If your child’s behavior seems to deteriorate when he or she walks in the door after school, the Sweet Home School District has an opportunity for you to change that: PBS Family Nights.
The district is offering a three-part workshop for parents in Positive Behavior Support, the system the district has used since 2001-02 in its elementary schools to teach and enforce behavioral standards.
“What we’re going to be talking about is how to take the PBS concept into the home,” said Kristin Adams, PBS coordinator for the district.
The training will take place from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on three successive Tuesdays €“ April 21, April 28 and May 5. The workshops are free to any parents living within the district boundaries and a pizza dinner will be served each night at 5:30. Childcare will also be provided.
Since the seminars are being held on Tuesdays, families can take advantage of the Open Swim at the swimming pool on those nights, Adams said.
The workshops will be led by Dale Myers, president of Dale R. Myers and Associates Consulting and an educational and behavioral consultant who has worked with educators, social service agencies, juvenile justice staffs, and families all over the United States.
Myers has worked as a social worker, resource coordinator for a developmental disabilities agency, director of school for children with severe behavior disorders, and as staff development coordinator for the University of Oregon’s Institute on Violence & Destructive Behavior. He continues as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Oregon, from which he earned a doctorate in school psychology.
In the upcoming workshops, Myers will address topics such as: “She did What? Positive Behavior Support for Families,” “It You Want It, Teach It and Reinforce It! What Works,” and “Why Did He Do That? What Do I Do Now?” Parents will learn strategies to understand their children’s behavior, how to make expectations clear and how to teach safe, respectful and responsible behavior to children.
“He is a great speaker,” Adams said. “We had him two years ago and we got incredible feedback. He’s a very motivating speaker who gets where people are coming from. He understands their needs.”
She said that the move of PBS into homes is the fourth step of the process that starts with individual children learning and adhering to PBS rules of conduct €“ “Be safe,” Be respectful” and “Be Responsible” €“ then those rules being applied in the classroom, and then in the school.
Adams said she herself has struggled with the fact that her children sometimes behave better at school than at home.
“Bringing PBS into the home helps sustain a cohesive environment for kids,” she said. “If PBS can expand (into students’ homes), no matter where the kids go, they’re under the same structure.”
She said some communities have taken PBS even beyond homes and into businesses, where signs are posted reminding customers to be respectful, safe and responsible.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever get that far here, but this is a start,” she said.