Talk, Listen, Connect: Elmo and the gang reach out to military families

All Hands, Dec, 2008 by Elizabeth Vlahos, Jason McCammack

Even Elmo gets by with a little help from his friends.

He and his lovable furry friends from Sesame Street have been bringing a message of hope, experience and love to military families worldwide.

Sesame Workshop, the brains behind the legendary children's show, has teamed with DoD and Military OneSource to bring to the front lines "Talk, Listen, Connect," or TLC, an outreach initiative specifically targeted to military families.

Since 2006, this initiative has helped military families worldwide communicate with their children when parents deploy and what to expect afterward.

The TLC project was born out the desire to meet unfulfilled needs of military families.

"[Our chief executive officer] said to me, 'Please go do some research, and see what resources are out there for military families, specifically with young children. It seems like there isn't a lot, and it sounds like something we should be doing,'" recalls Lynn Chwatsky, the senior project director for the Sesame Workshop Outreach Division.

Chwatsky and her team did some research, and after speaking to experts and actual military families, the outreach division found a need for materials.

"Back in 2005, the real need we saw was about deployment," Chwatsky recalled, "helping the families cope with the challenges of deployment."

Shortly thereafter, TLC was born.

The official TLC kit contains a DVD story featuring Elmo and his friends. In the DVD, Elmo's dad has to get ready to go away to do "important work." While Elmo's dad's job isn't explicitly described, the nature of his departure mirrors that of a military deployment.

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"Elmo's sad; he's a little scared, but with the help of his friends and his mom, he's able to go through it," Chwatsky explains. "Then Elmo's dad comes back, so they go through the whole deployment cycle."

The DVD also features live-action footage of military families going through the deployment cycle to augment Elmo's story.

"[The families] talk about how they cope with the challenges of deployment," said Chwatsky.

In the summer of 2006, the Sesame Workshop produced 400,000 TLC kits that were distributed worldwide to military families and supporting organizations. The project was successful--not only were families happy to receive the materials, but the materials themselves were working. The kits gave military parents the tools to discuss deployments with their young children.

"We've seen the movie, and I think it's really going to help a lot in preparing them because it's so surreal to them that their dad is somewhere else," said Marguerite Carroll, a military spouse.

"Who better than Elmo to model [the behaviors of a deploying parent's child]?" said Chwatsky. "When he was upset, he went to talk to his mom and his friends. He was able to communicate with his dad using the computer, sending him letters, looking up at the moon. Not only were the kids doing better, but [so were the parents]."

In April 2008, after speaking again with their advisors and with military families, Sesame Workshop released the second phase of TLC, called "Deployments, Homecomings, Changes."

The second-phase kit contained not only Elmo's initial deployment story, it also dealt with the adjustments a family has to make when the deployed parent comes home. In the second story, Elmo's family has to adjust to his dad's presence at home after his extended absence. Also, Elmo's dad gets word that he has to leave again sometime in the near future.

This kit also addresses the sensitive topic of an injured parent. In the third story, "Changes," Elmo's friend Rosita has to adjust to a "new normal" when her dad is injured on the job and is confined to a wheelchair. This story deals with challenges and emotions children may face when a parent comes back from a deployment with a significant change or injury, such as paralysis, an amputation, depression, post-traumatic stress or traumatic brain injury.

"The feedback has been incredible," said Chwatsky. "We went into this with high hopes, and I think we have exceeded beyond our expectations.

"First, the appeal factor. Elmo is just loved and adored, and for these families, to know that Elmo is there for them ... they are so thrilled and so happy. Second, the materials are working. We're showing from the assessment work that these materials are giving parents feelings of hope, and that they have the tools available to communicate with their children. We're seeing kids develop fewer negative behaviors through all these difficulties. We have had this wonderful partnership with [DoD], and they are so grateful that they have these tools for their families."

The kits are distributed through Military OneSource at no cost to families. Print resources for adults and children, in addition to the TLC material, are available at www.sesamestreet.org/tlc.> In June, Sesame Workshop and the USO announced "The Sesame Street Experience for Military Families," a touring live-action extension of the TLC initiative. The tour, which started in July and ran through November, brought smiles to service members, spouses and children at 43 military installations nationwide.