HOLLIS EARLY

LEARNING PROGRAM

AT THE HOLLIS PRIMARY SCHOOL

HELP

Integrated

Approach

Preschool

What is HELP?

The Hollis Early Learning Program (HELP) is a comprehensive, specialized program designed to meet the individual needs of preschool students within the Hollis community. The emphasis is on guiding children through the normal stages of development, while taking into account the specific needs of each child. As a quality early childhood/special education program, we focus on developing pre-academic, cognitive, linguistic, motor and affective skills, while addressing the special education needs of children with identified delays. Our team acknowledges a primary responsibility to develop a partnership between each family and our program in a way that supports and enhances each child’s development. With parents and teachers working together as a team, we will strive to give each child the best gift possible—a positive sense of self, which encourages growth to his or her full potential.

Learning Through Play

The goal of our program is to meet the developmental learning needs of all of our students by providing a fun, child-oriented environment. Our warm, caring and well-trained staff will ensure high levels of child engagement throughout each day. The structure of our classes and methods of teaching are based on accepted best practices of early childhood education as defined by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Everyone Benefits from Inclusion

Children without disabilities also benefit from participating in

inclusive environments:

They are provided with opportunities to learn more realistic an accurate views about individuals with disabilities
They are provided with opportunities to develop positive attitudes towards others who are different from themselves
· They are provided with opportunities to learn altruistic behavior and when and how to use such behavior
·They are provided with models of individuals who successfully achieve, despite challenges

Why Choose HELP?

· Located at the Hollis Primary School

· Bright facility

· New equipment and materials

· Highly qualified teachers and staff

· Access to Hollis Primary School specialists and related service personnel

· Small class size (up to 12)

· Smooth transition to kindergarten

· Program approved by the State of New Hampshire

· Comprehensive team approach

· Parent involvement encouraged

HELP Program Services

· Integrated preschool program

· Speech and language therapy

· Occupational therapy

· Physical therapy

· Developmental evaluations

· Child Check screenings

· Related services

· Summer programming

HELP PROGRAMS

Morning Program:

Students turning 3 by 9/30/07

Monday through Thursday

8:50 am to 10:50am

$210/month

Afternoon Program:

Students turning 4 by 9/30/07

Monday through Thursday

11:30am to 2:00pm

$240/month

For more information, please contact:

Maureen Chorma, Preschool Coordinator

Hollis Primary School

36 Silver Lake Road

Hollis, NH 03049

Phone: 603-465-2260 x316

E-mail: chormam@sau41.k12.nh.us

CHILD CHECK SCREENINGS:

Child check screenings are provided to assess your child's general development and to determine the need for further evaluations. The DIAL-3 (Developmental Indicators of the Assessment of Learning, third edition) is an individually administered screening test, which assesses three skill areas.

The screening visit will take approximately 45 minutes. During that time that you child is with the preschool team, we will ask you to complete a questionnaire while waiting outside the preschool room. It may be helpful to prepare you child by explaining that they will be visiting a school to work with some teachers. It is likely that there will be one or two other children visiting at the same time. We suggest that you present the visit as a special, fun day.

Motor area measure fine and gross motor skills, such as writing name, cutting and copying; administered by an occupational therapist
Concepts area measures pre-academic skills, such as colors, identifying concepts, sorting and counting; administered by a certified special education teacher
Language area measures language skills, such as articulation, labeling words, problem-solving and sentence length; administered by a speech-language pathologist

If you live in Hollis and have concerns about your child, please call:

Maureen Chorma

465-2260 x316

Screening are held monthly from September through May at the Hollis Primary School and are provided at no cost to Hollis Residents.