Little Lake Schools’ Hand in Hand Program : Troubled Children Have Special Friends in Room 8

Two minutes after the youngster entered Room 8 at Lakeland Elementary School, she threw a pink plastic ball with all her might at guidance aide Janet Syberg.

Then the 7-year-old punched a Mickey Mouse doll. After a few bops, she began writing on the blackboard and gave Syberg, her “student,” a lesson. When the child wasn’t being a teacher, she would go to the play kitchen and pretend to be Syberg’s mother.

The flurry of activity was encouraged by Syberg, who later explained that the child “got a lot out when she came in here.”

Letting children vent their feelings through play therapy is one of the main goals of the Hand in Hand program being conducted in Room 8.

More than 30 students who are experiencing behavioral or adjustment problems are gently guided through their weekly half-hour sessions by a “special friend”--Syberg or child aide Susan Bacon--as they work through some of the problems that may be affecting their school work. “Children very often have needs that prevent them from being able to achieve academically,” said Susan Hoeffel, the program’s founder and coordinator. “Some needs could be alleviated to some extent if they had an adult or someone to spend time listening to them . . . allowing them to share their fears, anxieties or whatever is troubling them.”

Measuring Success

Syberg said the aides basically work to help a child “feel good about himself.”

Measuring success in a program like this is not always easy, but Hoeffel points to one interesting set of statistics.

Last year, 49 children who were participants in the Hand in Hand program had a combined total of 355 absences in the five months before they entered the program. During five months in the program, the combined total was just 170 absences.

Hoeffel said the 49% decrease may not be due entirely to the program, but “we feel that kids, in feeling better about themselves and having a special friend at school, look forward to being there.”

Hand in Hand--the only one of its kind in Los Angeles County that receives state funding under a pilot program--also aims to improve early detection of school adjustment problems that may affect children later in life.

Needs Identified

“By working through those needs identified in an early age, it eliminates the need for more extensive help later on,” said Hoeffel, the school psychologist for Lakeland and Lakeview elementary schools.

The pilot program, run by the state Department of Mental Health, started in 1982. It is now financed with money obtained by the state when the assets of convicted drug dealers are sold.

Using the money made from illegal drug transactions could “stop those kids from (becoming drug users) in the first place,” said Assemblyman Tom Bates (D-Oakland), who introduced the funding bill. “And the best way is through early intervention.”

Betsy Burke of the state Department of Mental Health, said that Little Lake City School District is one of 17 school districts participating in the three-year-old program.

It is aimed at children in kindergarten through third grade who are either referred by their parents or teachers, or who fall within a certain percentile in a series of standardized tests. A screening for all kindergarten through third-grade students is done in the first month of school.

Behavioral Problems

The screening points out children who are either overly aggressive or withdrawn, or who have learning difficulties, said Hoeffel. Other characteristics that may require attention are attendance or tardiness problems, anxiety and a lack of self-esteem. Some children are seen on a short-term basis when a crisis occurs at home, such as a death or hospitalization of a family member, a divorce or a new baby, she said.

“Our basis is play therapy. Children don’t have a facility with words. Their play tells who they are,” said Syberg, adding: “We’re not therapists. We’re special friends of the child. That’s where Hand in Hand comes in.”

Room 8 has been set up to encourage children to relax and enjoy themselves rather than perform academically. Besides carpeting, curtains and a couch, the room has a host of games and toys--everything from an xylophone and dress-up clothes to watercolor paints.

And during a child’s allotted time, he gets to pick what he wants to do.

“We don’t judge a child for his actions. We accept him exactly the way he is. They don’t have to prove to us they can do anything” academically, Bacon said. “If they choose to do absolutely nothing, then it’s fine.” The only rules a child has to follow are safety rules, such as not harming the aides or damaging any of the room’s furnishings.

Working Together

The aides, teachers and parents all work together and come up with a goal that the child works toward. For some, it’s improving concentration that will then help with school work. For others, it’s regaining self-confidence. And for still others, it’s simply to find a little extra attention.

The Little Lake district’s program follows an award-winning program based in Rochester, N.Y., that was founded by Emory Cowen, director of the program, the Primary Mental Health Project.

Other School Districts

One of the main thrusts of the Rochester project is to disseminate its techniques to other school districts, said Mary Boike, the New York state program coordinator for the project. She said the program is in place in more than 200 school districts in the United States and other countries.

State funding of the program at Lakeland School will run out at the end of this year, Hoeffel said. The state provides $20,000, which pays for the aides’ salaries and some materials. The district matches the money with in-kind services. She said she hopes to continue the program with money from the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.

A new batch of school districts will be asked to submit proposals this year to attain funds for the next three years, a department spokeswoman said.

“It is my hope that within 10 years, every school district and every kindergarten through third-grade classroom will have a primary prevention program,” Assemblyman Bates said. “The sooner we can intervene, the better off we are.”