anyone used the parents as teachers program?

[happyhats]

maybe we'll have to have a missouri meetup some time!

[JamieJLD]

I really like the PAT program here is St. Louis. Our parent educator is very helpful and comes to our house every 3 months to sit and talk with me and observe my child. She points out that she is here to help me be a better parent, not to teach my child. She does do an evaluation once a year or so to make sure my DD is developmentally on track. If I did have any issues (a need for speech therapy, a suspected diagnosis of autism, etc) she would be instrumental in getting us into the right programs right away. I have a few friends whose kids do need those services and they were able to get help right away because they were already involved in PAT.

In addition to that, my school district has many special events throughout the year. They had a Halloween fun night, free night at the Magic House, and a fall carnival in addition to many teaching nights like "help for potty training" or "sleep issues." I think it is well worth it as this is a free program!!

I'm not planning on homeschooling, but so many families in my area (probably me too) send their kids to private schools k-12. Even though the PAT program is through the public school, I have never seen anything but support for choosing something other than the public school. Of course, that might be a St. Louis thing since so many people here do private schools. (Including my PAT educator - she sent her kids to private schools!)

[OnAnnaTime]

How cool, I had no clue that PAT started in Missouri! I'm near Kansas City. I had a PAT advocate when I was younger, I specifically remember making "Monster Toast" (painting bread with food coloring and then toasting it). We're not currently enrolled in the program because I'm not fond of the school system we're in at the moment. We'll be moving to a nearby city with a great PAT program, and I'll definitely participate then.