Too Critical to Cut: Part 1

I sailed through my first 20 or so months of parenthood. My firstborn slept through the night early, nursed well after his mother got the hang of things and even enthusiastically accepted a new baby sister at 19 months who also slept and ate well. With my harmonious little home churning out perfect babies, I was sure it must be me. Ha. 

As any mother can tell you, life changes. When my first child hit about 21 months, he discovered his right to dispute my every instruction. In fact, not only did he dispute my instruction, he yelled and screamed and pounded out his opinions to the contrary. Suddenly I found a great resource in my then-parent educator, Linda Bersett.

Parents as Teachers is a program designed to help parents realize the full potential of their role as their child’s first and most important teacher. They offer home visits in which developmental screenings are conducted along with ideas for homemade toys and games to enjoy with children.

PAT also offers group meetings designed for parents to give mutual support and enjoy activities together with their kids. Evening workshops provide advice and instruction for parents on topics such as nutrition, toilet training and good sleep habits.

One of the most important aspects of PAT is the screening offered at certain stages of development. My family benefited from the developmental expertise of our parent educators in several different instances. When my firstborn didn’t talk until 18 months and several friends had alarmed me by mentioning speech therapy, Bersett helped me recognize other signs that showed he was developing normally and once he started talking, I would see an explosion of verbal learning, which is exactly what happened.

In another instance, my current parent educator, Amy Frederich, noticed a possible problem with the way my youngest’s eyes were aligning. She recommended that, just in case, I take my daughter to a doctor enrolled in the InfantSEE program, which screens babies for eye problems at no charge. Thankfully, my daughter was seen by the doctor and given the all-clear.

Each of these instances reassured me because an objective observer with experience in early childhood education was able to tell me that things were just fine.

PAT isn’t just working for my family. National studies show that children whose parents participate in PAT are better prepared for kindergarten and perform better on standardized testing through third grade. PAT also helps close the gap for children living in poverty and parents tend to stay more involved as their child enters elementary school and beyond.

The screening that PAT provides for families is crucial because special needs children are identified at an early age and given specialized services that help resolve the special needs before the child enters school. Not only does this help the child in readiness for school, but it saves the district money. The annual cost for a special education student is $8,080, but the annual cost for a non-special education student is $4,394. Identifying and helping special needs children access services before kindergarten has the potential savings of nearly $4,000 per student.

PAT is too important of a program to keep suffering budget cuts. For my family, the benefits have been reassurance and guidance through toilet training and temper tantrums. For families with special needs children, the program is much more critical.

This week I sat down with Barb Ehlen, coordinator for Mehlville's PAT to learn more about the program. In Part 2 of this column next week, I'll share with you specific budget cuts and how they are affecting the families of our district. I will also provide you with information on how to share your concerns with our local government representatives.