Archived Newsletters

May 2004

In this edition
 Report from the Chairperson
 Early Intervention in Nova Scotia
 Some Mothers Get Some More
 How Do You Catch?
 Someone I Love
 Service Coordination
 Inclusion: We ALL Belong
 My Neighbours
 Announcements and Such

Report from the Chairperson

Greetings Everyone:

This year we had another very successful Early Intervention Awareness Week with many provincial and community board initiatives. Many people deserve a great deal of credit for their efforts in making the week such a success.

The draft personnel policy has been distributed for comment and a special EINS board will be help on April 24, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Institute for Human Services Education at 60 Lorne Street in Truro. Representatives from community boards and early interventionists are invited to attend. The EINS board hopes for a good turnout and plenty of discussion on the policies. It is hoped that the policy handbook will be distributed in September for consideration for adoption by community boards.

The EINS grant from HRDC which employed two people ended on March 31. A great deal of work was completed in the areas of policy development and technology over the two year period of grants. Laura Lee Septon, Antoinette Duplessis and Verna MacDonald are to be thanked for their efforts and contributions during the time they worked on the grants. More news on the direction of policy development and technology will be forthcoming in the next newsletter.

The EINS annual general meeting will be held in Cavalier Room at the Citadel Inn, 1960 Brunswick Street, Halifax on Saturday, June 5, 2004 at 3:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Everyone is welcome to attend.

On the same day, in the same room at the Citadel Inn at 9:30 a.m. a day-long meeting will be held for early interventionists to discuss issues of professionalism. All early interventionists are invited to attend and stay for the annual general meeting.

The activities of EINS this year tended to focus on policy and technology which directly supports early interventionists and programs, which in turn supports children and families.

In June I will finish my term as EINS chair. I have enjoyed working with the EINS board and community programs and would like to thank everyone for their support. I look forward to serving on committees in the future. I know that early intervention services are very important to children with special needs and their families and that the work of EINS will continue to support these services.

Isabel

Isabel den Heyer
Chairperson, Early Intervention Association of Nova Scotia

The Progress Centre marked Early Intervention Awareness Week with the grand opening of their new premises. Having seen all the locations of the Progress Centre over the years, I can understand the pleasure of the early interventionists with the new move. The time and thought that went into the planning of space to make it as efficient as possible is evident in every room.
Congratulations are extended to all!

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Early Intervention in Nova Scotia

Early Intervention in Nova Scotia involves the provision of specialized services and support to families with children between birth and school entry who have a developmental delay. These delays can be due to any number of factors. Programs assist families with children who have Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Spina Bifida, Autism Spectrum Disorder, other more rare disorders or diagnoses, as well as children who are at risk for developmental delays due to prematurity and other birth complications. Many of the families served encompass children who are delayed for undiagnosed reasons. The program is essentially focussed “in-home” and is family-centered as our philosophy is that the most critical environmental contribution to child development is the nature and quality of parent-child, or indeed family-child relationships. Services may be extended to community-based programs to support the inclusion of children with special needs with their peers in their community. Early Intervention promotes the philosophy that 'each belongs'; that children should be provided the opportunity to grow alongside their peers, and thus we advocate for well supported integration and inclusion of all children in their communities.

Early Intervention believes in building on child and family strengths to create a positive view of the future. Through partnerships with families we facilitate the acquisition of skills and knowledge which can help promote family and child well-being. Our desire is not to ‘do for’ the families but to provide them with support and resources which enable them to problem solve for themselves. We strive to provide families with current information on their child’s diagnosis, information on child development, access to local programs and supports, information on more widespread resources, assistance in contacting and communicating with other pertinent professionals, assistance in transitions to new programs or school, and access to developmentally appropriate equipment, toys, games, books, and activities. Early Intervention is a valuable resource for families, for communities, indeed for all those whose lives or work includes supporting healthy child development. In an effort to create, support and maintain a healthy, productive family-child relationship, every family having a child whose development is delayed or at risk for delay should have an opportunity to be involved in an early intervention program as soon as a concern has been identified.

There are currently sixteen Early Intervention programs in existence in Nova Scotia. Expansion of programs and the addition of one new program enabled Early Intervention to become a universal service in Nova Scotia in 2001. The expansion nearly doubled the number of interventionists serving Nova Scotian families. These programs are funded partially through grants from the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services but also must access funding from within their own communities.

Early Intervention has been proven to be a cost effective approach to special services. Studies have shown that for every dollar spent on early services, between four and seven dollars in savings are realized within three years. Those who support their local Early Intervention programs are helping now and are contributing to the future well being of their community.

The Early Intervention Association of Nova Scotia (EINS) is a registered charity administered by a volunteer board of directors. The association was created in 1996 to represent Early Intervention programs in Nova Scotia as well as staff, board members, families and other individuals interested in Early Intervention services in Nova Scotia. The Association’s goals are to provide a voice for Early Intervention issues, to promote public awareness and education about the value of Early Intervention and the value of the children and families served, and to promote professional development in the field of Early Intervention.

For more information you may contact the Early Intervention Association of Nova Scotia at 14 Court Street, Suite 200, Unit 129, Truro, Nova Scotia, B2N 3H7. Our website can be accessed at www.earlyintervention.net to provide contact information for the Early Intervention program in your community.

 

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Some Mothers Get Some More

Expectant mothers waiting for a newborn's arrival say they don't care what sex the baby is. They just want it to have ten fingers and ten toes.

Mothers lie.

Every mother wants so much more. She wants a perfectly healthy baby with a round head, rosebud lips, button nose, beautiful eyes and satin skin. She wants a baby so gorgeous that people will pity the Gerber baby for being flat out ugly. She wants a baby that will roll over, sit up and take those first steps right on schedule (according to the baby development chart on page 57, column two). Every mother wants a baby that can see, hear, run, jump and fire neurons by the billions. She wants a kid that can smack the ball out of the park and do toe points that are the envy of the entire ballet class. Call it greed if you want, but a mother wants what a mother wants.

Some mothers get babies with something more. Maybe you're one who got a baby with a condition you couldn't pronounce, a spine that didn't fuse, a missing chromosome or a palette that didn't close. The doctor's words took your breath away. It was just like the time at recess in the fourth grade when you didn't see the kick ball coming and it knocked the wind right out of you.
Some of you left the hospital with a healthy bundle, then, months, even years later, took him in for a routine visit, or scheduled her for a well check, and crashed head first into a brick wall as you bore the brunt of devastating news. It didn't seem possible. That didn't run in your family. Could this really be happening in your lifetime?

I watch the Olympics for the sheer thrill of seeing finely sculpted bodies. I t's not a lust thing, it's a wondrous thing. They appear as specimens without flaw muscles, strength and coordination all working in perfect harmony. Then an athlete walks over to a tote bag, rustles through the contents and pulls out an inhaler. There's no such thing as a perfect body. Everybody will bear something at some time or another. Maybe the affliction will be apparent to curious eyes, or maybe it will be unseen, quietly treated with trips to the doctor, therapy or surgery. Mothers of children with disabilities live the limitations with them. Frankly, I don't know how you do it.

Sometimes you mothers scare me. How you lift that kid in and out of the wheelchair twenty times a day. How you monitor tests, track medications, and serve as the gatekeeper to a hundred specialists yammering in your ear. I wonder how you endure the cliches and the platitudes, the well intentioned souls explaining how God is at work when you've occasionally questioned if God is on strike. I even wonder how you endure schmaltzy columns like this one saluting you, painting you as hero and saint, when you know you're ordinary. You snap, you bark, you bite. You didn't volunteer for this, you didn't jump up and down in the motherhood line yelling, "Choose me, God. Choose me! I've got what it takes."

You're a woman who doesn't have time to step back and put things in perspective, so let me do it for you. From where I sit, you're way ahead of the pack. You've developed the strength of a draft horse while holding onto the delicacy of a daffodil. You have a heart that melts like chocolate in a glove box in July, counter balanced against the stubbornness of an Ozark mule.

You are the mother, advocate and protector of a child with a disability. You're a neighbor,a friend, a woman I pass at church and my sister in law. You're a wonder.

Happy Mother's Day.

By Lori Borgman

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How Do You Catch?

How Do You Catch A Unique bird? Unique Up On It.

How Do You Catch A Tame bird? Tame Way, Unique Up On It.

How Do Crazy People Go Through The Forest? They Take The Psycho Path

How Do You Get Holy Water? You Boil The Hell Out Of It.

What Do Fish Say When They Hit A Concrete Wall? Dam!

What Do Eskimos Get From Sitting On The Ice too Long? Polaroids

What Do You Call A Boomerang That Doesn't work? A Stick.

What Do You Call Cheese That Isn't Yours? Nacho Cheese.

What Do You Call Santa's Helpers? Subordinate Clauses.

What Do You Call Four Bullfighters In Quicksand? Quattro Sinko.

What Do You Get From A Pampered Cow? Spoiled Milk.

What Do You Get When You Cross A Snowman With A Vampire? Frostbite.

What Lies At The Bottom Of The Ocean And Twitches? A Nervous Wreck.

What's The Difference Between Roast Beef And Pea Soup? Anyone Can Roast Beef.

Where Do You Find A Dog With No Legs? Right Where You Left Him.

Why Do Gorillas Have Big Nostrils? Because They Have Big Fingers.

Why Don't Blind People Like To Sky Dive? Because It Scares The Dog.

What Kind Of Coffee Was Served On The Titanic? Sanka.

What Is The Difference Between A Harley And A Hoover? The Location Of The Dirt Bag.

Why Did Pilgrims' Pants Always Fall Down? Because They Wore Their Belt Buckle On
Their Hat.

What's The Difference Between A Bad Golfer And A Bad Skydiver? A Bad Golfer Goes,
Whack, Dang! A Bad Skydiver Goes Dang! Whack.

How Are A Texas Tornado And A Tennessee Divorce The Same? Somebody's Gonna Lose
A Trailer

Now, admit it. At least one of these made you smile! Have a great day

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Someone I Love

Someone I love relies on me in ways you will never understand.
Someone I love endures pain and challenges that break my heart and renew my spirit at the same time.
Someone I love is unable to advocate for themselves for things that most of us take for granted.
Someone I love will never have the opportunities that every child should have.
Someone I love will need unconditional love and support after I am gone - this frightens me to the core.
Someone I love encounters pity, stereotyping responses, and prejudice at every turn, because they look, act, and/or learn differently than others.
Someone I love has needs that require me to allow "outsiders" to have power and input in areas that should be mine alone to meet.
Someone I love will continue to look to me for everything in life long after other children are able to assume a place as part of the world.
Someone I love has needs that require more time and energy than I have to give.
Someone I love has needs that mean I am not able to meet basic needs of my own.
Someone I love has needs that have become the driving force behind major decisions my family makes.
Someone I love has changed me in ways I will never be able to describe. Someone I love has taught me about love and about the really important things in life...
And still others don't understand what it is to be me.. they aren't living in my skin.
Lori Hickman. Originally published as the dedication to Living in My Skin, The Insider's View of Life With a Special Needs Child by Lori Hickman.
From Children’s Disabilities Information ... please check out their excellent website at http://www.childrensdisabilities.info

Hold Your Head High

Standing for what you believe in regardless of the odds against you, and the pressure that tears at your resistance ... is courage.
Keeping a smile on your face when inside you feel like dying, for the sake of supporting others ... is strength.
Stopping at nothing and doing what is in your heart that you know is right ... is determination.
Doing more than is expected, to make another's life a little more bearable, without uttering a single complaint ... is compassion.
Helping a friend in need, no matter the time or effort, to the best of your ability ... is loyalty.
Holding your head high and being the best you know you can be when life seems to fall apart at your feet, facing each difficulty with the confidence that time will bring you better tomorrows, and never giving up ... is confidence.

Hold your head high and make your life better every day!

You should always be truthful, especially with a child. You should always do what you have promised the child, otherwise you will teach the child to lie.

After the TALMUD

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Service Coordination:

Most children involved in an early intervention program also have intervention with a variety of other service providers.

It is essential that the ‘team’ of service providers remain aware of the other team members roles and objectives, so that service duplication or conflicts do not occur. Information concerning developments or changes in the child’s physical, cognitive, emotional and/or social status must be communicated throughout the team members on a consistent and reliable basis.

In many settings, the approach that is used to meet the need for team communication, to establish and maintain appropriate roles and respond quickly and efficiently to changes in the child’s status or skill development, is called case management or service coordination. The team designates one member who will act as Service Coordinator to coordinate meetings and other forms of communication. This person should be involved for the long-term and should have a very clear working knowledge of the child’s status, needs and intervention personnel.

The first choice for the roles of Service Coordinator is often the parent due to the long-term investment of care he and/or she naturally makes for the child. The role of Service Coordinator is predominantly one of communication and advocacy, both of which are skills that may already be in place with the parents, or with help can be modeled and taught by team members who recognize the importance of such skill acquisition for parents, and who can help with promoting the parents in these areas. A team must adhere to a family-centered approach which states that the driving force for service must come through assertiveness of the parents, who in turn instill this assertive self-advocacy in their child.

IT IS NOT EASY TO
apologize,
begin over,
be unselfish,
take advice,
admit error,
face a sneer,
be charitable,
keep on trying,
be considerate,
avoid mistakes,
endure success,
profit by mistakes,
forgive and forget,
think and then act,
keep out of the rut,
make the best of little,
subdue an unruly temper,
maintain a high standard,
shoulder a deserved blame,
recognize a silver lining,
but it always pays.

- Ohio Education monthly

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Inclusion : We ALL Belong

Early Intervention involves the provision of supports and resources to families that encompass a young child with special needs. One central tenet that each Early Intervention professional holds dear, is that ‘each belongs’ ... that every child has the right to live and grow in their home and community alongside their peers. We believe that all children are valuable and that every one of them has important gifts to offer. We strive to lay the groundwork for true lifelong inclusion and support, which insures that as our children grow they are able to become all they can be as happy and contributing members of their own community. What parents want for their children with unique developmental needs, is exactly the same as what parents want for their typically developing children; to be accepted for who they are, to be happy with who they are, and to have their unique abilities recognized and individual potential realized.

Admittedly, it is generally easier including our youngest children in playgroups, preschools, daycares and other community activities. Early Intervention serves children from birth to school entry and our children are small and easy to include in typical activities for all preschool children. As children with exceptional needs make transitions into regular school settings, grow into young adults, and transition from school to work, the benefits of continued inclusion become more evident. It is the during formative/school years that the concept of ‘each belongs’ becomes most important to uphold. It must be recognized that this is far more than a lofty ideal, but rather, it is a fundamental human right that we all must honour.

Inclusion of children with special needs in our school system is a much debated and often written about topic. It is an issue that could start a small war, as truly important issues often are. Fundamentally, we must be aware that all children can learn and certainly need the opportunity to learn. Inclusion, as a means of providing quality public education to all children, is guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and by legislation in most provinces. Those who have studied the issue concur that while a range of educational options are desirable to meet the great array of individual needs, overall students with exceptionalities do much better socially and academically when included in regular classrooms with their typical peers.

Furthermore, it is documented in case after case, that when proper resources are made available to support inclusive education, ALL children do better! In the case of inclusion, the benefit to one will be the benefit of all. In addition to academic achievement, it has been shown that typical students benefit from inclusive settings by gaining an increased comfort with and awareness of human differences, growth in social cognition, improvement in self-concept, development of personal principles and comfort in advocacy roles. Not the least benefit of which is the development of natural, warm and caring friendships with peers of differing abilities.

The key to making this a benefit for all, is in appropriately supported inclusive education. Inclusion can only work this well if the necessary supports and resources are in place. Some of the things that have been identified as needed to make inclusion work are:

True inclusion, however, is part of a much larger picture than just placement in a regular class within school. It is about being included in life and participating using one’s abilities in day-to-day activities like everyone else. Whether a person is six or sixty, it is about being welcomed and embraced as a community member who truly belongs. Inclusion occurs everywhere; in schools, in churches, in playgrounds, at work and in recreation. Inclusion is about maximizing each person’s quality of life.

As a society, we must decide that diversity is valuable. Diversity is not just a reality to be tolerated, accepted and accommodated ... it is a reality to be embraced and valued! When some people are excluded from the social fabric of our communities, that fabric contains a hole. When the fabric contains a hole, the entire fabric is weakened. Early Intervention believes that ‘each belongs’. We believe that our social fabric is complete when it includes the richness, texture and strength of diversity. We believe that belonging is a lifetime experience that does not end when our special children move from our program and on to new experiences. Through education, partnerships and advocacy we strive to bring this understanding to all of the communities we serve. Belonging is what gives all citizens a positive view of the future.

Barbara Boiduk, Editor