Parents as Teachers

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Parents as Teachers is a unique educational program for parents of young children. A home-school-community partnership that works!

As a parent, you are your child’s first and most important teacher. They learn more from you at home and in their preschool years than they will any other time in their life. How your child grows and develops in these years will affect their later development in life.

Did you know:

• that children learn best from those they love?
• that children learn fastest and best before they begin school?
• the remedial efforts, if needed, are most effective when started early?
• that the day-to-day learning of young children is usually taken for granted, but is the foundation for later learning?
• that PAT can help YOU and YOUR child get offto the best start?

Parents as Teachers is a voluntary and free program that provides parents with information on child development from prenatal through five years old. Parents as teachers is for all families living in the Southern Boone County Area (Ashland, Hartsburg) It offers:

Personal Visits

PAT certified parent educatiors, trained in child development, help parents understand what to expect at each stage of their child’s development and offer practical tips on ways to encourage learning, manage challenging behaviors, and promote strong parent-child relationships.

Parent Group Meetings

The meetings are at scheduled times for parents to get together, to gain new insights and to share experiences, common concerns and successes. Parent meetings provide information through guest speakers, "make it and take " sessions, and parent-child interactive activities.

Screenings

PAT offers periodic checkups of overall development, language, hearing, and vision. The goal is to provide early detection of potential problems to prevent later difficulties in school.

Lending Library, Newsletters, Scholastic Book Orders

PAT provides a lending library in the elementary building where families can check out books, activity bags, games, and adult resource books and videos. Book order forms are also available in the library. Newsletters are sent to parents and families periodically to update parents on the latest happenings.

During the early years of life, a tremendous amount of learning occurs. The Parents as Teachers program is designed to help parents encourage development in five areas--the foundation of learning.

• Language Development: Language Development doesn’t begin when your child says his/her first word, but it begins at birth. Language is directly related to parent participation, imitation, social development and the time spent in modeling, labeling, and communication with a child.
• Curiosity: Every child is born with some form to explore, to investigate, to satisfy their boundless curiosity. Through curiosity, children learn about people, about how the world works, and things they will study in school.
• Social Development: The kind of relationship a child forms with their parents and others during the early years are a vital part of development.
• Cognitive Intelligence: Children learn by doing. From the beginning, children are interested in handling things, solving problems, and learning cause and effect. During their first years. Children learn ‘tools of the trade’-skills that they will use in later learning at home and at school.
• Motor Development: From being totally helpless at birth, children develop skillful mastery of their movements. Children practice and perfect their skills daily. These seem not that important, but they are more than just "play".

Having a child can be joyous. At times, though it can be stressful and difficult. Parents as Teachers is available to help support you through these times. By working together and beginning at the beginning your child can get off to the best possible start in life!

To receive more information or to enroll in Parents as Teachers, please call Southern Boone County Schools at 573-657-2148.

Parents as Teachers:

• It’s Free
• It’s for you and your baby.
• It’s for all families.

Join the more than 140,000 Missouri families who are benefiting from PAT!

For more information you may also visit the Parents as Teachers National Center website.