believe and all of this. And so everything that we recommend is based on research and the curriculum, the activities, the parent handouts that go with the curriculum. It's all coming from, you know, active research and trial and error.

And, um, so it's just really helpful to streamline some of this and make it more manageable because parenting is hard. And when parents as teachers began back in the 80s. There wasn't, wasn't much information that was available for parents to be able to know how to encourage the development and And, you know, identify strengths and areas to, um, to work on, but now we're almost in the opposite end of the problem where with, you know, with the internet and searches that you can do for anything that you have a need for, you get so much information and you don't know if what you're getting is research based, whereas Whatever a parent is to parents as teachers, educator brings to you will be research based, will be based on a very thoroughly, you know, um, vetted curriculum.

that you can feel confident that the information you're getting is, is  based on research and is, it can be relied upon. Um, and you don't have to worry about then trying to find other resources. You can be satisfied with the, the, the parents as teachers information that you're given.  I think to Eileen that, um, those are all good points.

And I will say, um, I know I can speak for all of us when I say that we work really hard at staying current on things. Um, like Gabby alluded to earlier, we have a team. So if we don't know something about a topic, we do have a whole team to work work with, um, to make sure that we're giving accurate information, that we're on the right track, that there hasn't been anything new pop up that we didn't know about. 

We also try to really work with our community partners, different organizations and nonprofits in our own area that we can recommend and support.  Okay. Um, when I, when I was a mom and I have my point of cater, I had a Uh, it was very helpful for me to have her because since I'm not from the U. S. and I was new here in the, in Kirkwood, Uh, she was able to like, tell me where to go, who to ask.

So, we usually have a lot of information about the things that are happening around here. Um, if you know, if you need to talk to someone, like, in the community, we kind of, we know a lot of resources.  And fun things too, like we partner with um, our local libraries and other organizations like that so that we are, if we're not offering it, we can connect you to people who are.

Even like where to go, like places, parks around here, I didn't know any of those things, like the botanical garden, so, the zoo, that things are free, you know, all those kind of things. It was very helpful for me and we know all those fun things.  I have, um, been fortunate enough to, um, be the parent educator for several families who, um, grew up in countries outside of the U.

S. and, um, especially the transition to, um, from, like, parents as teachers into kindergarten. There are a lot of things that, um,  You know, like, if you grew up in the United States, you would just kind of like know about public schools, or even private schools for that matter. And, um, I feel like I've been able to be, um, a good resource to those families for even just simple things like, Oh, you know, I thought, you know, in my country, kids came home for lunch, you know.

And that, you know, that's not, um, you know, generally, you know, what, what happens here. And just having a safe, um, You know, easy accessible way to connect with someone, you know, like I think someone said earlier, there's no dumb questions. Parenting's hard. Parenting is hard. And, um, personally, I've moved around the country a number of times and so I know what it feels like to be an outsider to a community.

So even if you're not an outsider from another country, You, if you have moved into the Kirkwood area and you're from a different location in the country, you know, you may not have any friends. You may not have family here. Um, you may not know what good parks there are to have your child go and play. You may not know about the moms groups that might exist.

Um, and so we can help you.  start to know a little bit more about the community that you have moved into. And so I think that that's been a nice part personally for me to be able to try to do what I can to help make others who sort of have experienced the same background that I have of moving into a location where you don't have the knowledge and, and, um, friendships and family to help you, you know, get over those humps.

It really does help, I think. And that's one of the things we can help Um, families that are new to the area with,  yeah, I think basically in a nutshell, we're, um, you know, building connections, building relationships with each other and others. And with a goal of, um,  around making sure that by the time you leave us and head into, um, we'll call big school, whatever that is, whether that's kindergarten in our public school system or a private school that you, um, are ready to be an advocate for your child, you feel confident, um, moving forward, asking questions, um, because really,  The journey's just beginning. 

So whether you are a new parent or a well seasoned parent, we are here to support you and your family. We described today some very tangible and important areas we focus on and can help you navigate parenthood. Our vision is that all children will learn, grow, and develop to realize their full potential.

They're parents and caregivers, too. We'd like to think we are offering families one big hug of support, looking at the big picture as well as the details. We know that when families thrive, communities are strong. Parents as Teachers is a free home visiting program offering developmental information, resources, developmental, health, hearing, and vision screenings, and opportunities to learn more. 

We serve children in our community prenatally through five years old. If you live within the boundaries served by the Kirkwood School District, have a child or children under the age of five, and would like to know more about how you can join our free program, please reach out to us. You can find contact information, resources to support the topic discussed today, and submit ideas for future topics on our website, www.

kirkwoodschool.  org. Slash PAT.