TIES Program offers parents techniques to reduce stress

About a year ago, Molly Chambers stopped sending her now four-year-old son, Cal, to playdates.

'My son was hitting other children and I was that Mom who had the kid that was hitting,” Chambers says.

In addition to the behavioral issues, Cal also had a speech delay, which has since improved.

Chambers knew her son was frustrated because he wasn't able to communicate and was expressing that anger by hitting and acting out. But she didn't know how to handle these outbursts.

'I was doing everything I thought parents should do - timeouts, explaining to him hitting hurts and I think everything that most parents would intuitively do ... to no avail,” Chambers says.

A year later, her son has shown improvement in his behavior and aggression.

Chambers and her son participated in Teaching Interventions to Empower and Strengthen Families, or TIES. TIES is a free early intervention program targeting children six years and under, which teaches parents techniques to apply at home.

The goal of the program is to 'change parental interaction by manipulating attention the children are seeking,” according to an overview of the program. The program seeks to 'reward the good, ignore the bad, and be endlessly positive.”

During sessions, which are held at the Resource Center at UnityPoint Health – St. Luke's Hospital, parents are trained on a variety of techniques in a classroom setting.

The program focuses on both parents and children. There are activities such as storytime, singing, puzzles and snack time. Parents are are taught to give clear concise instructions, 'catch” children being good, offer 'specific positive attention” and present limited, reasonable choices.

Parents track compliance at home, school and during TIES sessions.

'Once you're in it and you see the extremely positive effects and very quick changes in your child, it becomes fun,” Chambers says. 'My son loves coming here. He talks about it all the time, he wants to come every day of the week.”

The TIES program also includes a peer learning component. Once parents and children have completed their time in the program, they 'pay it forward” and share what they've learned with other parents and families.

Families are typically enrolled between four to six months, attending twice weekly two-hour sessions. Although Chambers and her son have since completed course requirements, they still regularly attend sessions to reinforce lessons learned.

Eighty to eighty-five percent of participating families reduce the behaviors in children that brought them to the program, says Craig Meskimen, program coordinator. Parents also report experiencing a 30 percent drop in parental stress.

'Through the techniques that we're going to teach them, we'll reduce that aggressive behavior by 75 percent,” Meskimen says. 'If a kid is hitting 10 times a day, through our techniques and a home program, they'll reduce that behavior down to two and a half or less per day.”

TIES is based on a model called Regional Intervention Program out of Nashville, Tenn. The program is funded through the Iowa Department of Education.

Since the program officially began in the fall of 2008, 75 percent, or 146 out of a total 197, of participating families have completed requirements to graduate from the program, Meskimen says.

Carol Meade, manager of Children's Specialty Services at UnityPoint Health – St. Luke's, says the main principle of the program is to 'help families be happy again.”

'For many families, everything is a stress, going to the store, going to grandma and grandpa's,” she says. '(The goal) is to ease stress so parents are better equipped to deal with things and enjoy their kids.”