FAMILY CENTRED APPROACH
Families know their children best.
Families have the right & responsibility to make choices for their
children.
Families & professionals work as a team.
INCLUSION
ALL children are welcomed, supported and valued.
Everybody plays, learns and grows together.
COMMUNITY BASED
Inclusion supports the rights of all children, regardless of their
diverse abilities, to participate actively in natural settings within
their communities.
INDIVIDUAL PLANNING
Early provision of planning and support services contributes to each
child's optimum development.
All child care providers understand the abilities and challenges of each
child in the setting and practice an inclusive philosophy.
SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
Parents share the responsibility for the development and coordination of
childcare, care providers, communities and various ministries and
governments. Children who require extra support are accepted and valued
by all community members and have opportunities to contribute to their
community.
Why early
intervention?
Early intervention has a very positive impact on the child with
developmental disabilities and their family. Early identification of a child
and family's strengths and concerns will ensure that planning and
development can take place to support the child and family to reach their
goals.
The primary focus of Supported Child Development is with children and their
families in the community childcare settings. We encourage and assist
families to access available medical support, family support and service
agencies. The desired outcome is that they better understanding of how to
best support their child's development.
HOW TO APPLY FOR THIS PROGRAM
1. Complete an application: We accept referrals directly from the parent(s)
or community professionals. Signed consent is required before the
application is considered.
2. Provide documentation: We require a letter from your doctor and/or a
report from a specialist, diagnostic team, IDP Consultant, Physio or
Occupational Therapist, Psychologist and or Community Health Nurse.
3. Once both the application and the documentation are complete they can be
mailed or faxed to the Supported Child Development Program Coordinator.
Who is eligible for the
Supported Child Development Program?
All children who are residents of BC are eligible for SCDP. Children must
meet the following three criteria:
1. Age birth to 19th birthday
2. Have a developmental delay or disability in physical, cognitive,
communicative or social/emotional/behavioural areas:
Physical -
child who is blind or visually impaired, has a neuro-motor or
sensorimotor challenge or a special health care need.
Cognitive - child who has an
intellectual delay or disability
Communicative - child who is deaf or
hard of hearing, or has significant language and speech challenges
Social/Emotional/Behavioural - child
who has severe social, emotional, or behavioural challenges. Severe
behaviour is defined as: behaviour that is dangerous to self and to
others; extremely disruptive behaviour, which is consistent and
persistent over time; behariour that is serious enough to be known to
other community agencies and to warrant intensive interventions by other
community agencies
3. Need for support in a childcare or other community
setting.
Child requires additional support services in a childcare because of the
developmental
The Supported Child Development Program
is able to provide knowledgeable, practical information and resources about
community services, strategies for inclusion and specific disabilities to
care providers and families as needed or requested. Once a family has
been referred to our program and is deemed eligible for our services, we are
able to provide 'child specific' information and support.
The extra support required might be any of the following:
-
Information
about a child's specific needs (parents are a great resource, and so are
speech/language pathologists, physical & occupational therapists,
licensing officers, Child Care Resource & Referral services & other child
care providers.)
-
Occasional
or regular visits by the Supported Child Development Consultant to the
program.
-
Short term
additional program support.
-
Child
specific & Community Based training for Families, Childcare Staff and
Community Professionals.
-
Ongoing
additional program support (extra staffing may be required if the current
staff: child ratio is not adequate to successfully include a specific
child/ren in a program).
-
Observation
services to help determine eligibility for the Supported Child Development
Program.
-
Toy Lending
Library and Resources.
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