Family Stories – Timothy & Bethany
Timothy & Bethany have been part of the Reach-Up Head Start program for more than ten years now. Although they only have one child in the program full-time right now, all of their five children have been enrolled in the programs and benefited from Reach-Up services. They first heard about Reach-Up from their doctor’s office and through WIC offerings. Timothy & Bethany are deaf, and knowing Reach-Up staff and services would be able to work with them was incredibly important.
“As a first impression, they were very hands-on and involved with our child; very inclusive. They really took our family’s deaf culture into consideration which isn’t always the case. They’re very helpful and have worked with our children to help them learn faster. To be honest, Reach-Up was the only service that we were aware of at the time, and we’re so glad it’s worked out great. Some of the staff even know a bit of sign language which is, of course, incredibly helpful. I can’t emphasize enough how inclusive they are and how important that is to us”
“Reach-Up is unique in not only that they communicate with and tailor to our ASL needs, but they really care about the community. They knew we wanted to be involved parents and so they encouraged us to get involved in program offerings too. We’re part of the Policy Council, which helps the Reach-Up staff make decisions about programming. It’s great to be able to be involved in our children’s programming and that we have a voice in continual improvement. They’re so motivated to help you and help your family.”
“They’re very important to us as a whole family. Reach-Up provides the access we need and helps our children improve and get the services we need for our children. Our family has a mixture of ADHD and autism, so having children in programs that help prepare them as best they can for school is very important to us. Each of our children enjoyed their teachers and the work, and we knew that the teachers were involved and getting them ready to transfer into kindergarten after Reach-Up. When our children ‘graduate’ from Reach-Up, we know they’re ready for kindergarten to the best of their abilities.”
“If we had to describe Reach-Up Head Start in a few words it’d be valued, inclusive, supportive, like-family, and the key to success. Reach Up has helped us to learn more about our family, and growing as a family; learning how to support each other and how we can be better parents for our children. I didn’t exactly come from a good background and needed to learn a different way to do things. I’m trying to break generational habits and Reach-Up has helped me to do that. I’m learning more about parenting – conscience parenting, positive discipline … lots of things that I have learned that I’m working on with my children. We love Reach-Up Head Start and it means a lot to us.”