First Words Preschool Speech and Language Program – Ottawa
Best Start Submission
January 2006
Program Overview - Current Services
First Words is an integrated system of preschool speech and language services serving the City of Ottawa and is coordinated through the lead agency of Pinecrest-Queensway Health and Community Services. A multi-disciplinary team provides health promotion, assessment, and treatment and facilitates transition to school for children between 0 and eligibility for senior kindergarten. The mandate of First Words includes a health promotion component. Education is an integral part of the program and is provided to all who request it including but not limited to parents, caregivers, health professionals, and the general population. An outreach worker and community Speech and Language Pathologist reach out to the community agencies and partner with them in the delivery of health promotion workshops/activities specifically designed to educate parents and providers in language stimulation strategies as well as normal speech and language milestones. A variety of workshops are offered to the community by direct facilitation or in a train-the-trainer format. Workshops are provided to parents, early childhood educators, community workers, volunteers, home childcare providers and speech and language professionals. Hanen workshops are also provided on a regular basis. Lunch and learn opportunities are offered to working parents. The Speech Pathologists provide informative presentations to pediatric grand rounds at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario as well as education to students in early childhood education, home childcare providers, SLP students as well as to the medical students. First Words strives to respond to any request for education received by the community and adjusts its formats, times and locations accordingly.
Public Screening Clinics are offered twice a week throughout the city on a walk-in basis. The First Words Screening Clinic calendar and the program newsletter "Chatterbox" are mailed on a quarterly basis to:
- pediatricians, family physicians and general practice physicians in the city of Ottawa,
- all branches of the Ottawa Public Library,
- daycares, nursery schools, Montessori schools and home childcare agencies,
- Ontario Early Years Centres in Ottawa,
- all Ottawa community health/resource centres,
- all Ottawa School Boards,
- City of Ottawa Community Centres and Client Service Centres, and
- community agencies (i.e.. Somali Centre for Family Service; Success By Six; Bethany Hope Centre, etc.)
Other program flyers or resources are also occasionally included with this mailing. The Screening Clinic calendar and Chatterbox newsletter are also posted on the First Words Web site.
Referral to this program can come from parents, caregivers, physicians etc. Any community member who has questions about their child’s speech and language development is welcome to call the Ottawa Health Information Line staffed by City of Ottawa Registered Nurses and the nurses will provide advice and refer families to the First Words community screening clinics should it be necessary for the child to be assessed. The nurses have been trained and are provided with comprehensive information by a First Words Speech and Language Pathologist in order to best serve the callers.
Of course, First Words could not possibly meet its health promotion mandate without the partnership of and requests from community agencies such as Childcare/daycare centres, homes for young single parents, Crossroads, private businesses, OEYCs, resource centres, special needs agencies, shopping centres, cinemas, libraries, private schools, etc.
The intervention services function as a result of a strong partnership between a number of community agencies. Each agency provides information, awareness, early identification and/or treatment services and models its treatment plan based on the needs and diagnosis of the individual child.
- Pinecrest-Queensway Health and Community Services (Lead Agency)
- Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO)
- Ottawa Children’s Treatment Centre (OCTC)
- City of Ottawa (Ottawa Public Health Information)
- Children’s Integration Support Services
Client therapy is provided in at least 11 community sites including community health centres, community resource centres, children’s treatment centres, colleges, parent resource centre and in a local primary school.
First Words is a successful initiative thanks to its Steering Committee which is comprised of representatives from school boards, children’s hospital, children’s treatment centre, children’s aid society, Headstart Nursery schools, OEYC, child care sector, public health, and young single parent’s network.
Impact of Best Start Initiative:
The Best Start plan will have a significant impact on First Words speech and language for young children in Ottawa. As background, the system was first developed and implemented in 1997 with the mandate to serve children from 0 – entry into SK and a prime priority of identifying children at as young an age as possible. During the first seven years, there was no increase in the original 1999 base funding.
Best Start specific funding for the Preschool Speech and Language Initiative (PSL) takes two forms:
- The first was restoration funding announced in Best Start Phase 1 in the fall of 2004. The intent of this funding was to restore the ability of PSLs to meet their existing provincial targets with regards to numbers served and wait times. Due to historic salary pressures and other operating pressures, this restorative funding had limited impact on numbers served or reducing waiting times;
- Additional funds through the recent Best Start announcement (to be phased in over several years) will be required prior to the program being able to respond to the expanded mandate.
The Best Start Initiative will extend the age of eligibility for children to receive PSL services. The policy framework suggests integration of the services offered through First Words into the neighbourhood early learning and care hubs, or ensuring strong linkages between the hubs and the First Words services. In order to expand our population base (to entry to grade 1), additional funding will be required. For the outreach programs (health promotion, screening clinics), depending on the designation of neighbourhoods and the determination of hub structures, First Words would need to determine how best to allocate resources taking into account the specific spatial and design requirements for the direct intervention services.
A summary of the current services and community locations is listed in the following section of this document. This includes an analysis of the current service targets and the current challenges the program faces in meeting the targets with the existing resources. As the table and the gap analysis indicates, the gaps primarily lie in the direct speech-language intervention component of the program, the health promotion programs are meeting the provincial targets.
The following submission is a broad statement of intent and will require further development and ongoing collaboration with our valued First Words and school board partners.
