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SEARCH HOMELESS SERVICES

House of Tiny Treasures ~ 2013-2014 Outcomes Report ~

SHALANDRA WILLIAMS-WHALEY, MA BRITNEY TAYLOR, MA

Department of Psychology and Counseling1

ALABAMA A&M UNIVERSITY NORMAL, ALABAMA

1 Under the direction of Ritalinda D’Andrea Lee, Ph.D

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House of Tiny Treasures

~ 2013-2014 Outcomes Report ~

INTRODUCTION As has been shown over the course of several years of program, the SEARCH-sponsored House of Tiny Treasures (HTT) program remains among the most innovative and effective means of serving the myriad needs of toddlers and preschool-aged children whose families are coping with homelessness. Within the House of Tiny Treasures (HTT), children are provided with psychosocial and educational interventions to help bolster their resilience and to minimize the potential for developmental lags. A central tenet of the program is the development and strengthening of self-regulation. Specifically, the children are enrolled in the Teaching Strategies Creative Curriculum (CC) program, a system of early child education that is an evidence-based, outcome-monitored curriculum. If deemed appropriate upon evaluation, they can be referred to ancillary therapies: Speech, Play or Art, as they might need. The program is based on the Reggio Emilia model – a system of early child education established in Italy by educator, Loris Malaguzzi. It is based on the notion that child development and learning happen as a network of interactions in which children interact, interpret and communicate about their environs in what is seen metaphorically as “one hundred languages.” The method seeks to enhance the child development within the context of four principles:

• Children must have some control over the direction of their learning, • Children must be able to learn though sensory and kinesthetic experiences, • Children must have a relationship with other children and the material items of the world, • Children must have endless ways and opportunities to express themselves.

As it has done for the past three years, SEARCH has contracted an evaluation of the HTT using the standardized outcomes associated with the Teaching Strategies. As will be shown in this evaluation report, participants in HTT showed statistically significant improvements in the CC dimensions, with more significant increases the longer they participated. Further, for the students who required ancillary therapies, many of these improvements were even more pronounced. The evaluation consists of a “process evaluation” that details the components of service delivery and an “outcome evaluation” that presents data that confirms the impact of the services to the children who receive them.

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TEACHING STRATEGIES PARAMETERS The developmental and educational progress of students who enroll in the CC classes are measured at entry and again at each subsequent quarter of their participation. This progress is measured on six parameters, each of which include observed completion of related tasks. The parameters include:

1. Social-Emotional 2. Physical 3. Language 4. Cognitive 5. Literacy 6. Mathematics

Within the six parameters are 36 tasks that are both observable and measurable. SEARCH staff has been trained to identify stages of skill acquisition and have demonstrated inter-rater reliability. While the parameters and objectives are the same for both classes, the demonstration of acquisition of skills differs, and is based on age-appropriate tasks. The following list details the objectives associated with each of the parameters. OBJECTIVES SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL • Regulates own emotions and behaviors. • Establishes and sustains positive relationships. • Participates cooperatively and constructively in

group situations. PHYSICAL • Demonstrates traveling skills. • Demonstrates balancing skills. • Demonstrates gross-motor manipulative skills. • Demonstrates fine-motor strength and

coordination. LANGUAGE • Listens to and understands increasingly

complex language. • Uses language to express thoughts and needs. • Uses appropriate conversational and other

communication skills.

COGNITIVE • Demonstrates positive approaches to learning. • Remembers and connects experiences. • Uses classification skills. • Uses symbols and images to represent

something not present. LITERACY • Demonstrates phonological awareness. • Demonstrates knowledge of the alphabet. • Demonstrates knowledge of print and its uses. • Comprehends and responds to books and other

texts. • Demonstrates emergent writing skills. MATHEMATICS • Uses number concepts and operation.