The May Institute's Children's Services and the Fall River Police Department sponsor the Safety, Protection, Education, and Assertiveness for Kids (S.P.E.A.K.) Program in Fall River Schools each year. Through lively classroom presentations, children learn to identify abusive situations and employ specific strategies to stop or prevent victimization. The SPEAK program covers physical, emotional, neglect, and sexual abuse, but focuses on the prevention of sexual abuse. Professionals from May’s Children’s Services also educate teachers concerning the process of abuse reporting and encourage parental involvement. This program, that began in the mid-1980s by Daniel K. Amigone, then director of the Corrigan Mental Health Center, reaches every first- and fourth-grader in about sixty classes over the course of the school year. Licensed Social Worker Sharlene Swainamer teams up with Detective Richard Saraiva to present a three-session curriculum to teach personal safety (including internet safety) and assertiveness skills. For more information, contact program director Janet Shartle at 508-678-0041.
 

(Top row, left) Mrs. Swainamer and Det. Saraiva ask the children in Mrs. Santoro's first-grade class at the Spencer Borden School about their passwords that they have chosen. Passwords are used by children to ensure that adults can be trusted to pick them up at school. (Top row, center) Mrs. Swainamer asks the children if they have shared their passwords with anyone. (Top row, right) Mrs. Swainamer tries to get one of the students to disclose her password, but she refuses! (Middle row, left) Students are impressed with Detective Saraiva's badge that he lets them hold during the presentation. (Middle row, center) Det. Saraiva tries unsuccessfully to get some of the students to tell him their password. (Middle row, right) Students listen intently to the reasons why their password should only be given to the people they live with. (Bottom row, left and center) Mrs. Swainamer and Det. Saraiva role play an assertiveness exercise with the classroom teacher, Mrs. Santoro. (Bottom row, right) Students receive certificates for participating in the series of classes.