Page 68 - Special Education in Ontario, Kindergarten to Grade 12: Policy and Resource Guide

Special Education in Ontario, Kindergarten to Grade 12 Draft
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Early Intervention and Special Needs
Services
Early identification of children with special needs is often done by agencies of ministries other than the Ministry of Education. A number of initiatives from the Ministry of Children and Youth Services are intended to facilitate early identification of young children with special needs and to provide appropriate services for them. These initiatives include the following:
• Healthy Babies Healthy Children Program: Provides prevention and early intervention services for families with young children identified
to have risk factors. Screening is for physical, cognitive, communicative, and psychological health concerns that may impact the child’s development. The program also provides home visiting services to vulnerable families to support parenting and healthy child development. Screening and support services are provided from the prenatal period until the child’s transition to school.
• Ontario Infant Hearing Program: Identifies infants with permanent hearing loss and those at risk of developing late onset or progressive hearing loss, as early as possible. It also provides these children with
the supports and services required for communication and language development so that they are ready to learn when they reach school. The Infant Hearing Program offers:
✧ universal newborn hearing screening in hospitals and community settings;
✧ audiology assessment and hearing aid selection;
✧ monitoring for those babies born at risk of early childhood hearing loss;
✧ services until school entry to support language development in
infants and preschool children who are Deaf or hard of hearing.
• Ontario Autism Program: This new program, which will begin to be
implemented in June 2017, will make it easier for families to access services for their children by reducing wait times, providing more flexible services at a level of intensity that meets each child’s individual needs, and increasing the number of treatment spaces available.
• Preschool Speech and Language Program: Identifies children with speech and language delays and disorders, and provides services to support their communication and early literacy development. Services are provided by speech-language pathologists and supportive personnel, and include assessment and a range of age-appropriate and needs-based intervention approaches, such as parent training, group and individual