Triple P Isn't Magic,
but the Results are Amazing
(Darlington) - If you ask Audrey Hogan's husband, he'll probably tell you she can do magic.
After struggling with their 7-and-a-half-year-old son, Connor's, constant "activity" (the family codeword for "misbehavior"), Hogan began using a new system she had been trained in called the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program.
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Audrey Hogan works with Minerva Perez Aguirre and Lukeya Lanadia Johnson (standing) at the B.A. Gary Educational Complex in Darlington. |
"If he ignored me when I told him to do something I would walk over to him, like I was trained, look him in the eye and tell him specifically what to do. If that didn't work we used time out or quiet time and it started working," Hogan said. "He knows now that when I tell him to do something one time that means he needs to take care of it or a consequence will occur. You have to be consistent, though, or it won't work."
All her husband James could say was, "How did you do that?"
Hogan, a parent educator with Family Literacy in Darlington, knows the secret of Triple P.
The parenting program began in Australia and is currently used in select counties around South Carolina (as well as many countries around the world). Triple P helps build positive behaviors in children, confidence in parents' abilities, and community support for raising children.
"As parents we like to try to change our children but I think, in the end, if we change our strategies and the way we handle the misbehavior we don't have to worry about changing the child, they change themselves," she said.
She is sharing that secret with the families she works with at the B.A. Gary Educational Complex. Her family literacy program helps 34 families. The other programs at the complex provided education for 1,200 students last year and saw 120 of them graduate with a GED or high school diploma.
Families come to her through DSS, the school district and even word of mouth. Hogan works with the whole family, from child to parent, through the literacy program, parent education and adult education.
"That's what's so wonderful about my job. I get to play but I also get to help the family take the next steps to become independent."
Hogan said her own success with Triple P makes other families eager to try the program.
"I can talk until I'm blue in the face but if it's something that hasn't worked for you, no one will listen. If I believe in something, it's because I experienced the success of it, and I had success with Triple P with my kids," she said.
One young mother came into Hogan's program at age 14 with a newborn. The father was a gang leader and the mother told Hogan she knew her baby would be safe since the gang was her family. Hogan has worked with the teenager for two years, using Triple P to solve the child's bedtime routine problems.
Hogan modeled the strategies for the young woman who in turn used them with her son. The young mother was amazed that the program worked so well, but Hogan warned it that's just the beginning.
"I tell her that he's still going to try her and that she needs to take necessary steps so she'll know more strategies when the time comes."
The relationship has paid off for both Hogan and the young mother, who told Hogan recently, "I finally know what a family feels like because I feel like I'm a part of your family."
"That shining moment was worth every bit of those two years I put into that girl's life," Hogan said with a wide smile.
Before Hogan found Triple P she relied on her training from college to advise parents as best she could. Now, she says she has a "toolbox" full of strategies she can use to help families.
"It expanded my horizon. It's my light at the end of the tunnel. I always know I can pull from whatever I need from Triple P," she said.
What she likes best about the program is the emphasis on positive parenting and praising children for good behavior. Even though Triple P may appear to work like magic, Hogan noted that Triple P is based on 25 years of research and has been proven to work with parents.
"We want tried and true stuff to help them become successful parents because then you have successful families."
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