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What is PAT?

Parents as Teachers (PAT) is an international early childhood parent education and family support program serving families throughout pregnancy until their child enters kindergarten, usually age 5. The program is designed to enhance child development and school achievement through parent education accessible to all families. It is a universal access model.

Recognizing that all families can benefit from support, Parents as Teachers families come in all configurations, from all socio-economic levels, and from rural, urban and suburban communities. The program is adaptable to fit community needs. It is a national model, but a local program. Family participation is voluntary.

The Parents as Teachers National Center, Inc. (PATNC) develops curricula, trains early childhood professionals, and certifies parent educators to work with parents to provide them with parenting support and information on their developing child.

Vision
All children will learn, grow and develop to realize their full potential.

Mission
To provide the information, support and encouragement parents need to help their children develop optimally during the crucial early years of life.

Program Goals

  • Empower parents to give their children the best possible start in life.
  • Provide children a solid foundation for school and life success.
  • Increase parent knowledge of child development and appropriate ways to stimulate their children's intellectual, language, social, and physical development.
  • Increase parent feelings of competence and confidence.
  • Enhance parent-child interaction and strengthen family relationships.
  • Prevent child abuse and neglect.
  • Provide for early detection of developmental problems.
  • Develop strong partnerships between parents and schools.

Core Values

  • The early years of a child's life are critical for optimal development and provide the foundation for success in school and in life.
  • Parents are their children's first and most influential teachers.
  • Established and emerging research should be the foundation of parent education and family support curricula, training, materials and services.
  • All young children and their families deserve the same opportunities to succeed, regardless of any demographic, geographic or economic considerations.

About personal visits...


Many newcomers ask the question, "What are personal visits and what do you do at them?"   During our 10 years, we have found that this component of our program is hard to grasp until you've participated in them.  Once you have, it is a favorite component for many of our families.  Let me try to explain them...


When you join the program you will have your very own Parent Educator assigned to you.   She will be with you as long as you are in the program.  The personal visits are scheduled at your convenience and can be in the evening or on a weekend so that working parents can attend.  Personal visits are best when done in the home, but can be done in our playgroup room, too.


The parent educator will design a personal visit plan according to your child's age and topics that you would like to discuss.   There is always a play-based activity involved, so the child, parent(s) and parent educator are (literally) on the floor or at a table exploring and engaged.  Each activity focuses on the developmental domains (language, cognitive, social-emotional and motor).  Handouts are included with each visit that correlate with the activity, the developmental level and skills that are appropriate for their child and to offer information about other parenting issues.


Through the Parents as Teachers Born to Learn Curriculum and discussions with a parent educator, parents can better understand their child's stages of development and know what is normal. Parents will learn if their child is functioning at an optimal level.  If not, we have many resources and ideas for parents to use to help their child practice the skills that may be lacking.  (Speech/language is an area that many preschool children will show a slight delay in development.)  If these developmental delays are attended to at an early age, they are most likely corrected by the time the child enters kindergarten...Simply because the parents recognized the delay and knew how to help their children overcome it.  We use the "Ages and Stages Questionnaire" which is a developmental screening tool that is designed to use with families as a quick overview of their child's development.


We also have access to our school district professionals who are trained to work with developmental delays including a speech pathologist, physical therapist and occupational therapist.  Their services are available to all Michigan families through local school districts.  This program is called Early On.  See the attachement for a link to Early On  (www.cenmi.org/pair/).


Besides covering the four developmental domains and skills levels, personal visits are a good time to talk about other parenting issues.  We often cover issues such as; discipline, eating and sleeping concerns, temper tantrums, toilet learning, etc.   We are not experts, but we have had years of experience, quality training/certification and a research-based curriculum to back us up.  If we don't have the answers or ideas for you, we will help you find them. 


Why do we prefer the home environment for personal visits? In the home, we see a truer picture of the child.  At school, in the busy playroom, the children are focused on play and exploration.  It is difficult to get them to do a directed activity with all of the other choices in the playroom.  At home they are eager to show us their favorite toys, books and environment...to engage with us.  They are ready to seek our direction and be involved in the activity we bring in our "home visit bag".


A good example is a child's use of their language skills.  Often, in the playroom children are so busy at play that we do not see (or hear) very much language.  When we visit them in their home, we are quite surprised at the different degree of spoken language a child will offer.


Through the years we have been equated to a visit from a grandma or a favorite aunt...We find that very much a compliment!  The children get used to our visits, always with a big bag full of something fun to do.  And of course, it's not all about play with the children, but also support, information and a sounding board for parents.  We hope that tells you something about the benefits of personal visits!