Morgan Walker acts like a typical five-year-old as he runs down the hallway at Community Connections and opens the door and flicks the light switch to the playroom there.
It hasn’t always been like that.
Morgan experiences Global Developmental Delay, meaning he did not properly develop his gross motor skills (things like balance), fine motor skills (being able to grasp small objects) and speech and language like other children do. These problems impacted him in other ways too.
“What often happens is if kids are behind in speech, they’re behind in social and emotional development because so much of that is based on speech,” said Kristal Bradshaw, the coordinator of the SCDP program in Revelstoke.
His mother Patsy Walker, struggled to find the time to support him. He experienced seizures at night and would sleep excessively for upwards of four hours during the day. “I could only do so much at home, being a mom of four,” she said.
That’s where the supported child development program (SCDP) came in. A consultant with the program in Revelstoke performed an assessment on Morgan to determine what was wrong.
When his problems were pinpointed, the consultant helped arrange for visits to a physiotherapist to work on his gross motor skills, an occupational therapist to help with his fine motor skills, and a speech and language pathologist to aid with that.
“They gave us the information which helped us look into an occupational therapist. They gave us all the right forms and all the help and support we needed,” said Patsy. “It’s not us being bad parents – he’s got a condition and we need help.”
Now that help is at risk, as the provincial office that provides support and training for the SCDP has been eliminated by the government as of Oct. 31. Similar positions for the infant development program (IDP) and the aboriginal development program are also being eliminated at a later date.
The provincial offices consists of one provincial adviser, an administrative assistant and five part-time regional advisers. Together they provide training, keep front line workers up-to-date on the latest research and development in the field, and standardize the testing done on children.
The IDP helps children from birth until three while the SCDP provides support from the ages of three to six. The program provides support for children like Morgan, who have developmental disabilities.
The changes have local program workers worried.
“Over time my fear is standards are going to slip because people are not going to have the ongoing training and support,” said Bradshaw.
Amanda MacIntosh, Revelstoke’s only infant development consultant, who works with 16 infants is worried that without the provincial advisers, consultants won’t receive the training they need.
“We need to be participating in ongoing training. That’s part of our job,” she said. “The field of early intervention is changing constantly because it’s a trendy field and lots of research is being done and that changes practice.”
She has only been in her job for three years, so the support the provincial office provides is important to her.
“Anytime I have a question that I don’t know about a family she (B.C. Interior regional adviser Lynn Krausert) is my point of contact,” said MacIntosh. “The other thing that Lynn does is she goes through my assessment reports so if I have any doubts, I send them to her and she reads through them to ensure they’re written appropriately.”
Minister of Child and Family Development Mary Polak told the Times Review the programs will remain in place and the support the advisers provided will now come directly from the ministry’s regional and provincial offices.
“In terms of the kind of advice that they rely on and support they rely on, we recognize the service providers need that and we’ll be doing that through our regional offices,” she said.
She added that workers from the provincial office may even be hired to work with the ministry.
Polak said that funding for each program is not being reduced and that the changes will reduce administrative costs, provide more money for front-line workers, and provide less disruption in services as children progress through the program.
“We’re quite confident that we can provide that same service to them through our ministry office as opposed to having a separate provincial advisers office,” she said.
Morgan Walker is now enrolled in kindergarten at Columbia Park Elementary. He takes medication which prevents his seizures, and his motor skills and speech skills, while still behind, have improved immensely. His mother is worried those hard-fought improvements will be at risk.
“If it does close down then it will be harder to get what information or what help we do need,” said Patsy. “It’s quite frightening actually.”
an occupational therapist. They gave us all the right forms and all the help and support we needed,” said Patsy. “It’s not us being bad parents – he’s got a condition and we need help.”
Now that help is at risk, as the provincial office that provides support and training for the SCDP has been eliminated by the government as of Oct. 31. Similar positions for the infant development program (IDP) and the aboriginal development program are also being eliminated at a later date.
The provincial offices consists of one provincial adviser, an administrative assistant and five part-time regional advisers. Together they provide training, keep front line workers up-to-date on the latest research and development in the field, and standardize the testing done on children.
The IDP helps children from birth until three while the SCDP provides support from the ages of three to six. The program provides support for children like Morgan, who have developmental disabilities.
The changes have local program workers worried.
“Over time my fear is standards are going to slip because people are not going to have the ongoing training and support,” said Bradshaw.
Amanda MacIntosh, Revelstoke’s only infant development consultant, who works with 16 infants is worried that without the provincial advisers, consultants won’t receive the training they need.
“We need to be participating in ongoing training. That’s part of our job,” she said. “The field of early intervention is changing constantly because it’s a trendy field and lots of research is being done and that changes practice.”
She has only been in her job for three years, so the support the provincial office provides is important to her.
“Anytime I have a question that I don’t know about a family she (B.C. Interior regional adviser Lynn Krausert) is my point of contact,” said MacIntosh. “The other thing that Lynn does is she goes through my assessment reports so if I have any doubts, I send them to her and she reads through them to ensure they’re written appropriately.”
Minister of Child and Family Development Mary Polak told the Times Review the programs will remain in place and the support the advisers provided will now come directly from the ministry’s regional and provincial offices.
“In terms of the kind of advice that they rely on and support they rely on, we recognize the service providers need that and we’ll be doing that through our regional offices,” she said.
She added that workers from the provincial office may even be hired to work with the ministry.
Polak said that funding for each program is not being reduced and that the changes will reduce administrative costs, provide more money for front-line workers, and provide less disruption in services as children progress through the program.
“We’re quite confident that we can provide that same service to them through our ministry office as opposed to having a separate provincial advisers office,” she said.
Morgan Walker is now enrolled in kindergarten at Columbia Park Elementary. He takes medication which prevents his seizures, and his motor skills and speech skills, while still behind, have improved immensely. His mother is worried those hard-fought improvements will be at risk.
“If it does close down then it will be harder to get what information or what help we do need,” said Patsy. “It’s quite frightening actually.”