Special school helps traumatized kids find voice
Evenstart gives children in need a head start
Little Levi wants to know how to spell Spider-Man. Then count how many letters are in the superhero’s name. And figure out how the “sp” works to make Spider-Man sound like it does.
The impromptu spelling test at home with his mom is a superhero moment of Levi’s own.
When he started at Even-Start for Children Foundation of Calgary, the boy had a severe speech impediment.
He sounded mumbly and sometimes incoherent when he talked; that is, when he spoke at all.
Within just a few months at the school — one of the 2012 Herald Christmas Fund beneficiaries that serves children aged 3 to 5 who come from backgrounds of trauma — the Calgary boy found his words.
“My son, literally within the first three months he was here, went from being barely understood, and a very limited vocabulary, to being able to understand him at least half the time with such an expanded vocabulary,” says his mom, Jenny.
“He learned a lot about speaking for himself ... being able to identify what it is that he’s feeling. “It was absolutely amazing.” The real turnaround came when Levi brought his lessons out of the classroom and into his home.
“He actually several times throughout the day and evening came and said, ‘How do you spell Spider-Man?’ ”
“There’s always amazing little things that are happening.”
Hearing her son find a way to express his hopes and fears, happiness and frustrations, is more than Jenny dared hope for when she turned to the school a few years ago.
Then, the bad news was coming in waves.
First her restaurant shut down. Then her husband lost his job, too. Money was more than just tight. And there were other issues that made life tough at home that Jenny doesn’t want to reveal publicly just now.
“I was just so overwhelmed,” she says.
The mother feared the effect her own struggles would have on her two boys: Levi and his younger brother, Jack.
Sure, she was doing all she could to tackle her own problems, but she wanted to give her boys the chance to start off life on the same level as their peers.
Giving young kids that “even start” in life is just the thing the school does.
EvenStart provides a specialized preschool program for kids with troubled backgrounds to set them on the right track heading into Grade 1.
A murdered mother, a jailed father, foster care, poverty, mental abuse — EvenStart children have faced all of these struggles, says Brianna Parkhill, director of EvenStart’s programs and services.
About 185 children are currently in the program.
Five days a week, the kids are bused in, either for morning or afternoon programs.
They’re given healthy meals, attentive lessons tailored to their needs, and a warm and nurturing learning environment, Parkhill says.
“EvenStart came about as trying to give children who would not be able to have the opportunity to attend a regular preschool to get the services they need, to give them an even start going into Grade 1, so they can be developmentally appropriate for what they need for the Grade 1 level,” Parkill says.
“Do all of them get there? No. Do some of them bypass it? Yes.
“Our goal is to try to give them the best support possible, so when they enter Grade 1 they are as close to being on equal footing with other children.” It’s fun, too. Think arts and crafts, outdoor play time, a “jungle room” with a ball pit, hopscotch track and mats for somersaults.
A specialized ‘snoezelen’ room has fibre-optic carpets, bubble tubes and other sensory decor to provide a soothing, stimulating nook for the kids.
Some rooms provide speech and physical therapy. Watch out for the kids zooming their bikes down the hall.
Then there is the psychology room with its play therapy toys.
It’s a safe place for the vulnerable kids to explore their emotions and express their feelings.
The staff also provides an individualized program plan for each student that includes visits to the children’s homes.
In these home visits, parents are lent a hand for potty training, bedtime issues or anywhere some outside help might reinforce the rules.
For Jenny, Levi’s remarkable speech turnaround at the school gave her hope that her youngest, Jack, will soon rein in his behavioural outbursts. Both boys are now enrolled. “What I hope for Jack here is that he finds a place where he can be himself, be accepted for himself, learn and grow in comfort of who he is, expand his knowledge and learn the things that every parent wants their kids to learn,” the mother says.
Levi is poised to finish his last term at EvenStart this year. Then, it’s off to public school.
But his mother is more than confident.
“I don’t have any doubt in my mind that when Levi starts Grade 1 at a regular public school that he will be just fine,” she says.
“No doubt in my mind at all. This school truly has been a blessing in my life.”
Our goal is to try to give them the best support possible, so when they enter Grade 1 they are as close to being on equal footing... BRIANNA PARKHILL