When their 4-year-old daughter struggled, Amanda and Colby got help that led to a happier environment for the whole family.
Four-year-old Laurel was often frustrated. She struggled with coping in a positive manner by hitting others and throwing things. She lacked self-confidence and frequently said “I can’t do it!”. She was often sad.
Laurel’s child care provider observed anger along with learning issues and recommended Rainbows to her parents. Laurel’s mother, Amanda, reached out to Rainbows for help. “I realized, I don’t know what I’m doing. We don’t know how to do this and figure out these parenting issues without some help,” she said. “I also worried that having a little sister would be challenging for Laurel.”
Through Screen for Success, Amanda and Colby, Laurel’s father, learned a lot they didn’t know about Laurel, including that she was slightly delayed cognitively. After an assessment, Janelle Jeffrey, Mental Health Specialist, began providing services to Laurel and her family through Rainbows’ Mental Health Services’ short-term intervention program of 6-8 weeks.
The family and Janelle worked on identifying emotions, self-regulation and problem-solving skills, as well as practiced age-appropriate communication and language techniques to better address, work through and resolve concerning behaviors and challenging issues.
“Both Mom and Dad took the instructions we talked about and practiced them,” said Janelle. “When a family is so consistent with interventions and strategies, we see huge improvements really quickly.” That’s what happened with Laurel. She made big changes quickly and her frustration was so much less.
“By the end of services, Laurel improved significantly in all areas,” said Janelle. “Laurel, with some assistance, has been regularly using positive coping skills such as breathing and problem-solving to work through frustration; she has not been hitting others or throwing things. She has been in more positive moods versus frequently feeling sad. She has shown more confidence in her abilities, and is seldom stating that she can’t do something. She is also following instructions more often.”
These changes in Laurel impact her entire family. “It’s more than just color matching and potty-training, though that played a part,” said Amanda. “This therapy is so much more. It gets to the root cause. It’s changed Laurel’s life and it’s changed my life so significantly. Laurel is more respectful and responsible in her decisions and actions. She also takes the initiative to help, like feeding the dog.”
“We looked to Janelle for help and guidance and we got to share our successes with someone,” said Amanda. “We could call Janelle and tell her “You’re not going to believe this!” We all get to enjoy the excitement. Thanks to Rainbows, I have so much joy in my parenting.”
