Research suggests that children experiencing homelessness often display signs of delayed development (Sawtell 2002), particularly with speech and language (Vostanis et al 1997). These findings are borne out by my work in a hostel for homeless families.
Often the delays are borderline and referral to speech therapy is not always appropriate. Advice and leaflets offering ideas can sometimes be of limited value, particularly with a client group whose housing difficulties make finding time to assimilate this style of information difficult.
Leicester City Council Lifelong Learning and Community Development initiative has devised REMIT, a a project that can help these children to reach their full potential. It takes informal learning into hostels and centres for homeless people in the form of Social Education Activity Development (SEAD) boxes.
These boxes contain material for group and individual activities within the home setting and can be borrowed by hostel staff for use with residents.
The boxes cover many activities including:
* craft ideas
* puzzles and quizzes
* music
* the history of Leicester
* basic skills
* English as a second language
* health and beauty.
These boxes can be borrowed by hostel staff for up to four weeks for use with residents. The hostel can then exchange the box for a different theme, allowing it to be restocked for later use.
Having fun
This idea has been developed further in order to meet the needs of homeless families in temporary accommodation. Four boxes have been designed containing activities and ideas to promote skills necessary for child development:
* speech and language
* reading skills
* general development
* arts and crafts.
They aim to encourage parents and children to share enjoyable activities.
In the family hostel in Hinckley, Leicestershire, parents and children live and sleep in one room with access to a shared kitchen and bathroom. Space for children to play is limited, so each large plastic box contains a range of low-cost activities for use by parents and children, whatever their age, which can be easily carried out in a single room.
All the equipment for the activity is contained in the box - from pieces of felt to glue sticks and paper and pencils. Each box also displays clear warnings regarding the box's contents and the necessary level of parental supervision.
Boxes include a puppet theatre, pre-made puppets and ideas and materials to enable parents and children to make puppets of their own. A magnetic fishing game has been developed to include a range of ideas and games using phonics and words. There are games that promote listening skills through the use of sound tracks of familiar sounds taped from around the hostel, accompanied with matching lotto cards.
Ideas cards
Perhaps most important are the ideas cards that encourage families to make their own games from the materials included in the box that they can then keep. The ideas cards also have suggestions on how to promote speech and language in a fun way.
A system has been devised with the hostel staff to enable the boxes to be made available at times when other resources are unavailable, for example on rainy days.
Thumbs up
We have evaluated the initiative by focusing on the frequency of use of the boxes and parents' and children's thoughts about them. The boxes have been in use for four months at both the family hostel and a local refuge.
Evaluation has shown that the boxes are well used. Most residents borrow them for several days rather than just one night as was originally anticipated. The activities have been used across a wide age range. For example, a young child may watch a puppet show while a much older child may design their own puppets and plays. Most important, families enjoyed the activities with comments like 'great idea' and 'wicked'.
Overall, this is a low-cost project that has been well received. Stepping out from the pressures of living in temporary accommodation and just having fun can be difficult, but this project seems to have helped families do just that while improving child development.
Maxine Jenkins is a health visitor for the homeless at Hinckley and Bosworth Primary Care Trust.
References
* Sawtell, M (2002) Lives on Hold: Homeless families in temporary accommodation. The Maternity Alliance, London
* Vostanis, P (1997) The Impact of Homelessness on the Mental Health of Families. University of Birmingham
