Parents: Finding strength in numbers

It's no accident that Steven Hammel has his students share the class motto with their families. Hammel regularly emphasizes the importance of family support for his young students. They come from all sorts of backgrounds and have had to deal with many difficulties in their young lives. But one thing they can count on in Hammel's class, though, is the presence of a family member to help them learn to succeed at school.

Hammel and his colleagues run a multi-family therapy group concurrently with regular classroom lessons. Once a week for 10 weeks each child has a parent, grandparent or other significant adult right beside him or her in the class for two hours.

With the desks in a horseshoe, extra chairs for the adults, and Hammel at the front of the room, the group covers topics such as expressing and managing feelings, problem solving, and family dynamics. Each discussion is accompanied by an activity that the adults and children do together. For example, on the day when the group talks about families, each adult and child pair makes a sculpture to represent their family. Since each sculpture is unique, Hammel uses the exercise to show the group that a family is a family, no matter what it looks like.

The activities serve other purposes too. Hammel watches how the adults and children interact, intervening when necessary, and uses what he sees to form his own interactions with the child and the content of the group discussions. Hammel also finds that the activities stimulate discussion between the adults, children, and among the group as a whole.

The adults quickly find common links and often exchange phone numbers. "For most, it's a comfort to know that they are not alone," Hammel says.

Hammel structures the family sessions in parallel with what the students are learning in class. For example, a popular activity he does with the children is to build and set off a mini-volcano. The students learn some science but, more to the point, Hammel uses how a volcano works as a metaphor for how people's thoughts, feelings, and actions are all interconnected and can come to a head when not dealt with. Hammel uses this same activity with the family group, which means that the adult and child have the same language, and they can use it in the future to solve a problem.

Hammel starts the family component of the term three or four weeks in; after he has had a chance to get to know and work with the students. He can plan the family sessions to suit the group's needs and interests.

Hammel relies on colleagues with a background in social work and knowledge of this type of group treatment to make the program a success. He recommends that any teacher who wants to try to implement a program such as this seek out similar support.

Hammel and his colleagues have written a manual about multi-family therapy groups that includes a plan for a 10-week program. It is available by contacting Hammel at (steevver@hotmail.com).

The program has been a great success, Hammel reports. The self-esteem of everyone involved blossoms, and it promotes positive involvement of parents and other adults with their children and school. As Hammel puts it, "For once, it's not because Johnny's in trouble."