JG-TC.com > Features > Little Explorers preschool program offered

TODAY'S HEADLINES

SPECIAL SECTION

ONLINE POLL

ONLINE EXTRAS

SITE TOOLS

OTHER LINKS

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Tuesday, October 7, 2008 9:17 PM CDT
Little Explorers preschool program offered

MATTOON -- The Little Explorers Educational Program is a new and unique experience for preschool children in Mattoon, Charleston and surrounding areas.

The program is designed for children ages 3 to 5 in need of an educational and social experience. The program will be open to all children regardless of their ability; children with disabilities are welcome.

The Little Explorers program is an entity of Center Illinois Autism Therapeutic Services. CIATS is a not-for-profit agency whose primary goal is to provide comprehensive treatment for children ages 3 through 18 with a prior diagnosis of, or suspected, autism spectrum disorder; regardless of financial resources, functioning ability or family status as well as educational opportunities and support for the families of those children.

Parents of children with autism can get involved in CIATS’s parent association whether or not their child participates in the programs.

All children enrolled in the program will be exposed to an educational curriculum and community experiences (field trips). The program will be operated by Vivian Winchester, who is a child development specialist and behavior specialist with many years of experience and education in the field of early childhood.

Children can attend the center either two days a week or four. Each session is 2½ hours in length and offered in the morning and afternoon. There is a resource/observation room available for parents who wish to stay while their child participates in the playgroups.

Families needing extended pick-up times can discuss this with the program director. At the present time, there is a fee for services; however, scholarships will be available as funds are secured. Special needs children who may benefit from more intense services may be able to obtain these while at the center.

Winchester is the founder of CIATS. She developed the plan for the organization after seeing children with autism excel while receiving intense therapy services from herself and a speech and language team.

Once the children turned 3 they were no longer eligible for intense services and were instead referred to the local school district, where they receive speech therapy for 30 to 40 minutes a week. However, the latest research in treatment for autism recommends that a child receive 25 to 40 hours of intense therapy in order to combat the challenges of autism.

For more information about The Little Explorers Educational Program or Central Illinois Autism Therapeutic Services, contact Winchester at 821-1752 or stop by the program, which is located at 309 S. 21st St., Mattoon, Monday through Thursday between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

Add your comments

*Member ID:
*Password:
Remember login? (requires cookies)
	Forgot Your Password?

Not already registered?
Then click Here.

Comment policy:

JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.

In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.

We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.

No comment may contain:

* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.

If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.