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A Chilean psychologist will meet with immigrant families tonight to help address concerns they may have about acclimating to the U.S.

Summer Laws, director of Comunidad Integrada, said the immigrant families she works with are concerned about their children's behavior and preserving their culture while adapting to living in Steamboat Springs.

"A couple of families and parents have been asking me how to help their children more," she said. "And since we're always thinking about what we can do, we thought it would be good to offer a community discussion to help them."

Fabiola Pacheco Gonzalez, a Chilean psychologist specializing in adult and child education, will lead the discussion.

Pacheco Gonzalez recently moved to Steamboat with her husband, who works for TIC.

Tonight's forum will be held in Spanish although translators may be available for other foreign-language immigrants, Laws said.

Families not speaking Spanish are encouraged to call Laws to make accommodations.

Laws said she hopes parents and families who may be struggling with adapting to the U.S. attend the forum.

"Parents and children alike experience big changes when they move here, and a lot of parents don't understand why their children are acting differently, might be doing poorer in school or might be less respectful than they were in their own countries," she said.

Talking about the families' struggles might help the parents and children begin to understand what they're going through and why, Laws said.

"We're mostly working on helping families communicate and learn better communication skills. We're trying to get people to talk about what's going on, because everyone knows what's going on, just no one talks about it," she said.

Laws said Comunidad In--

tegrada, a non-profit dedicated to bridging the gap between the immigrants in the community, is always looking for volunteers and those who wish to help with events like today's forum.