Child Abuse Prevention Educational Programs

Written by Debbie Mahoney

Two child abuse prevention educational programs that teach children to recognize abusive situations and what to do about them.

Celebrate Safety and Break the Silence (an Arnold Shapiro Film) - Yell and Tell are effective educational programs which teach children to recognize and possibly avoid potentially abusive situations. They also teach children what to do should abuse occur.

Celebrate Safety was written by Janiece Hopper, a teacher with an extensive background in child development. Although intended for preschool through second grade, it provides older students the same reassuring and empowering words. These skills are an essential child abuse protection tool for children, parents, teachers, and other adults who work with, and care for, children.

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The videotaped puppet show, the Story of the Little Child, lets children know that they are unconditionally deserving of love and respect. Throughout Celebrate Safety, the importance of telling a trusted adult when abused by anyone, is emphasized. Rather than allowing abuse to steal a childhood, children learn to turn their abuse over to a trusted adult. They learn the trusted adult can help them feel better and find a way to stop the abuse. The second puppet show Smart About Strangers alerts children to stranger dangers and lures. It teaches them what to do when approached by a stranger. Celebrate Safety is divided into four short segments with age-appropriate activities and role-plays for children aged 3 to 8.

Break the Silence - Yell and Tell, part of the Celebrate Safety Program was compiled for children in Grades 3-6. Break the Silence is an excellent film which used both animation and real life survivors of child abuse to emphasize telling a trusted adult when abuse occurs and to keep telling until help is found. The Yell and Tell teacher manual is derived from the workshop Yell and Tell and reinforces information and skills presented in Break the Silence as well as introducing more advanced but age-appropriate stranger and abusive scenarios. Break the Silence - Yell and Tell is designed to be a one day classroom event, but can also be divided into several shorter segments.

Both curricula include videotapes, complete lesson plans, and activities using readily available, inexpensive classroom materials. A facilitator handbook, in-service videos, diagnostics, post test, teacher testing report form, and teacher feedback form are included to effectively provide schools with a fully comprehensive program that allows for competent evaluating tools.

As a result of instruction in each program, children will:

• define good and bad secrets
• define good, bad, and confusing touches
• define their private zones as parts of their bodies covered by bathing suits
• recognize abusive or potentially abusive situations and practice the Yell, Run, and Tell
• understand and use the "family" code word
• understand the "stranger" theory
• understand that should something happen it is never their fault - they are children and should be protected

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