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The Acton Free Press Wed December 1976 Halton Development Centre Severely retarded handicapped train Impossible is a word seldom used at Development Centre If a program t work ior a child it not frustrating said Lawrence the director of the centre It a challenge to find a program that will work for the child is a centre retarded and multiplehandicapped children between the ages of five and 18 in quarters at the Drury School in Milton The serves Region and is funded by the Provincial Ministry of Com munity and Social Services It is operated jointly by the North and Burlington and District Associations for the Mentally Retarded Different It s It a place where students who don t fit in with the regular training programs for the mentally retarded learn self help skills speech development conceptual develop ment gross motor development and toilet training When most people talk about the Three they mean reading riling and nth Mr said but here we mean toilet training dressing and gross motor development Gross motor development is the sional term for developing muscular strength At this involves teaching students how to stand up sit down and walk When the centre opened in April this year Mike little blond youngster couldn I walk a step Today he can walk on his own Its a slow awkward looking walk which would probably cause a few stares on Main St but it walk walk Some of the other students haven learned to walk and some may never learn Most of the students can even talk Young language teacher it the centre said only about three of the students can talk Others make sounds which arc sometimes similar to words Some don t need to talk she said They can communicate with body and get along without having to talk One of the hardest tasks is teaching the students to use the toilet Mr Smucklcrsnid their aim is to get the students to the point where they can pujl their pants up and down and go on their own steam but he says they re happy when a student just realizes the purpose of a toilet Some of the kids have no concept of what a toilet is used for he said Learns more For some students the centre uses an in tensive training toilet program For two weeks one teacher lakes a student spen ding extra lime teaching him what the toilet is used for A language teacher just went through the program with one of our students Mr said While this happened the other children language exercises fered But after two weeks not only could the student go to toilet but his language development had improved too Some people think the teaching is simpler if the child level of intelligence is simpler said Mr the level of sophisticition in teaching has to go up the more severe the mental retardn tion As in example he said with normal children you can point at a red object and That s red and child will under stand Al the centre they II use a pains taking step program just lo teach the child the concept of red Hardly program or exercise can taken just at face value In one room a boy about ill years is hopping in and out of huh hoops on the floor while his instructor and volunteer helper itch him To it would appear this is just simple coordination exercise Actually the teacher is working on three different areas with the child The exercise works not only on muscular coordination but with teaching him Ihc in and out as well as getting him to do something when you want him to rewards Getting the students motivated to do something is the hardest part of teaching them according to Mr Playing blocks might be fun for the child he said but the child l know it so he won try it Mr said the way to gel around this is to reward them with something the candy is faded out when the becomes more interesting than the rewird he said The strength of the at rots on its volunteers Ihc gives the instruction and it is he duty of the volunteer lo carry out those instructions to the best of the child Mr said every three children attending the centre the stiff is illowcd one instructor with the addition of volunteer staff numbers the r of children to staff is one to one turrently the centre his eight ind students It can handle up to students The government knows were one teacher over our limit but I think they 11 take the teacher away from us Mr laughed Along with the Instructors has volunteers of which he said per cent come once every two weeks We always need new volunteers he said he would prefer volunteers lo come more than once every other week Mr Smuekter admits it docs have ad vantages he child can learn to generalize his be- with different people he said With different people working with him there is less on one person our teachers arc specialists the child interacts with several different I lure ire sever disadvantages lo the faces of volunteers a child has like temper which we want to all Mr Smucklcr said lit way these ire maintained is responding to them Kent Estate MARKET PLACE Contest GEORGETOWN AREA OPEN HOUSE SUNDAYDEC Beautiful three bedroom brick and cut stone ranch bungalow on acre on Street Glen Williams This home features a floor to celling fireplace with lator in large open living dining area family sized kitchen with deluxe cupboards Master bedroom has washroom Basement Is completely and has bright finished room and fruit cellar A double garage and patio are two more features of this home which could be yours for Christmas Come out now and choose your own ONLY ONE longer at this price Four bedroom home on a ravine lot featuring double garage paved driveway malntloor laundry Finished basement rec room with walkout to patio Choice of throughout Model home on Storey Drive Acton open on Saturday and Sunday Just to miles north of off Hwy GEORGETOWN Four bedroom Bungalow on acre This newly decorated home has an exceptional view A family sized kitchen finished rec room games room and walk outs to rear yard are among the features of this well kept home on nicely landscaped lot located at end of dead end street GEORGETOWN Four bedroom storey home located In a subdivision close to schools churches and shopping Beautifully finished and carpeted room featuring gas fireplace Aluminum siding over wood siding Insures a warm house this winter STARTER HOMES IN ACTON A low down payment can put you In your own home for Christmas Endunitlna blockof only witha finished room per cent First Mortgage Vendor will Second Mortgage at 1 per cent 100 ACRE FARM IN ROCKWOODAREA 000 Ahomefor the moat discriminating person This brand new square foot home is situated at the end of a long driveway bordered by tall maple trees and new fencing The bonk barn has been renovated and could house horses or cattle Most of the land Is workable and ust waiting for a new owner with animals to roam about ACRE WITH NEW HOME Four bedroom 2 storey home with 2 square feet of living space Double garage with cedar doors make this home most attractive located high on a hill with a fantastic view Main floor has a laundry room washroom with shower family room with fireplace separate dining room Second floor has four bedrooms master bedroom has washroom Choice of broadloom throughout Conditional offers accepted CONSTRUCTION LIMITED Main Street North Adon 519 Evenings and weekends Joyce 416 If you have little children don miss the Free Press Christmas coloring contest Downtown contest Big posters and a 100 prize for guessing the time of completion of pavmg are en people to shop downtown Accident car belonging to and I was struck in the parking lot Thursday The after dedou LARRY SMUCKLER director of the Halton Development Centre helps damage one of the children with his painting exercise the craft room and giving the child attention when he throws a tantrum We all flit down and decide to ignore him when he throws a tantrum But when a new volunteer comes in and responds to the tantrum it enough lo sabotage the pro gram Mr said You could compare it to a payoff with a slot machine he said It only pays off about once every times but chats enough to keep people doing it Bad be havior doesn pay off every time but it only takes a few responses lo keep it going Wants coordinator Coordinating the volunteers timetables Is a problem the centre tries to cope with We haven got a full time volunteer co ordinator which would be ideal he said What we could use is someone to do the out house coordinating They wouldn t even have lo come to the centre All they d have to do is be by a phone and coordinate transportation for the volunteers and make sure we have enough each day It really throws us if someone cancels their day be cause it usually means an individual pro gram can t get done A large number of the volunteers come from the high schools particularly from Acton Burlington and Oakville The centre does encourage parents or students to volunteer their time but Mr Smucklcr says they don pressure them I feel they have enough to cope with at home If a parent does volunteer they work with their own child Train parents Sometimes it the parent own habits which we need to break he said and it easier to train a parent when they re not in volved with their own child Mr also thought having the parent around limits the child interaction with others Children behave differently when their parents are around he said And more often than not its worse The breaks the students into senior junior groups These in turn are broken down into different groups depending on the child level of intelligence Suitable levels Mr said the teachers treat the students in a way which corresponds with their age level even though their mental age may be lower DRASTIC REDUCTION A57ACRE HORSE FARM With a half mile training track excellent facilities In all out buildings for Including an Inside hook up area to the track A comfortable room home and all the acreage Is productive Good location In Rock wood Asking NEWHOMEONAPPROX ACRE bedroom wilh oversized double garage walkouts family room with fireplace I bathrooms and much more Excellent 1st mortgage mile from off Chalot A bedroom brush could do womOUh close to schools a with a paint Asking 800 IN ROCK WOOD Commercial properly with building permit for over 7400 sq ft plus bedroom apartments Excellent location For Information on any of the above please contact KAY MAXWELL 821 3230 or Support for Canadian firm RESIDENTIAL LOT f ul cod w I COUNTRY HOME BOO acre track n lam ly room and ponds to etc I lowors ATTENTION YOUNG LOVERS down lull bedroom aw t lo I Why torn Cil lor lorn SUPREME REALTIES LTD sense of nationalism illon Region Public Works to choose made motor over one eeii though will an The made that dieisini its meeting when it accepted i w lender of flomelric united for provision of a ltd lilt pump for the Burlington iter Ihnt HANDYMAN SPECIAL Good on Hood 77 lot Co miry a Its local on iwnm wos u a value Il a buy or ma and 111 bound anno Tl Jb Call Corol flobr or 824 tor J J ESTATE LTD REALTOR I hat is low ten den regardless of the eh nee of motors and con suit left that choice to Ihe committee action needs council ratification told Ihe committee it is turn for to He claimed at different levels in would hive to face the prospect of tying more for whal they or out more moiiLy in unemployment or general welfare Committee Chairman Jack didn t disagree with line of thinking but conceded that he usually took Hit low price regardless of where it was made The committee agreed to support the extra Twocar accident Lars driven by Mark Georgetown and ituymond Jackson Bramp ton were involved in a two- car on Bower on Nov The car h id about damage and the Jackson car estimated damage according to police I feel If you treat them at a lower level they accept lower levels of he said We try to find training materials for suitable age levels but it s difficult to find ones that I infantile Each child has an individual timetable which includes six training period of minutes each We found if the periods are much longer the students can maintain their tralion and if it s shorter the children are just getting into Ihc exercises the class is over he explained In between each period is a play time snack time rest time or lunch which stretches school time out from dam to Excuse to wash Every lime period even snack lime has its overall purpose for the development of the student Snack time gives us on excuse for the child to wash up he said This way they can relate eating to brushing their teeth and washing their hands In the same respect he points to a small wading pool which is used by several of the smaller children The older students use the swimming pool at t C The pool is used as a reward or during play periods or to get the students interact ing with another If a child is withdrawn from Ihe other children the pool usually helps to break the ice Mr Smuckler said Its an excuse to get the kids un dressed If you have them undressing for no reason they tend to undress for you when you don t want them to laughed Mr Daily evaluation charts are kept of each child to show his progress in each program Mr said the programs are arranged in a cookbook style so they can be supervised by anyone without special background or experience II what we call errorless training It s hard for the student to fail so he exper lots or successes he said Each new student is given a four assessment period during which the staff determines what level he can function in different areas Then they sit down with the parent and organize a six month objective in each category The ultimate goal of the centre is to make each child as independent and self suf as possible WHY NOT LISTEN When Carrier knocks on your door Lend an ear for a minute or two Youll be glad you did