Parents As Teachers

Enroll in Parents As Teachers

PAT Newsletter

Our program is designed for all families who reside within Hannibal Public School District who are expecting or have a childbirth to five. It is offered at no charge to families. CLICK HERE TO ENROLL

Parents as Teachers promotes optimal early development, learning, and health of children by supporting and engaging their parents and caregivers.  PAT is designed to help you as a parent help your child learn, grow and develop to realize his/her full potential. 

Personal Family Visits:

Certified parent educators share research-based information with families during home visits through partnering, facilitating, and reflecting during the visit.  Parents are the first and best teacher and your Parent Educator is there to partner with you to help ready your child for success in school and life.  

Your parent educator who is trained in child development will bring an age-appropriate activity for you and your young child to play together.  Visits are scheduled in your home or at the Early Childhood Center and typically last an hour.   You will partner with your Parent Educator in making observations about your child’s play and development. These observations will guide your visits as your child grows and develops. Developmental topics focused on during the visits are attachment, discipline, health, nutrition, safety, sleep, and transitions/routines.   Each visit will also include book sharing.  Early literacy skills are important in the life of a child, and each PAT visit will include components to promote literacy development. 

Group Connections: 

Group Connections offer opportunities for parents and young children to come together and take part in hand on activities and connect with other families. These events are especially designed for children up to five years of age, and all children must be accompanied by an adult.   Group Connections are offered at least once per month throughout the school year.  

Developmental Screenings: 

Screening provides an opportunity to see how your child is developing and meeting milestones.  An annual screening is provided on a home visit, at the Early Childhood Center, and at many childcare centers throughout Hannibal.  The screenings include development, social emotional, health, hearing, and vision.  

Resource Network:

Parents as Teachers can help connect your family to community services that are available for supporting and enriching families.

Research has shown that children whose parents are caregivers were involved in Parents as Teachers:

We significantly advanced over their peers in language, social development, problem solving and intellectual abilities

Scored higher on standardized measures of reading and math achievement than did comparison children.