1. family and parenting
2. children

Dufferin Wellington Special Needs Strategy for
Children and Youth
COMMUNIQUE # 2 – April 30, 2015
This is an exciting time in Ontario as we work together to
develop a new system of services and supports for children
and youth with special needs and their families.
Our vision…
“An Ontario where children and youth with special needs get the timely and effective
services they need to participate fully at home, at school, in the community, and as they
prepare to achieve their goals for adulthood”
Our job…
To promote a new, voluntary developmental screen to identify potential risks to children’s
development and connect them with the services they need, (in 2017)
To coordinate a service planning process for children and youth with multiple and/or
complex special needs so families can access a range of services and supports (in 2015/16)
 Children and youth will have a service plan built around their strengths and needs
 Families won’t have to tell their stories multiple times
 Families will have a “go to” person to ask questions about their service plan and who
will monitor child’s service needs
To build an integrated delivery of rehabilitation services so children can have access to
speech-language therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy services delivered
seamlessly from birth to the end of school, (in 2016)
Services will be:
 built around their goals for home, school and the community
 delivered in the way and place that meets the needs of the child and family
We agreed to…
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Place the needs of children and youth and their families ahead of individual
organizations’ priorities and aspirations
Identify a recommended approach
Be collaborative and inclusive
Not be constrained by existing roles and responsibilities
Show innovative and flexible approaches to serve children, youth and families who are
Aboriginal, Francophone, diverse culturally/linguistically, or live in hard to serve
geographies.
April 2015
Our activities and findings to date:
In November/December – we assembled a Proposal Table of 28 members from community
agencies* responsible for developing and implementing the Dufferin Wellington Special Needs
Strategy for Children and Youth.
In January/February – we began to dream about what could be for children and youth,
focusing on those with complex needs
In March, we offered an opportunity for families, service providers and other community
members to provide input by attending focus group sessions, completing an online survey or
sharing their ideas 1-1 via phone or in-person.
 Over 70 people attended the focus group sessions and over 135 completed a survey.
Participants included those from Guelph, Orangeville and rural Wellington and Dufferin
towns.
 75-80% of participants parented, or worked with, children with multiple or complex
needs
 20-25% of participants parented, or worked with, children with single needs
 450 visits were made to website
www.dufferinwellingtonspecialneedsstrategy.weebly.com
 Several calls came into our designated voicemail – 1 888 372 2259 ext. 1588
In April we analyzed the information received and discovered the following:
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Participants said they felt like parents and providers were equal partners
It was generally easy to understand what service was needed
Parents and providers enjoyed good communication and collaboration together
We have engaged and caring service providers
We promote parent involvement and provide parent support
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Participants said it was difficult working with multiple services at the same time
It was challenging to find out how to get services
Specific information about services (find, understand, up to date and relevant)
Eligibility was not easy to understand and was not appropriate in some cases
Access to services was difficult including hours of operation, locations and wait times
Professional capacity to understand special needs not always there
Participants also shared the following feedback:
(While outside the scope of the special needs strategy these will be noted in our
communications with government)
 Concern regarding supports and services in schools
 Need for support for children with medical conditions such as diabetes and arthritis
 High cost of raising children and youth with special needs
 Concern re. eligibility/waiting periods/cut-offs for Autism services
 Lack of available resources
April 2015
Suggestions by participants included
Less waiting
Look at whole child
Put multiple services under one roof with professionals collaborating together
Listen more
Get rid of middlemen
Be inclusive
Reduce red tape
Too many assessments…not enough treatment
Daytime hours not working
Need more hands-on
Pre-school to school…big divide.
Dreams of participants included:
Develop accessible and convenient services – local, extended hours, home & school
Provide accessible, accurate and clear information - clarity
Be coordinated and integrated – smooth transitions
Be timely –no barriers, no duplication
Be family centred – parental involvement, client visions, electronic client record
Be inclusive and equitable – transparent, fluid service, inform medical community
Increase support – range of services, flexible use of schools
Provide real resources - $, support
In April based on parents and service providers input, we looked critically at the system and
decided what to keep, what to change/add and how to coordinate services better. We
continue to work on the plan and expect to have a final version by mid-May, which will be
posted on our website for comment.
Using an enhanced set of criteria and after much discussion we chose Dufferin Child and Family
Services (DCAFS) to be the coordinating service agency for our area. They are a multi service
agency with a rich history of helping children and youth. They will be partnering with others
across Guelph and Wellington County to support children and youth with complex needs
wherever they live across the entire service area.
What’s next?
We will further develop the Coordinated Service Planning Proposal including:
 Clearly defining the population of children and youth with complex needs
 Developing the service delivery model
 Defining a referral process for service coordination
 Developing the role of Service Planning Coordinators
 Creating one coordinated service plan for each child/youth with complex needs that
takes into account all of their goals, strengths and needs
 This will be submitted to the government by June 15, 2015.
April 2015
We will complete a proposal for Integrated Delivery of Rehabilitation Services (OT,PT,Speech)
that includes our community plan to:
 Realign services so that children and families experience rehab services as one program
 Deliver rehab services seamlessly from birth through school exit
 Work together to determine a child or youth’s service needs and goals at home, at
school, and in the community
 Offer a broad range of intervention types
 Unify delivery of speech services and language services
 Deliver services in the school setting whenever possible for school-aged children
 Ensure parents and youth can self-refer for rehab services through a single toll free
phone #
 Ensure children and youth can access services regardless of age, severity of disorder
and/or diagnosis
 Deliver services across transition points
This will be submitted to the government by October 30, 2015.
*Proposal Table Agencies
o Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington Dufferin
o Central West Community Care Access Centre
o Central West Local Health Integration Network
o Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre Sud (Also representing Conseil scolarie Viamonde )
o County of Dufferin
o County of Wellington
o Dufferin Child and Family Services
o Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board
o ErinoakKids Centre for Treatment & Development
o Family Counselling & Support Services of Guelph Wellington
o Kerry’s Place Autism Services
o KidsAbility Centre for Child Development
o Service Resolution Wellington-Dufferin
o Upper Grand District School Board
o Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network
o Waterloo-Wellington Community Care Access Centre
o Wellington Catholic District School Board
o Wellington Dufferin Guelph Public Health
Thank you for sharing your vision for the future. Keep connected by calling
1 888 372 2259 ext 1588 or visiting our website
www.dufferinwellingtonspecialneedsstrategy.weebly.com
or by emailing Sandra Ellis, Chair, sandra.ellis@ugdsb.on.ca
April 2015