Children’s Friend: ‘Making a difference…one child at a time’
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| Marilyn shows her son, Ever, the motions to "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." | “The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the waterspout,” sings Marilyn to her infant son, Ever, as she shows him the motions to the song. Ever responds with smiles, laughter, and by putting his tiny hands together to mimic his mother’s actions.
Welcome to a session of Improving Language Development in Young Children at Children’s Friend, a program supported with Foundation funding.
Children’s Friend has promoted the well-being and healthy development of Rhode Island’s most vulnerable children for more than 175 years. In 2009, the organization more than doubled in size when it began providing Head Start services, became a major provider of the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Supplemental Nutrition Program, and significantly expanded its Early Head Start program.
So why, on the heels of such extensive growth, did Children’s Friend earlier this year initiate the Improving Language Development in Young Children program? “We’re always looking for creative ways that are evidence-based to help children at risk,” explains Julie Casimiro, administrator, advancement, noting that children in their Early Head Start and Child Care programs consistently show delays in communication skills. These delays, research indicates, put children at greater risk for school failure, as well as social, emotional, and behavioral problems.
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| Ryzer admires his mother's "hat" during a "Go with Games" session. | “Children’s Friend is responsive to children’s and family’s needs. They really are warriors for kids,” notes Anna Cano-Morales, the Foundation’s associate vice president for grant programs who recommended the Foundation support the language development program.
“What’s accomplished through this program is an investment that keeps providing returns, in health, education, civility…in everything,” Anna states.
The nine-week program focuses on teaching parents how to interact with their young children, notes Sandra Rodas-Fraenkel, family development supervisor at Children’s Friend.
During the first hour of each two-hour session, the parents learn a particular skill and discuss how to apply it in their everyday activities. Session topics include “Making the most of music” and “Making the most of books.” Toys and activities that are used in each session are taken home by the families, adding to their at-home resources. Additional “literacy bags” with books and activities are available for families to borrow.
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| Matilda and Destiny play with bubbles in the "Add New Words" session. | “Parents learn how to better relate to their children in their everyday interactions. To us it’s very basic, but some of these parents never experienced, as a child, the things we’re teaching them to do with their children,” says Susan Grant, Head Start/Early Head Start family development worker, recalling one young mother who was in institutional care, ran away at age 10, and among other “normal” childhood experiences she lacked, never had anyone sing or read to her.
“A lot of the interventions these families need are in the form of education. That’s why we’re here – to help them help themselves,” Susan continues.
In the second hour, the parent and child – from birth to age five – are videotaped while practicing the just-learned skill. “This allows the parents to see themselves using the skills and to make changes based on what they see,” Sandra states.
“Seeing it on video also makes the parents see what they did well. The parents have this big ah-ha moment when they realize the program is showing them how to do better the things they’re doing every day. They love the program,” says Susan.
Marilyn, a mother of six who completed the program with now four-month-old Ever, totally agrees. “I took the class and I loved it. It taught me how to be calm and how to have patience,” she says, smiling at Ever, who is cooing quietly in his baby carrier.
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| Marilyn and Ever enjoy reading a book together. | “The session I liked the most was when we were singing. I learned how to add action into a session,” she shares, noting Ever’s reaction when she sang the Itsy Bitsy Spider and did the corresponding movements.
“He laughed, and when he laughed, I laughed, too,” she recalls, noting, “It’s hard to focus on the baby when you have more than one child. Now he’s laughing and smiling all the time.
“I think everybody should take this class. I want to take it again because I really can see how it’s helped my child,” Marilyn says.
The program is being offered again, in both English and Spanish, with transportation and childcare provided. The next nine-week session already has a waiting list.
Of the work the organization does, serving more than 22,000 families last year alone, Julie says, “I think we have more success stories than we know.”
Looking at the happy, smiling Ever, one sees that Children’s Friend is indeed fulfilling its mission – “Making a difference…one child at a time.”
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