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Province celebrates Early Childhood Intervention Programs

May 29, 2018 | 2:00 PM

Early Childhood Intervention week is underway in Saskatchewan, celebrating those who help young children on the path to success.

Gord Wyant, Saskatchewan’s Minister of Education, declared May 27 to June 2 Early Childhood Intervention Program Week across the province. For the staff at the Prince Albert Early Childhood Intervention Program, having their work recognized is a great feeling.

“We’re working with children who also have delays and are home with their families; those are areas that can get ignored by a lot of the world,” Anne McIntosh, the organizations executive director, said.

McIntosh said the organization works with families who have children who experienced developmental delays, whether they are mental, physical, or emotional. The team works directly with parents and children up to kindergarten age, McIntosh said, and the service doesn’t dictate to families how to work with their children. Rather, she said their staff work as a team to increase the quality of life for both the family and the child. The service is empowering to parents, she added, because it makes them teachers and gives them the tools they need to best provide for their child’s needs.

The organization will make house calls, assess children’s development, provide ideas for activities to benefit any specific child, and connect families to a support network to allow them to start their own journey.

“We’re not there to fix anything; it’s the parents that do it,” McIntosh said. “We’re just there to provide the support so they can do it.”

The Prince Albert Early Childhood Intervention program also operates as a network for people who are raising children with developmental delays. The organization serves a large area in and around Prince Albert, and McIntosh encouraged any parent who has concerns about their child’s development to reach out.

“If you have a concern, call us,” McIntosh said. “We certainly don’t mind working with the family to figure it out and neither do the other [professionals] in the community.”

Lynn Walker, whose four-year-old son Rebel takes part in programming offered in Prince Albert, said the service has been a godsend.

“Without them, I don’t know where I would be,” Walker said. “They’ve helped me so much to understand my son with his disabilities.”

Her brother also relied on the services when the Prince Albert Early Childhood Intervention Program first opened their doors in the ‘80s, Walker said. In the year her son has worked with Early Childhood Intervention Program staff, she said he’s gotten better at taking turns, using his manners, and learning patience through a variety of methods.

 

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas