Texas Home Visiting

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the hopes program has two evidence-based

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models the parents's teachers program

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and the safe CARE program they both help

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support parents with young children meet

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their developmental

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Milestones I found out about the parent

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as Teachers Program through Easter Seals

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through a friend of mine named Christina

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through mops being a stay-at-home mom

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can be isolating sometimes and I really

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love how the parent as teacher would

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come and just be down to earth and

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really help me with any questions and

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sometimes that was more important than

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anything else the hopes program also has

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counseling support groups one of those

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is called mothers and babies it helps

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support expecting moms and new moms in

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their Journey with parenting I love that

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we could encourage each other and just

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share with each other and learn so much

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from the other moms I know children

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spend a lot of time in school and

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families should be the Foundation of

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where they learn from first and foremost

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family is a priority we have for

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children and even you know each child is

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different you learn things with each

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child differently and it's just amazing

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what you guys offer I really love being

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part of parent as teachers for Easter

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Seals I love the community I love the

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home visits that my parent s teacher has

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come to visit me uh I really love that

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she has um created uh a positive

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experience for my children and I she has

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provided uh projects that we can do with

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each other to Foster that relationship

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she has provided um uh testing to for my

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child to see where their progress is and

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uh that way we can build on their

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strengths and weaknesses and she has

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also given me diapers wipies a play pen

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a baby Splash Pad uh and so much more

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the Family Resource Center is another

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way for parents of young children to

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come learn more about what's available

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to them in the community as well as our

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Easter sales programs we host a variety

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of workshops on a monthly basis and we

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offer counseling services to parents and

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have a lactation room that's available

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to the community so nursing mothers can

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come find a quick place to feed their

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babies the FAS family has had an

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opportunity to participate in our

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programs we've got to see the growth um

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and we got to see the children

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developing and moving along um really

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working with them has been an honor and

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privilege and we are happy that they are

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part of our voice and they provide

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feedback uh on all our programs some of

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our workshops topics have come from

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feedback from our parents and our

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community we do go based off of our

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surveys so some of the topics have been

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CPR first aid um English and Spanish uh

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social emotional workshops uh we also

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host virtual as well to accommodate to

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parents parents always say um that

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children don't come with instructions

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but they are thankful for the fact that

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we have uh evidence-based models that

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can support them they just feel

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empowered to be able to um provide for

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their children and be able to be the

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best parents that they can be I think

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everybody who has a family should be

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involved in programs like this there's

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just so many resources that we weren't

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even aware that we learned recently

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about it and it's fun in even in the

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social aspect setting of you know a

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parent learning from another parent and

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just gaining the skills and and just

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learning from a different perspective it

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was just

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[Music]

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great Easter Seals putting children

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first always

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[Music]

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my role with the parents's teachers

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program is to support the child's

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development and overall well-being

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of the whole family

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[Music]

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i started with james and his family when

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he was about two years old so it's been

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about seven months now

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and we started doing virtual visits so

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i've never

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been in the home and that's something

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different this year

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uh you know it looks a little different

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with the family because we're doing it

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on zoom so that's virtual visits and

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we're being very creative

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and getting the family involved the

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whole family involved

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during our our calls i one thing i think

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is that it's very organic it meets you

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where you're where you're at

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and i was very excited because

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we couldn't get help for speech therapy

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for a little boy when i heard about the

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parents as teachers program

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and it was explained to me i thought i

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like this this is something that we can

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do i'm a stay-at-home parent

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and i'm going to embrace this as best as

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possible when i got

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the workbook or the i was overwhelmed

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because i just looked at the size of it

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but when i started

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leafing through it and i started seeing

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how

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how it meets you where it's at i think

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that's the best way is like this is this

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is not necessarily

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the best program we're gonna make this

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the best program for you and your child

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and meet you where you're at what his

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needs are what his strengths are

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not necessarily what his deficiencies

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are but what his areas of opportunity

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are and i have to

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even the verbiage when you see things

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like that that makes you very hopeful

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and that's what i liked about it is that

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it was

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kind of a customizable it would meet you

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where you're at i keep saying that

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because

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that's what it did for our child it

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didn't talk down to him it didn't allow

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us to be

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a secondary teacher it allowed us to

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kind of as a parent where that teacher

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had

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but also walk with them and learn as

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much i would learn i learned just as

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much as james did i feel

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i learned a lot the appearances teachers

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program is

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helpful to all families regardless of

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need but we are here to provide

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support and parenting strategies of

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course we want to make sure that our

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kids are ready to go to school

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and that's our focus in child

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development

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but we you know we're here to serve our

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families

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and our community um and provide the

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support that's needed

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the parents concerns at the beginning

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when we started was

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james's language skills so they were

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concerned maybe he wasn't talking like

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he should at his age so we were meeting

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uh

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setting goals together each week and

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mom and dad were really great about

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messaging me

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texting me telling me new words that he

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was saying each week and

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how they continue the learning with the

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activities that we do

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it has been challenging at times because

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as we know technology doesn't always

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work

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but the family's been very flexible and

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they really like the program they've

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seen

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results and you know their child is on

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the path to

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getting ready for school at the

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beginning

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he wasn't seeing any words and he wasn't

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really comprehending what we were saying

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and so now the comprehension is there

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now

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so there was a point even i think

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uh midway through where i told melissa i

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don't

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feel like i feel like there's something

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wrong and

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i don't feel anymore the family skills

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is definitely

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commitment i think when i think of this

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family i think of that word because

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they're really committed

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to teaching their child and become their

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first teacher one of the things like i

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said before is language

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he is his vocabulary is growing so much

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and he's now saying two to three words

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in a sentence and he's approaching his

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third birthday so the parents are really

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excited

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a lot of back and forth communication

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requesting things that he never was able

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to say before he was just

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pointing and using gestures now he's

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actually using words and it's the

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parents are super excited to see

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that growth through the program but it's

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a huge difference in just a short amount

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of time that we've been doing this

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i mean he says his letters his colors

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um directions like he you can understand

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oh he can understand us now he's

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teaching us as well

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he's making us better communicators and

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more effective as parents with each

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other because then we can communicate

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say

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this is something he accomplished today

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today he did this and let me explain to

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you she gets home from work and i

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explain to her

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and she'll tell me oh my god you're not

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going to guess what he did i caught it

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on video and

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and we'll share those moments with each

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other and did he learn that from you

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know

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but that was in the program remember we

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talked about the blanket or

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some activity that that helps him kind

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of jumpstart him and his communication

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so

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it's been really fun in that sense that

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we're just very comfortable with that

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and we're letting him grow at his own

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pace

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you also see how it's also benefiting

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our 12 year old as well yeah

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in a very you would think indirect but

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no it's in a very direct tangible way

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because then you see

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him try some of these techniques with us

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like hey i was thinking we could do this

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and he's already leading

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off he's not suggesting he's he's kind

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of taking action

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and helping us do something as simple as

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just go outside with him and ride the

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bike

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i've seen a lot of growth with james and

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i continue to see

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changes um every week that i meet with

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them

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either through phone calls text messages

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i see him communicating more of getting

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along with his sibling

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uh having a stronger parent and child

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relationship

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that's the most important thing because

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i think

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at the beginning they struggled a little

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bit of how to just get down and play

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with their child and follow his

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interests interest

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and just kind of playing and having fun

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with their child and

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not put so much pressure on you know the

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learning letters and numbers you know

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that's going to come later

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and he is already showing interest in

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letters actually mom

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you know sent me a video of him um you

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know repeating some of those letters and

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imitating so

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i i see big growth and for his future

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and he'll be ready to start school

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i i'm very comfortable where he's at um

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i don't have that fear anymore that he's

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behind

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uh he's to me he's on track and he's

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doing exactly what he's supposed to be

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doing

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i'm ready to see him interact with other

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kids going to places to go play

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or even the home visits with melissa you

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know to be able to i mean she's really

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good with kids

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to see her be able to come in and

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actually sit down with him

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and um have a visit that way would be

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great

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you can see that he's looking forward to

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more as we give him

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more activities makes us very proud of

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him that for the first year and a half

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of his life

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he hasn't had all that interaction yet

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he's still doing really well because of

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the program

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because of the support that we're

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getting from alyssa so helps us a lot

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it just makes us hopeful

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you

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the focus of the Hippy program is to

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encourage parents to prepare their

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children for school we provide them with

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books and a curriculum that will help

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their children once they reach school to

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know their letters and their numbers and

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their shapes and be prepared it also

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gives experience the confidence to be

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engaged in their children's

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education my family is five five members

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of my family myself my husband and my

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three kids when we were at the library

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one day we saw a hippie table and I just

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walked up asked questions and I like the

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information then I called and enrolled

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we work with families during home visits

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we provide activities that the whole

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family can participate in we also help

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with parenting support strategies and

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overall family well-being we really want

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to encourage engage healthy and safe

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homes for children to learn and grow oh

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my home visitor she's amazing I've been

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with her for 2 years she brings

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activities and books and we role play

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the activities and then I learn how to

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do them with my son and I do them with

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my son throughout the week we are a no

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cost program to families so they never

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have to pay for our services um and we

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serve families prenatal up until their

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children start

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school before I started with hippie I

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did have uh some concerns about my son's

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speech delay but hippie put me at ease

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with those concerns they offered

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assessments and not to diagnose but it

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just gauges where your kid is at so it

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did put me at ease and I he's learned a

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lot from cutting to coloring but also

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spelling his name and trying to write it

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on his own it's really nice to see like

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she said her first concern was Speech

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but she he's developed greatly and she

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can see that she didn't have to worry

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after all

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hippie Easter Seals is awesome they

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offer not just activities for your kids

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but they also have events for moms they

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do even Cafe for the parents and if your

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family's also in need they offer food

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pantry they have so many events so many

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resources for the families one of the

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big successes that we have had has been

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connecting our families to the Family

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Resource Center and with the Family

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Resource Center we've also been able to

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connect them to counseling services

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which has been a major support children

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who complete the hippy program go to

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school ready to learn they know their

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letters they know their numbers they

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know their shapes they know how to sit

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for activities and be prepared and

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parents complete the program being more

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confident more engaged in their

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children's learning knowing how

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important it is to spend time with their

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children and really focus one on-one with

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them it's been two years working with

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this family she's a great mom she loves

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the curriculum um and she implements it

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in her everyday life she not just works

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with her child but she includes the

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other two children too so it's really

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nice to see all the skills Manuel is

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learning I would tell other parents that

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this is a free program that we offer

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it's a School Readiness program it's

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they get to be their child's uh first

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teacher and they can just use this as a

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resource we'll bring all the supplies

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we'll give the curriculum and it it'll

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be a fun activities that we do with the

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family I do feel that my son has the

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skills to start school he's now four but

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he's I I believe hippie Easter Seals has

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prepared him good for that and I just

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want to say thank you for coming into my

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life and helping my child get ready for

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school hippie EAS seals has been great

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for us

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