Parents of infants to pre-K students are taking advantage of a Mid-Del school district program that helps educate children before they reach kindergarten.

Known as the Early Bird program, organizers provide age-appropriate toys and games to parents who sign up and experience a one-night training session. The session is designed to show parents how to use the toys and games in an effective, educational way.

“It’s the parents who want to take an active role in their children’s’ lives that participate in this,” said Early Bird coorganizer Amy Young.

This is the third year for the Early Bird program, she said. The Mid-Del school district actually was used to pilot the Early Bird program three years ago. Since then, the Oklahoma City, Putnam City and Western Heights districts have joined.

“It also allows parents who are expecting children to get involved,” said Young, who works as a parent educator.

As part of the training session, parents are instructed how to teach their children basic skills that should be learned before the youngsters enter kindergarten. Some of those skills include holding scissors, using crayons, recognizing letters, counting to 10 and recognizing their name.

Need for program

Educators in the Mid-Del district know the importance of the Early Bird program.

According to Parent Educator Coordinator Heather Johnson, 80 percent of a child’s brain is developed by age 3, and 90 percent of the brain is developed by age 5. In addition, she said, 40 percent of all Oklahoma kindergarten students enter school without a full range of basic skills.

“They are cognitively, socially and physically delayed,” Johnson said. “In other words, they’re not where their peers are. For those students, they have not had the exposure to books, outings, field trips and computers.”

Johnson and Young emphasize the importance of parents teaching their children at early ages.

“The parent is the first and most influential teacher a child will ever have,” Johnson said. “So, we are working to teach parents how to teach their child. It will help students develop and maintain good school and study habits.”

Demographics

According to Johnson, there are no restrictions for parental involvement in Early Birds.

“We have wealthy people, to those who have absolutely nothing, to teen parents. We cover every age range – all the way from 16-year-olds to 75-year-old grandparents who are raising their grandchildren,” she said.

Parents who participate in Early Birds see the benefits of the program, the coordinators said.

“The people who come to the training sessions view the Mid-Del schools as their partner rather than just an institution. They no longer have the idea that they can drop their children off at school and learn. We are changing the culture of parenting, which is a nice side effect of the program,” Johnson said.

Parental feedback

At the end of a training session, parents are asked to complete an evaluation form. About two weeks later, instructors call parents to receive additional feedback.

So far, parent comments have been positive.

“We’ve never had any negative comments,” Johnson said. “And, we’ve had parents with older children who said they are thankful for the program and wished they had known about it years ago.”

Many of the parents, Young said, are pro-active in their children’s education. As a result, the parents show up each session to receive updated toys and games. The program has three sessions per year – fall, winter and spring. Parents are invited to participate each session, Johnson said.

“We have many parents who come back each session, and they always say, ‘this has been great,’” she said.

During the fall session, 200 parents participated in Early Birds. Each session continues to grow in the number of parents who attend, Young said.

Tracking results

As part of the program, Johnson and Young track students whose parents participated in Early Birds.

“Once they get in school, we follow the students and their test scores and match how they do against the average of mandated test scores.

The group of students who were 2 and 3-years-old when the program began in 2009 will be the first ones tracked during their school years, the coordinators said.

For more information about the program, call 582-7020.

tfarley@eastwordnews.com