Links

• Supporting Children with Special Needs and their families during COVID-19 -A resource for professionals and caregivers of children with special needs. Includes links to helpful videos, handouts, etc.   

• The Village Parent Resource Registry is an excellent registry of programs, resources and services for parents in the Prince George community. You can download the most recent version here.
• The Child Development Centre offers early intervention therapy (for preschool aged children), limited school age therapy, supported child Development, and family services as well as a number of specialized programs.
• The Child Care Resource and Referral Program offers support and resources to for parents seeking child care. They also offer workshops and training sessions..
• Aboriginal Supported Child Development (Prince George Native Friendship Centre)
• The Infant Development Program through AiMHi provides services children from birth to three years of age who are at risk for, or who may have a delay in development.
• Intersect youth and family services providers of mental health services to children and youth.
• There are free sessions being offered in BC for parents undergoing a separation. The sessions, titled “Parenting After Separation”, are to help people make informed choices about family separation that take into account the best interests of children. Axis Family Resources provides these sessions in Prince George. 
• Northern Health has a number of programs to help children. Their Speech and Language Clinic helps children communication delays. The Northern Assessment Network provides assessments for children suspected of being autistic, having fetal alcohol syndrome, or other complex developmental or behavioural conditions. Northern Health’s Community Dental Program provides free assessments of children’s teeth (does not replace regular dental office visits), education on how to care for teeth, fluoride varnish for children at risk for tooth decay, and help to families searching for a dental office. If you have any concerns regarding your child’s hearing, you can have this checked out at Northern Health’s Audiology Program.

• The Métis Early Years Program offers services for children Métis descent from birth to 8 years old, helping families connect with varous local programming and services.
• The Tiny Light Foundation offers a wonderful service, providing free professional photography to families with children who are faced with life altering diagnosis, disease, or special needs. Their Facebook page is at www.facebook.com/TinyLight.
• University Hospital of Northern BC – Paediatric Social Worker. Phone: (250)565-2079. Provides children and their families with counselling support, hospital transfers, and resource information.
• Therapeutic Riding Association. Contact: Barb Warkentine (250)962-5082 or pgtra2@gmail.com Cost: $10 annually, and $10 per session.
  Eligibility: Must be 3 ½ and up and have a physical or mental disability. Description: Horseback riding from April to mid-October.
• Red Cross Swim. Contact: Four Seasons Pool (250)561-7636. Cost: Free (immediate family included). Description: Special needs session with lifeguards available  to assist on Sundays from 10-11:30 AM at the Four Seasons Pool.

Behaviour Interventionists

Northern Interior Behavior Intervention Services (NIBIS). Courtney Wickstrom (250) 649-6943. courtneywickstrom@nibis.ca

T&K Behavoural Interventionists Ltd. Kalma Arnett. Behaviour consultant and behavioral intervention services. (250)613-2947, email: tkkalma@gmail.com

Gateway Behavioural Services. (250) 645-0995
​info@gatewaybehaviour.com. https://www.gatewaybehaviour.com/

Sources Community Resource Society (250)561-1194, 1596 Third Avenue, Prince George

Private Speech Language Pathologists

Beata Polanska. 1696 Larch St., Prince George, BC. beatapolanska@hotmail.com. phone: 250-562-9096 cell: (250)981-4697

Rianne Grooten. hartforspeech@yahoo.com 250-552-8837. School aged services only.

Soliloquy Solutions. Barbara Kayter. 2387 McTavish Rd. Prince George. bkayter@telus.net phone: 250-563-4080

• The At Home Program provides respite and medical benefits to eligible recipients and their families – generally for individuals with profound delays.
• BC Digital Divide Contact email: AskDanny@BCDigitalDivide.org PO Box 60520, Vancouver, BC, V6H 4B9
  Eligibility: Provides computers to families who would otherwise not be able to afford them. If you live outside of Metro Vancouver, you will need to make plans to pick up your computer. Basic Guidelines: If you drive a vehicle, if your phone bill is over $30/month, if you have anything more than basic cable, or have had a computer that recently broke down, you do not qualify for a computer.
• BCHousing – Subsidized Housing. Contact: (604)433-2218 or (800)257-7766. Eligibility: To qualify you must be able to live independently and meet all 6 requirements. Description: Long term housing with rent geared to income for people who permanently reside in BC when applying, with gross household income below a certain limit.
• BC Housing – Home Adaptations for Independence (HAFI). Contact: (604)433-2218 OR Toll Free: (800)257-7756. Eligibility: You may be eligible if you are a Canadian Citizen or landed immigrant and reside in British Columbia; You or any member of your household have a permanent disability or loss of ability that causes difficulty with daily living activities; Your total household income and assets are below the limits established. Description: HAFI provides financial assistance to help low income seniors and people with disabilities in BC continue to live in the comfort of their own home. Financial assistance up to $20,000 per home is available; the exact amount is based on the cost of material and labour necessary for required adaptations.
• CKNW Orphans’ Fund. Contact:  Cathy Hunt cathy.hunt@cknw.com. Eligibility: Children from birth to 19 years old, whose needs/circumstances have been assessed and recognized by a medical/health/social or educational professional and for whom an application is supported by a brief statement indicating the problem/condition and recommendations by such assessors; Who don’t qualify for existing services provided by government-sponsored funding, or is on an extensive wait list, have exhausted other sources of financial assistance, or who don’t meet all of the government criteria; Who are financially at risk. This definition does not exclude those children who have medical/social/educational impacts brought about by poverty; Gross family income will be used to consider all grants for those children deemed financially at risk. Description: The CKNW Orphans’ Fund helps children who may require extra medical, social, educational or environmental supports to enhance or improve their health, development, quality of life and community integration. They have a broad mandate, but focus on three funding fields for special needs children that include therapies, specialized equipment and bursaries
  Therapies: Therapies can be funded for up to a maximum of three years and applicants must reapply each year.
  Speech and Language up to $2000.00 at $100.00 per hour.
  Physiotherapy, occupational therapy, horseback riding, music therapy and others up to $2000.00 per year.
  Bursaries: Bursaries for special needs students attending independent provincially approved special education facilities may be provided. A current limit of $1200.00 per individual child per school year for up to 3 consecutive years will be considered.
  Equipment: The maximum funds that are made available annually for an individual child is $5000.00, subject to consideration of special circumstances or hardship. Cost sharing or partnerships with other organizations will be encouraged. Equipment funded by the CKNW Orphans’ Fund becomes property of the family for whom it was purchased.
• Disability Tax Credits are non-refundable tax credit used to reduce income tax payable on the income tax and benefit return for people with severe and prolonged impairment in physical or mental functions
• Endowment 150 provides a one-time contribution of $150 for individuals that have a Registered Disability Savings Plan.
• First Hand Foundation. Contact: (816) 201-1569 or email: Firsthandfoundation@cerner.com. Eligibility: Child must be 18 years old or younger and under the care of a paediatrician. The case must involve a child with a specific healthcare need and the request must be clinically relevant to the health of the child. There can not be any existing insurance coverage for the requested expense. The First Hand Foundation allows one request per year, per child, for a maximum of three times in a child’s life. Description: The First Hand Foundation is based out of the United States, but will accept applications from anywhere in the world. They provide funding for individual children with health related needs when insurance and other financial resources have been exhausted. The Clinical Decision Committee meets the first Wednesday of each month to review applications, so all documentation should be submitted prior to this meeting. Will help with funding for treatment, equipment, displacement, and vehicle modifications.
• Giving in Action provides two funding programs to assist families that have individuals with special needs living at home, including support for items such as wheelchair accessible vehicles and home renovations
• Home Adaptations for Independence (HAFI) provides up to $20,000 for home renovations to improve accessibility for individuals with special needs. This is specifically for households with low income and limited assets. Landlords with low income tenants may also apply.
• JGL Foundation for Cerebral Palsy Contact: jglcerebralpalsy@gmail.com Eligibility: To qualify you must be a resident of British Columbia and have a diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy. Description: The Jennifer and Gregory Louie Foundation for Cerebral Palsy was started to help both children and adults with Cerebral Palsy enhance their mobility. It is their god to financially assist individuals with CP receive services such as physical and occupational therapy. They also aim to help with funding for assistive technology such as orthotics, manual/power wheelchairs, standers, gait trainers/walkers, lifts, adaptive bicycles and other devices that lead to greater mobility, independence and quality of life. They may consider grants for home modifications/renovations, but it is their philosophy to give smaller grants to more individuals rather than large grants to only a few individuals. So for expensive items, they tend to give partial grants.
• Kidsport provides grands from $100-$500 to cover the costs of registration fees for one season of sport for children of 18 years of age and under, potentially including necessary equipment.
• Muscular Dystrophy Association of Canada: Equipment and home renovations for children with muscular dystrophy (MD)
• First Nations Health Authority (FNHA):  This provincial health authority assists Status First Nations people with a broad range of services and health benefits.
• Jordan’s Principle:  This federal program ensures all First Nations children receive the services they need when they need them.  Funding can help with a wide range of health, social and educational needs.
• Northern Interior Health Unit. Contact: 250-565-7371. Provides testing and prescription of hearing aids and will also order on behalf or families. Cost: Sold at reduced cost via the BC Hearing Aid Program. If parents are unable to afford the aids, the Northern Interior Health Unit will help them access charitable funding.
• Northern B.C. Friends of Children Society. Contact: (250)-564-2217. Eligibility: Child must be under 18 years, live north of Williams Lake, and must have specific medical needs. Description: Provides resource information and emotional support as well as offering financial assistance for emergency prescriptions, counseling, advocacy and resource referral.
• Presidents Choice Children’s Charity. Contact: (866)-996-9918 or email: pccharity@loblaw.ca. Eligibility: To be considered a candidate for assistance, applicants must be 18 and under; diagnosed with a physical or developmental disability; have a household income $70,000 or less and must be a Canadian citizen/or heave permanent resident status. Description: Help support children with special needs by providing financial grants for essential specialized equipment and essential therapies.
• Pharmacare. Phone: 1-800-663-7100. Website: www.health.gov.bc.ca/pharmacare/
  Subsidizes eligible prescription drugs and designated medical supplies for BC residents.
• Registered Disability Savings Plans are a must-have for anyone that has profound special needs and that is eligible for a Disability Tax Credit. As of March 2014, the federal government was allowing individuals that start one of these plans to gain the benefits of government bonds ($1000 each year) back to 2008. It is unclear when this will end. Here is a slide presentation from a RDSP information session that was held at the CDC.
• Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association of BC. Contact: (604)878-7000 Fax: 604-677-6608 Email: info@sbhabc.org
  Financial assistance is available to active members with Spina Bifida and/or Hydrocephalus to assist with the cost of specialized equipment that will enhance or improve mobility, orthotics, or learning. Specialized equipment that will enhance or improve mobility – maximum $1000 per calendar OR orthotics – maximum $1500 per calendar year. A onetime $500 is available for computers or computer equipment, including printers/
• SET-BC. Contact: (250)562-9650 Fax: (250)-565-4235. Eligibility: Students must demonstrate a significant physical or visual disability which is a primary impediment to educational progress. Students must be registered in a BC public school or a group 1 and 2 Independent School. Description: Provides a long term loan of assistive technology to meet the educational needs of students (switches, adapted keyboards, computers and communication devices.) The Technical Support Team modifies and repairs loan equipment. Must go through the school district to access.
• TELUS – Adaptive Models of Communication for the Hearing Impaired. Contact: (800)663-1264. Eligibility: For any age but individual must have the ability to spell. Description: Supplies adaptive communication devices, including big button phones, amplifiers, ringers, voice carry over phones for the hearing impaired; various models of communication devices at a reduced price.
• Variety: the Children’s Charity Provides assistance, such ads topping up funding for expensive equipment and home renovations.
• Western Institute of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Eligibility: You may be eligible for funding or financial assistance to help purchase hearing aids and/or assisted learning devices if you are on income assistance; attending school and are looking for part time employment or summer employment; you are looking for employment or retraining, you are at imminent risk for losing your job due to your hearing loss; your hearing loss may have resulted from hazardous occupational noise exposure; you are a veteran of RCMP officer; or you have First Nations Status. Description: The Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (WIDHH) provides quality programs and services in Audiology, Employment Counselling, Sign Language Interpreting and Communication Devices for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community.

• Disability Alliance BC. Lots of information here, much of it for adults with special needs, but some that are relevant to children and youth as well. The Alliance also publish the excellent Transitions magazine that is available online. Their BC Disability Benefits Help Sheets page also provides lots of potential assistance for those applying for disability benefits.
• Including All Children is a site run by the University of British Columbia. It has some interesting information including some free short courses on child development.
• The Healthy Families BC website is provided by the Province of BC. The site appears to have some good information regarding pregnancy and parenting, Healthy Eating, and Activity and Lifestyle, including some videos and interactive web-based applications.
• Healthy and Active Preschoolers. This site has a substantial amount of information on child health and development. Their “learning centre” is has a number of self-paced learning modules made for early child educators, but that would work well for parents as well.
• Paul Kershaw’s paper 15 by 15: a Comprehensive Framework for Early Human Capital investment in BC the cost of allowing children to enter the school system with biologically unnecessary delays will cost BC $601 billion over the next 40 years. A brief of the document is available here
• The Science of Early Childhood Development from Harvard University. A discussion of the tremendous impact of early experiences on a child.
• Center on the Developing Child: Harvard University. This site has some very good information. The information looks at the importance of early child development from an academic/policy development perspective.
• Developmental Milestones. This page provides a calendar of developmental milestones.
• Wonder Baby provides information regarding children with visual impairments, including an extensive links page.
• McMaster University has some of the country’s top researchers regarding Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). This issue faces an estimated 5-6% of the school aged population, including many of the children that may have been labeled as clumsy kids. The University has some good information on their site on the disorder for parents and teachers.
• One Minute Per Day, Tips for Healthier Children
• The Centre for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (CECMHC) is an American organization who’s website provides “practical guidance on effective ways to promote young children’s social and emotional development, and reduce challenging behaviors”
• The BCAA’s site has lots of information on buying car seats.
• Centre of Knowledge on Healthy Child Development: provides evidence based information on what promotes and what hinders healthy child development.
• ASL Pro: Video signing library
• Ability Online: A place where young people with disabilities and illnesses connect with all kinds of possibilities that address their needs as curious, growing citizens of the planet. They meet and chat with other people like them in a virtual world that transcends boundaries and barriers. They make friends, get tips from mentors, and freely participate in an atmosphere of collaboration, companionship and support.
• Babble Parenting: This site has lots of information regarding child development, parenting and activities.
• Care.com has information on tips and advice on interviewing and hiring of individuals to care for your child. The site also has information on individuals seeking employment as baby sitters, nannies, and aides to children with special needs.
• Learning Disabilities Association of British Columbia
• Inclusion BC is an active non-profit provincial organization that advocates for the rights and opportunities of people with intellectual disabilities and their families. They are a federation of members that include people with intellectual disabilities, their families and agencies that serve them.
• Here is a sleep guide for individuals with autism, but it looks like it has good advice for those without autism as well.

• Appetite to Play is an interesting site that was developed by Child Health BC. It has lots of information on activities and nutrition. It has recopies, meal planning and more.
• The 5-2-1-0 nutritional plan is an excellent concept for positive change and developing positive eating habits for your child. It was developed by the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute.
  
• Nifty Benefits has some good basic information on children’s nutrition.

Autism:

• Autism Information Database: This is provided by ACT (Autism Community Training) As per the site, they have “over 1,300 autism and special needs resources, sourced internationally and relevant world-wide.
• The Province has a document entitled, A Parent’s Handbook: Your Guide to Autism Programs.
• The 100 day kit is also said to have some important information, especially for parents of children that have recently been diagnosed.
• Unfortunately, most of the research done on autism spectrum disorder has not found to be of good quality. We understand that information on the Research Autism site is generally of a higher quality.

Cerebral Palsy:

• Cerebral Palsy Guide
• Cerebral Palsy Guidance
• Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy
• The Cerebral Palsy Association of BC
• Children’s Hemiplegia & Stroke Association
• HemiHelp for Children & Young People with Hemiplegia
• American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine

Down’s Syndrome:

• The National Down Syndrome Society
• Canadian Down Syndrome Society
• BC Down Syndrome Community Society

Epilepsy:

• www.epilepsy.com
• BC Epilepsy Society
• Epilepsy Support Centre

Erb’s Palsy

• http://www.erbspalsygroup.co.uk/ – Erb’s Palsy Group
• www.ubpn.org – United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.
• https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001395.htm— Brachial Plexus Injury in Newborns

FAS/FAE

• National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

General Development

• www.amazingbabiesmoving.com
• https://pathways.org/
• www.kidshealth.org

Growth Disorders

• Human Growth Foundation
• The Magic Foundation

Hydrocephalus

• Hydrocephalus Association
• Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association of Ontario

Microcephaly

• www.microcephaly.org – Foundation for Children with Microcephaly

Muscular Dystrophy

• Muscular Dystrophy Canada

Visual Impairment

• www.wonderbaby.org

General Sites with Links to Other Resources

• www.pacer.org – Champions for Children with Disabilities
• www.bcchildrens.ca/services/sunnyhillhealthctr — Sunny Hill Health Centre
• www.canchild.ca – Centre for Childhood Disability Research, providing information on a variety of developmental conditions.
• www.eparent.com – The Special Needs Resource
• www.caphc.org – Canadian Association of Paediatric Health Centres
• www.cps.ca – Canadian Paediatric Society
• http://www.cich.ca/index_eng.html – Canadian Institute of Child Health
• www.naric.com – National Rehabilitation Information Centre
• www.researchtopractice.info./ — Research and Training Center on Early Childhood Development
• www.ncddr.org – National Centre for the Dissemination of Disability Research

For Families:

• www.family-alliance.com – Family Alliance Ontario
• www.ldonline.org/index.html — LD Online

• Neil Squire Society: Offering free online computer, tablet, smartphone tutoring for individuals with special needs.
• www.hhsc.ca – Hamilton Health Science
• www.pedbase.org – Paediatric Database
• www.sensory-processing-disorder.com – Sensory Processing Disorder Resource Centre
• www.otplan.com – Paediatric OT Activity Search Engine
• www.developmentaldelay.net/page.cfm/289 — Activities to increase non-preferred hand arm use
• www.quisition.com/packs/654/ — Browser based fine motor flash cards
• www.tech4therapists.blogspot.com/ — Technology for Therapists
• www.rch.org.au/emplibrary/ot/InfoSheet.E.pdf — Hand Strengthening Activities
• https://employment-works.ca/— Employment training for adults with autism or other special needs