Stephanie Michel, Special Education Director with the Lincoln Uinta Child Development Association, stepped into the SVI Radio studio to promote LUCDA’s programs and upcoming free screenings.

(0:00) Weekday wake up on SVI radio heading into this hour’s first guest interview of the day and (0:05) joining me in studio is Stephanie Michael. Stephanie is with the Lincoln Uinta Child (0:09) Development Association, the LUCDA. She’s the special ed director.

Stephanie, hello, (0:14) good to have you in studio. Hey, Duke, it is great to be here. I appreciate your time.

Thanks (0:18) for stepping in studio. Let’s start with what is LUCDA and what services do you guys provide? (0:26) LUCDA, we work with early childhood. We work with the population from zero to five years of age.

(0:33) We have two different programs. We have a part C program, which is our zero to three population, (0:40) which is a home based family service that we do provide parents in the home if they have kids that (0:49) have some concerns. Our preschool is a nationally accredited preschool and that’s for children (0:55) three to five years of age.

And we have a curriculum called the teaching strategies gold, (1:02) which is a developmentally appropriate curriculum for kids. So they’re learning (1:08) in the best environment they can. We also happen to have a special ed program.

So if children (1:13) need any sort of supports in any areas of development, we provide those services in (1:19) the classroom setting. And lastly, we have a head start program. And that is a program (1:25) for kids that just give them a little extra support before they go to kindergarten.

(1:29) We give them about an extra hour of school. And that is with our lunch and literacy. So they (1:37) get free lunch, and they get some extra literacy to help them grow with their academic skills.

(1:43) You know, when you talk about child development in those those years, (1:46) zero to five, what have you seen as how how important it is to get the development needs (1:52) taken care of in those years before you head into kindergarten and into the into the school system? (1:56) That is probably the most important part of getting children to understand and want to be (2:05) excited about learning. So I like to kind of think that early childhood is like a tree. (2:13) And we’re kind of like the root system of a tree where you don’t really see it.

(2:19) But if it’s not there, the tree can’t grow. So getting kids in, loving school, loving to learn, (2:27) that’s the best thing that we can give our kids before they go to the school district. (2:31) Stephanie Michael with the LUCDA and studio and Lincoln Uintah Child Development Association.

And (2:37) you have locations scattered all throughout our listenership in Lincoln County and Uintah County. (2:41) We sure do. We’ve got a preschool in Alpine and in Thane, Afton, Kemmer, Mountain View and (2:48) Evanston.

And so you’re serving all those communities and and they do different things. (2:55) I mean, they all kind of they all do the same thing within LUCDA, but there’s (2:58) various options within each location, correct? We pretty much have the same services. So we (3:05) are preschool first.

So we like to say that we’re regular ed preschool that just happens to be able (3:10) to serve children that need additional supports and Head Start. So if you actually walk into one (3:17) of our preschools, you wouldn’t know what program the kiddos were in at all. So we’re kind of like (3:23) a mini school district.

But yeah, so we incorporate everything. All of our centers incorporate the (3:30) same programs. Gotcha.

Now, because you have different programs, it’s important to know (3:35) which kid needs to get the program that’s needed. So you do these free screenings, (3:39) if I’m understanding correctly? We do. We do.

We do developmental screens. We do two mass ones for (3:44) each center per year. So and we actually have some coming up.

All right, perfect. Tell us the dates. (3:50) So we are actually going to be doing our screening for our Thane Center February 27th.

(3:57) So if you’re in the Thane area, please reach out to our Thane Center, which is 307-883-4116. (4:06) Our Alpine Center, we’re doing our mass screening on March 6. And that phone number is 307-654-4116. (4:15) Our Afton Center is going to be March 13.

And that number is 307-885-9286. (4:24) And if you’re in our Bridger Valley area, that will be April 3. And I believe that number is (4:29) 307-782-6601. And Lindsey will help you out there.

And then our Kemmer Center is March 6. (4:38) That is 307-877-6984. Perfect. Excellent.

So those are, again, the dates for your local center. You (4:46) can also visit lucda.org. That’s lucda.org. So Stephanie, how do these screenings work? What (4:54) should a parent expect or a guardian expect when they go to one of these screenings? (4:58) So a developmental screening is great. And also, too, with our infant-toddler, we do those (5:04) developmental screenings.

But you can contact each center for those. Those will be those who (5:10) typically are on-demand screenings for parents. But when you’re when you come into our center, (5:17) we’re going to be looking at all developmental areas.

So we’re going to be checking hearing. (5:22) We’re going to be checking vision. We’re going to check social-emotional status that the parents (5:27) going to fill out a questionnaire for us.

And then we’re going to be looking at cognitive (5:33) abilities. We’re going to look at language abilities, which is both receptive and expressive (5:37) language. We’ll check for speech concerns.

We’ll check for fine and gross motor. And then adaptive (5:44) skills. So we’re really looking at the child.

So you’ll really be able to get an idea of where (5:49) your kiddo is developmentally if they are age-appropriate or if they do need any additional (5:55) supports in any of those areas. That’s when we can certainly help out the family and the kiddo, (6:01) too. Excellent.

And what kind of costs are people looking at? I got to tell you, (6:06) the price is right. It is absolutely free at no cost to you and to the parents. That’s for (6:14) the screening specifically, right? That is for the screening specifically.

All right. So what if (6:18) their child is going to go to school and attend to LUCDA? So I believe right now for private (6:25) preschool, it is about $70, $75 a month, which is pretty darn cheap. If you are enrolled in any of (6:33) the special ed programs or the Head Start programs, that is absolutely free of charge to the parent as (6:38) well.

If parents do struggle with maybe paying month to month, then we do have some scholarship (6:46) opportunities for each parent, too. Perfect. Stephanie Michael in studio with the Lincoln (6:51) Child Development Association.

Stephanie, anything we missed about LUCDA that you’d (6:55) like to mention today? I think I just want everybody to know we are a great quality (7:01) program that has lots of opportunities for every type of kiddo in the communities. And we’re here (7:09) to help families out. We’re here to answer any questions and to get kids ready for kindergarten.

(7:17) I will say I had a son go through one of the LUCDA programs pre-kindergarten. And ironically (7:25) enough, he needed help speaking. The radio guy’s kid needed help speaking, right? But he did (7:31) fantastic.

The program was great. And now he’s doing much, much better. That’s great.

Yeah, (7:36) absolutely. That’s fantastic. That’s the ultimate goal.

Right. Well, Stephanie, thank you so much. (7:41) We appreciate your time today.

It’s been great. Thank you, Duke. (7:43) It’s all part of the weekday wake up this morning on SVI Radio.