Teaching Toddlers: Up to 3 Early Intervention Program Assists Children with Disabilities
Reprinted with permission of
Impact: The Office of Research Services report of the EEJ College of Education, 2009
Reprinted from The Herald Journal
April 14, 2009
By Manette Newbold
When Stacy Adams takes her 2-year old son to storytime, it’s not just about the books. Hazen Adams has a mild hearing loss and by bringing him to the half hour classes, Stacy hopes it will get him talking more. “He’s a bit more social then he used to be,” Stacy said after the class that focused on animals last Thursday. “Like today, he actually got up. Usually he’ll just sit on my lap and not move.”
The storytime class, taught by Cathy Mace, is one of several classes provided by the Up to 3 Early Intervention program, which is designed to help children with disabilities. Currently, the program serves 320 families in Cache, Rich and Box Elder counties. All
children who are eligible for the program must be younger than the age of 3 and display a moderate delay in one or more of the developmental areas, including gross motor skills, fine motor skills and language, said Sue Olsen, director of Up to 3. The program also serves children with autism and various syndromes such as Down syndrome.
Olsen said when parents are concerned about the development of their infants and toddlers, they can call the Up to 3 office, which is located at the Center for Persons with Disabilities building at Utah State University.
If the toddler is eligible for the program, a therapy plan is generated with services in the home and classes in Logan and Brigham City. Up to 3 can send any or all of its services to a home including physical therapy and occupational therapy. Then, depending on the disability, parents can attend storytime, music class, talking with tots and others. Those who are eligible can also attend gymnastics classes offered at The Sports Academy in Logan.
“Our goal is to provide training to the parents so that during their daily activities and routines the family can help their children,” Olsen said. “We are there to help the child learn, but also the parents. We can’t be there all day and it’s very rare that we can be there weekly. We need the parents to be there working with the child.”
Showing the kids various zoo and jungle books, Mace pointed to the pictures and made animal sounds and expressions. She pointed out when people in the books were happy and tired and did several different voices as the children energetically watched. When she pulled out a pop-up book, a couple of the children wanted to touch the pictures, then would run back to their moms.
Olsen, who has worked with several children with autism, says she’s seen some who were previously only occupied with their own thoughts become engaged with their parents.
For Stacy Adams, a successful day is when Hazen comes out of his shell a little. And for Becca Crookston, who attended storytime with her 2-year-old daughter Emma, accomplishment means that she is able to communicate. Emma has speech delay, Becca said, and has been attending a signing class, storytime, music class, and others.
“She knows most of the signs and that was definitely our biggest improvement,” Becca said, adding Up to 3 has given Emma a place to learn skills she couldn’t anywhere else. “Where else would we go? The school district works with older ages of kids and the library does storytime, but it’s for older ages. So at her age, this is pretty much her only option.”
Olsen said when children leave the program at age 3, they are transitioned into a preschool program until they are 5 and then they enter kindergarten.
“It’s really school preparedness,” she said. “It’s also important for families. When a child is struggling and not learning like they should, parents worry that their child looks or acts different than other kids at school or church and we can help with that.”
For more information visit http://www.cpdusu. org/ projects/upto3, or call 1-866-695-4336.
