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Show 1 2 Vernal Express Fridoy, June 22, i?84 Uintah County preschool offers children a wide variety of services rr 1 J By Traci Menke Express Assistant Editor This is the fourth article in a series of four about the services of the Uintah Uin-tah County Preschool. The highest functioning group of developmentally disabled preschoolers meets on a regular two hour basis five days of the week. Although they are a large group, the children in the class are further divided divid-ed up into small groups according to their individual needs. In this group only, the Uintah County Coun-ty Preschool mainstreams a limited number of normally functioning children in with those with disabilities. This type of placement provides a variety of advantages for both groups. The children with disabilities can benefit from having skills modeled correctly and the normal children gain skills of leadership and compasion. Some of the main programs that are used at this level are language development, readiness groups, creative groups and various educational educa-tional activities outside of the classrooms. The readiness portion of the program pro-gram helps to prepare the preschoolers for future placement in public schools. Under the program children are taught to begin counting, discrimination between various colors and shapes and other skills helpful for the kindergarten level. The creative portion of the program addresses many different needs of the children including development of fine motor skills. The creative program allows for expression of the preschoolers through cutting, coloring, pasting and other aspects of art. Under the creative program the preschoolers meet twice a week for dance class. The purpose of the dance class is to further the development of fine motor skills and coordination of the preschoolers. Under the language program the skills the preschooler learns in the earlier levels are reinforced. They are encouraged to use the skills they learn on a daily basis in every aspect of their lives. At this level the preschoolers are encouraged en-couraged to expand their vocabulary, articulation skills, voice control and sound discrimination. They are also instructed in-structed on sentence structure, vocabulary building and listening skills. One of the methods used to help develop language skills is visual phonics. Visual phonics is a fairly new method used by therapists at the preschool. Visual phonics has been part of the cirriculum since the beginning begin-ning of the year. Visual phonics is a program for developing reading, writing, speech and language skills. It is a symbol system that depicts 42 different speech sounds of English with a hand sign and written symbol for each sound. It is purely a phonetic approach to learning learn-ing to speak. The system was developed by a woman who had three deaf children. Out of her frustration of not being able to communicate with her children she watched the speech therapist working with them. She noticed that the therapist used hand signals to get her children to make certain sounds. After experimenting with signs for sounds her children began speaking in-telligebly. in-telligebly. She showed the method to other mothers with deaf children and found they had the same rapid results of success. The program continued to grow and is no longer limited to the oral training of deaf children. Most of the children in the class seem to enjoy the visual phonics portion por-tion of the preschool. Parents also enjoy en-joy teaching the program at home because it is easy to learn and is fun. Parents of the preschoolers are trained train-ed in methods to reinforce skills learned learn-ed at school in activities at home. Another teaching program that is used at this level includes dramatic play. In dramatic play the children generally act as a character in a story with one student as the narrator. This teaches the children to use their skills learned in sound discrimination. They are encouraged to make their voices and expressions different depending on who is speaking and the circumstances under which it is said. Other programs that are used at this level include taking preschoolers on educational field trips to give them a better understanding of their environment. Outside speakers are also brought in to talk to preschoolers about their occupations, oc-cupations, the responsibilities of their occupations and what their jobs entail. Some of the speakers that have addressed ad-dressed the students are doctors, dentists, den-tists, veterinarians and grocers. Special programs are planned for children during Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween and other special occassions. At this level as well as all levels of the preschool, goals are devised for preschoolers on an individual basis. The goals are arrived at by parents and therapists working closely together. . The progress of the individuals is closely monitered. Adjustments are made in programs whenever necessary. The parents on the preschoolers are trained to help their children to continue to develop their skills learned in school at home. t turn MARILYN OSCARSON language interventionist at the preschool instructs preschoolers on visual phonics. Pictured here are (left to right) Cody Long, Christopher Davidson, Toby Chew and not Dictured is Daniel ilfford. ONE ASPECT of the preschool includes dramatic play. Pictured here in a scene from The Three Bears are (left to right) Danielle Vigil, Jacob Johnson, Heidi Erickson and Brian Hadlock. One of the goals of the preschool is to help the children function as independently in-dependently as possible. One of the most important aspects in the program is early intervention. Research shows the earlier treatment begins the higher the success rate is. Parents who suspect their child may have developmental disabilities should have them evaluated as soon as possi ble. Arrangements can be made through the preschool's director Gayle Drollinger at 789-5409. The Uintah County preschool is currently cur-rently meeting the needs of 26 children with an additional 14 on the waiting list. Parents should contact the school as early as possible because the wait to get in the school has been as long as one year in some cases. W.S. Hatch honors drivers for safety record Vernal terminal drivers for W.S Hatch Company were given award; for years of service at the 31st Annua Safety Awards Breakfast foi employees. . . Safety awards were presented to 9: men. Those from Vernal were Miltoi C. Hacking, Bonnie Barker, Leo Scott Eddie Price and Floyd Rudder. The received a belt buckle. Evan Doyle Perry has eight yean service, Roy James and Glen Canill: have 10 years each. They received i watch. Leo Ames has 11 years, Can McKen ' zie, 13 years; and Chester Gardiner 17 years. Dean Huber, Vernal terminal manager and Harold Alexander, Vernal Ver-nal driver-supervisor, presented the Vernal terminal drivers and employees this safety award. Each also received a special bonus. Drivers receiving safety awards were presented a W.S. Hatch Company Com-pany cap and wind breaker. The Roosevelt shop, Heber and Craig employees are all included in the Vernal terminal management. The breakfast was at the Airport Hilton Inn, in Salt Lake City. About 300 people attended. Guest speaker at the breakfast was Congressman Dan Marriott. Biggest Bug There's new hope for saving the world's biggest bug from extinction, reports National Wildlife magazine. 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