Success Stories
Spring 2009 Success Story: South Tamarind Elementary
At the first session, a two-year old girl cried and cried because she did not want to stay with the children’s group. As a class lead, I informed the girl’s mom that if she did not want to stay, it would be alright for her to take her with her into the parenting class. The child’s older sibling stayed in the group and participated without a problem. When the class was over that evening, the toddler saw the fun stuff her sister made and she was telling her mom she wanted to do the same. Her mom told her that she should stay with the group next week.
At the second session, I assumed that the little girl would stay with the children’s group because she liked what her sibling did the week before. In fact, the second session was worse. The girl did not want to stay. At this moment I encouraged her mom to sit with her and help her warm up to the group. The mother played playdoh with the young girl for a little while, but when it was time for the mom to go to the parenting class, the young girl wanted to leave with her, she cried and cried because she did not want to stay. She was so upset that she was shaking. I then insisted that the mother should take her young daughter with her.
For the third session, the young girl came into the class with a smile and seemed happier than she had before. The staff invited her to play and she did because her mom told her ahead of time that she was going to play in the room and have so much fun with her older sibling. Well that day is when the toddler stayed with the group and did not cry. It seemed as if she had been coming to the group since it started. Her older sibling and the rest of the staff encouraged the young girl to participate, and she played and did all the activities. While she participated in all the activities, she showed that she was enjoying herself.
Throughout the remaining sessions, the girl showed tremendous improvement. She was happy to be in the children’s group and really seemed to enjoy interacting with the other children and participating in the activities. It was helpful when I would remind the young girl that her mom would be coming soon to pick her up. In addition, the transitional warnings I provided helped her to feel secure because she knew what to expect at any given time.
The young girl’s mom was so happy about her change because she didn’t have to worry so much that she would be upset in the group; therefore, she could better focus on what she was learning in her parenting class instead of being concerned about her daughter
Success story from the Rialto Eucalyptus class
We had a three-year-old boy and did not have any siblings. For the first couple of sessions when his mother would sign him in for the class, this boy would cry for his mother. There was one session in which he was crying so much the only thing that would calm him down was when we took him over to his mother, he stayed with her for the whole class. In that evening’s debriefing meeting, we discussed the ways in which we would work together to make him feel comfortable and enjoy his time in our class.
The next week when he arrived we made sure to give him one-on-one attention and to encourage him to participate in the activities. Over time he became more engaged in the activities and spent more time on what he was working on. Finally, for the last three sessions, when the young boy was being dropped off for the class, he could not wait to come in! He was excited to be in the class and he did not cry once for his mother.
In addition, the children’s group staff noticed that he would not talk at all. One of the children’s group staff was able to work with him in the last few sessions, and by the last week, he was saying hello to everyone in the group.
It was wonderful to see the transformations over the eight weeks.
Adelanto Child Enrichment Group Success Story
In the first few sessions of the children’s group, one three-year-old boy had a hard time staying with one activity for more than a couple minutes and would constantly be moving around as if he felt indecisive of what to do. At circle time, he would scream, lie down, and stomp his feet during the story. He would also scream during mealtime and activity time, and he would continuously turn the lights off in the classroom. His screams didn’t indicate any sign of distress (he would scream and then laugh).
As the weeks went on, he gradually was able to better control his impulses during circle time. He would sit more quietly and attentively at circle time, but also when waiting for pizza. The child enrichment staff noticed that the boy had a very strong interest in being read to. During the last few sessions of the children’s group, the staff would read one book after another to him for long periods of time. He would become engrossed and ask many questions about the characters and what was going on in the book.
For the last few sessions, he was more able to understand that the CUIDAR staff was also attending to other children (growing awareness of empathy) at the food table and that his requests would be met shortly. The children’s enrichment staff agreed that circle time was his biggest improvement.
