Storytime at Up to 3

Up to 3 Early Intervention program assists children with disabilities

Cathy Mace reads to children at Up to 3 in Logan Thursday. The program is designed to help children with disabilities. (Alan Murray/Herald Journal

By Manette Newbold

Published: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 in the Herald Journal

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.

At storytime last week, Mace had four children and their moms in the class that switched between books and songs.

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.

They were also allowed to play with colorful yarn pom-poms and monkey finger puppets when they recited, “Five Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree.” Most of the songs, such as “Popcorn Popping” and “Five Little Ducks Came Out to Play” also had hand actions.

“My favorite thing about doing storytime is the kids,” Mace said, then quickly added she loves their parents, too. “Their mothers are just incredible. I think kids with disabilities get sent to special families and their moms have just been so great.”

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.”

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