12-22-06

Gillespie Leads Area “Parents as Teachers” Program for Child Development

By Charles C. Bingaman, Contributing Writer

          “I’m passionate about parenting,” says Gillespie.  “Talking with young parents is exciting. We give them as much information about child development and as many tools as we can to support them in this important and sometimes difficult job”

          Focusing on the pre-natal period to kindergarten entry, Parents as Teachers helps moms and dads “to be educated observers of their children and to guide activities such as reading, speaking and play in research-based ways that stimulate their emotional development,” notes Gillespie.  “We don’t tell parents how to raise their kids.  It’s more like a smorgasbord.  We offer many ideas and approaches, and parents can choose what they want to use.”

          “P.A.T. is really about helping parents understand what is happening in the rapidly changing years of early childhood,” says Gillespie, “and sharing ideas that make that time very positive for everyone.  It’s not about pushing kids too fast with a rigid agenda.”

Ready for School…And Life Itself

          Parents as Teachers developed in the 1970s when Missouri educators saw that many children beginning kindergarten had not acquired the skills they needed to succeed.  At the same time, modern research showed that greater family involvement can be a critical link in a child's developing academic skills, such as reading and writing, and social and “fine motor skills” as well. Early childhood professionals suggested that a program to help parents understand their roles in encouraging their child's development right from birth could help prepare children for school and life success.

Closer to home, Walpole School Principal Sam Jacobs, speaking to the Walpole Leadership Academy in October, noted that he sees new kindergarteners each year who simply have not acquired the skills needed for school. And a Claremont Study estimated that as many as 40% of its kindergarten students are not developmentally ready for kindergarten.  They have not had the stimulating experiences necessary to help their brains develop to the level needed for succeeding in school.  “Some of those children will have a difficult time catching up” says Gillespie.

          “We ARE pushy about reading to kids,” Gillespie admits, “even if it’s just pointing to pictures in a book and talking about them.  This has a major impact on language development and broadening a child’s world.  A child’s not likely to see an oil well or an elephant in Sullivan County, but simply seeing pictures and talking about such things can broaden his world—and his interests—immeasurably.”

Home Visits

          Parents as Teachers offers monthly personal visits in the home by certified parent educators, group meetings for parents to discuss their experiences and concerns, developmental screenings, and referrals for services that are beyond the scope of  the P.A.T. program. 

          As Gillespie describes P.A.T. home visits, “they’re an hour a month to step back from the rush of life and to think about what’s going with your child’s development.”   During those visits, Gillespie or one of P.A.T.’s  other certified parent educators usually, sit on the floor with one or both parents and their child and chat informally about what the child is doing, what it suggests about his or her level of emotional and physical development, and what approaches parents might take to encourage that development.  Often Gillespie shows how to make a simple but stimulating toy or to play a developmentally appropriate game with a child, explains developing behavior or helps interpret what the child is doing.  And she always leaves handouts that give parents ideas about worthwhile activities to use with their children that are keyed to their level of development.

          As one parent said recently in a local P.A.T. survey, “the best thing about PAT is that someone comes to our house and listens to our frustrations and celebrations, then offers ideas on what to expect next.  We are more confident parents as a result.”

          Another mother said, “My parenting has changed since being in P.A.T.  I am more willing to sit and do things with the kids and not feel stupid.  It is interesting how quickly our girls catch on to things.  When I had my older son, and without P.A.T., I couldn’t do as much as I do now, so he lacked things because I didn‘t know then.”

          Gillespie notes that “the P.A.T. curriculum really does match up with what parents and children are interested in at each stage.” 

Childhood, Parenting Expert

          Gillespie, 52, “found the job I just love” through an unplanned but marvelously appropriate route.  Having earned an undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in home economics with emphasis on child development and family life, she taught for several years in Minnesota, spent 14 months in the Peace Corps in Jamaica, and then went to medical school and entered family practice.  Having moved to Walpole in 1996 with her husband, Don Sellarole, and three children, Gillespie worked for a time as a family practice physician in Keene but lept at the opportunity to direct the newly formed Parents as Teachers program based in Claremont in February 2001.

          Gillespie points out that a very large part of a person’s social/emotional, intellectual and language development takes place in the first five years of life as the brain is growing in size and complexity.  “Yet,” she says, “the amount of time, focus and resources we put into supporting that early childhood development is quite small compared to the resources we put into later educational efforts.”

          Currently nearly 100 families in Sullivan County and the Fall Mountain Regional School district are enrolled in the P.A.T. program.  89% say that P.A.T. has made them more knowledgeable about their children’s development, and 100%, in a recent survey, said that they would recommend P.A.T. to other families with young children.

          Further information about Parents as Teachers is available from the P.A.T.  Office at the Dianna Love Center at 169 Main Street, Claremont, at 603-542-4885 or by contacting Jana Gillespie at jgillespie@sau6.k12.nh.us.  Information on the national level is available at www.patnc.org.