Resource Program Helps Students j I : "' ' - - i ; $ M . : ( - !";.:.;, :? By TOM BUSSELBERG SUNSET A Layton woman who couldn't find a way to help some students in her class who had problems, including her own son who learned differently, diffe-rently, now is touching the lives of dozens of such students, trying to turn their problem into assets. MILLIE BATES is one of two resource teachers at Sunset's Doxey Elementary School who recalls those youngsters " with problems drove me crazy" when she taught at the Ogden Seventh-Day Adven-tist Adven-tist School. "I didn't know what to do so I called in several so-called experts and they didn't know either. I was very upset." Such feelings might just add a few gray hairs to some teachers but not in this case. SHE ENROLLED in classes at Weber State College, Col-lege, having already received teaching credentials at Loma Linda University in California. Noting she takes classes to help find answers whenever there's unsolved questions, such was the case as she drove teachers crazy until they directed her into the learning learn-ing disabled program. It's there where she started to receive her answers. She explains the term learning disabled students as "having average or above average intelligence. intelli-gence. They're handicapped by one or more modalities modali-ties or channels of learning. Most are multiply handicapped. hand-icapped. "SOME CAN'T auditorially remember what they hear or discriminate between like and dislike sounds. Phonics teaching to someone like that would be very difficult," Ms. Bates says as an example, adding there could be a problem with visual memory, as well. It requires special efforts on her part, but then fireball is probably an apt description of this enthusiastic enthu-siastic lady. "We have to use every minute. If we have five minutes at lunchtime, we use it." WITH A class load of about 77 children each week a number she admitted was rather high that indeed does mean using every minute. Most students are placed in small group situtations for daily sessions ses-sions of from 30 minutes to an hour. Groupings are made of students with similar problems. "We have very few one on one situations. Most is in small group situations. We find they do better. A little bit of competition helps motivate." The number's as high as it is because she doesn't believe in letting any child go without help, no matter w hat the problem. At the start of each year, a "child find" is conducted where those with problems are sought out. "WE START out in kindergarten so that we don't get a test in the 4th grade (showing a big deficiency). On every new student we check their level of reading, read-ing, etc., so the teacher will have an idea where students should be placed. "Teachers are very cooperative. They can tell MILLIE BATES those children who haven't learned the alphabet (in kindergarten) and other skills are not up (to par) or have a very short attention span. They may give me up to 20-30 kids in the spring to test. "WE FIND out where their intellectual functioning function-ing level is. Some may not be at potential. If it's low we need to develop it," she emphasizes, noting an intelligence test made up primarily of oral with some simple performance tasks not requiring previous learning is given. "For a good resource program you need a good principal who supports your program. You need an aware faculty that works with you. That's what I have at Doxey," she says excitedly. Principal there is Shirley Pearson. THANKS TO the resource program there are students stu-dents who don't have to sit in the back of a classroom just occupying a seat or in a special education class when they can be "mainstreamed" into regular classrooms, clas-srooms, she says. In what little spare time she has not much after the paperwork and consultations with parents are over she enjoys growing flowers, sewing and bowls in addition to activity in many service groups. BUT IN the end it all comes back to the children when she says, "1 have a real zest for life. I really enjoy the children ah school. They do something for you. wouldn't want to give that up. I have to work with children."