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Tulsa Parents as Teachers helps families in Tulsa Public Schools bridge the educational gap during the early years of life.
It’s not easy to be a stay-at-home mom. There are the endless messes, the diaper changing and feedings, the endless efforts to keep a young child entertained.
There is also isolation. A feeling that a trip to the grocery store is the only way to socialize with other adults.
Lorena Tiemann was already well familiar with these challenges when she moved to Tulsa in August 2007 from Hays, Kan. A stay-at-home mom to then-1-year-old son Xavier, she was anxious to get involved in her new community and meet other parents with whom she could develop friendships.
Fortunately, while living in Kansas, Tiemann had gotten involved with the Parents as Teachers (PAT) program. Through PAT, a highly qualified parent educator made monthly visits to the Tiemann household, during which she engaged Xavier and his mother in a variety of activities to encourage his language, social-emotional, problem-solving, cognitive and motor skills development.
Tiemann had already seen the impact these visits had on her son and wanted to continue the program, so she sought out Tulsa’s PAT.
Now, 3-year-old Xavier meets monthly with “Miss Lorie” (Smith), who reads books with him, teaches him recipes and helps him make his own toys. Smith also includes Tiemann in the activities and, at the end of each session, provides worksheets with age-specific information on language development, math skills, character development and other topics.
Tiemann also participates in PAT’s group activities, such as a Monday morning play group, called Tots in Motion; ABC Music and Me, a children’s music program; and annual events, such as a Messy Art Night and Teddy Bear Picnic. Each of these programs has helped Tiemann and Xavier make many friends in their new home.
Although Xavier will soon be too old for the PAT program (it serves children from birth to age 3), Tiemann says she knows she has made lasting connections.
“(PAT) provides an incredible source for the parent and the child to grow to their fullest potential,” she says.
The focus of Parents as Teachers, which began 25 years ago in St. Louis, is to assist parents in the early years of life, prenatal to age 3, when specific kinds of learning need to take place to ensure healthy child development, such as language, sight and basic motor skills, Executive Director Chris Maricle says.
Tulsa’s program, which serves families in the Tulsa Public Schools district, began 18 years ago and has become one of the largest PAT programs in the state. Headquartered at the Bunche Early Childhood Development Center, PAT focuses on four components:
- A personal visit, during which one of 11 parent educators visits a family’s home to show parents how to interact with their children.
- Group meetings, which occur several times each month.
- Yearly screenings for development and health.
- Resources and referrals, or opportunities to link families to services outside of PAT.
Tulsa PAT also offers a toy-, book- and music-lending library.
The program currently serves at least 220 families each month, from September through June, and although PAT typically has a waiting list, Maricle says she works to ensure families are served within a few months.
“The beauty of the program is that it’s free for all families,” Maricle says. “There are no income guidelines. We serve families at every educational and financial and economic level. Because every family needs support; every parent wants to be the best parent they can be.”
Funded by the state Legislature, with assistance from Title I and local donors, PAT, Maricle says, is one of the most cost-effective early childhood programs available, costing around $400 each year per child.
She says the heart of the program, though, is the parent educators, who each have extensive early childhood experience, along with a bachelor’s or associates’ degree in education, early childhood, nursing or a related field. These parent educators form strong bonds with the families they serve and some drive hundreds of miles to meet their needs.
“Our parent educators are extremely dedicated to the mission of Parents as Teachers,” Maricle says. “It’s not just a job to them. They truly care.”
Lorie Smith, who works with the Tiemann family, has been a parent educator for 10 years. She works with 25-30 families across the city and also teaches classes for parenting teens at Street School, an alternative education and therapeutic counseling program.
Smith says she enjoys her work because she often sees success stories among the families she serves, such as a family who was concerned because their 18-month-old son was not yet talking. Smith evaluated the boy and suggested that the parents take him for a hearing test. As it turns out, he had fluid behind his ears. A month later, he was saying words.
Smith also enjoys seeing a parent and child accomplish goals they might not have previously thought possible. All it takes is giving parents that little push they need.
“It touches my heart,” Smith says. “It shows they’re listening and wanting to see success.”
These relationships make a significant impact on the children served, who, at age 3, have shown to be significantly more advanced in language, problem solving, cognitive abilities and social development, and they score higher on kindergarten readiness tests and standardized measures of achievement in early grades. PAT also allows families to identify developmental delays and learning difficulties in their children earlier, as well as access resources so their child starts school ready to succeed.
Overall, Maricle says, PAT helps parents become their child’s first, and most important, teacher.
“I truly believe everyone wants to be the best parent they can,” she says. “It’s just that so often people don’t know what to do and then, when they’re in a stressful situation, the only thing that comes to them is what they saw modeled. We want to give them some other options.”
A Birthday Bash
Tulsa Parents as Teachers will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the national organization’s founding with a Birthday Bash from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Oct. 3, at Christ United Methodist Church’s Family Life Center, 3515 S. Harvard Ave. Organizers welcome all PAT participants, past, present and potential, to attend the event, which will include an all-ages music program, games and activities, an ambulance and fire truck and, of course, birthday cake. Families who have a child under age 3 and are not currently enrolled in PAT are especially encouraged to attend. They can learn more about PAT and talk to other agencies that serve families. For more information, call 925-1403 or visit www.tulsaschools.org/sp/pat.
