Teams Consist of Families, Classrooms, and Professionals.
Your child’s team starts with you and the preschool or child care centre they attend. Each member of your child’s team has the same goal – to see your child develop to their full potential in a play-based, natural, fully inclusive and developmentally appropriate environment.
Any child receiving services from Kids Developmental Services may attend Kids PlayTime. These are social play groups that take place outdoors, in community libraries, centres, parks, playgrounds and any venue in the community that attracts preschool-aged children. Early Education Team members join Kids PlayTime sessions which provides them with the opportunity to work on children’s goals in a small group environment, while determining whether the child is transferring the skills learnt into their natural environment whilst interacting with typically developing children of the same age.
Kids PlayTime includes outdoor exploration and safe risky play, child-led play, interaction with loose parts, as well as socialization with children in the community, whenever possible. Parents are invited to join Kids PlayTime sessions to learn skills to use with their child; to ask professionals questions; and to see the progress their child has made in their natural environment.
Team
- Community Preschools or Child Care Centres
- Alberta Certificated Teachers
- Developmental Assistants
- Speech-Language Pathologists
- Occupational Therapists
- Physiotherapists
- Psychologists
- Family Support Specialists
- Behaviour Consultants
Program
- Online registration using SchoolCloud and access to the child’s programming documentation using SchoolCloud
- Standardized screening and assessment
- Individualized Program Plan developed and written by an Alberta Certificated Teacher
- Individualized support in the classroom
- Developmentally appropriate programming and practice
- Programming sessions in the home to support the child and family
- Kids PlayTime – a community-based social play group
- Positive Discipline Parenting workshops and support groups
- Speech-Language Pathology and Occupational Therapy parent workshops and support groups
A Year at a Glance
- To initiate the process, parents must register their child with Kids Developmental Services at schoolcloud.ca/KDS.
- Kids Developmental Services will contact parents to confirm and arrange the screening and/or assessment of their child or request any documentation pertaining to their child’s delays and/or diagnosis.
- Once the assessment is completed and a report has been submitted, their child’s eligibility for funding is determined, and if eligible, Kids Developmental Services applies for funding from Alberta Education on behalf of their child.
- Their child will receive an Alberta Student Number (ASN) and parents will receive an activation email to sign into their child’s student record on SchoolCloud. Parents will be able to access and download all programming notes and documents pertaining to their child’s early education services by signing into this SchoolCloud account.
- Once their child’s funding has been applied for, parents will be contacted by the Education Coordinator (Alberta Certificated Teacher) assigned to coordinate their child’s early education team, to complete intake and create their child’s early education program.
- Parents will then be asked to agree to and sign the Early Childhood Services Agreement on the Kids Developmental Services website and to provide Kids Developmental Services with their child’s identity documentation.
- During the year, parents will attend two or three Individualized Program Plan meetings for their child and will be able to access and download this document as well as their child’s report cards, from their child’s SchoolCloud account.
- Parents of children entering Kindergarten will be supported with this transition by the early education team assigned to their child.
- At the end of the school year, parents of children transitioning to Kindergarten will have the opportunity to download all programming notes and documents from their child’s SchoolCloud account.
- Parents of children eligible for another year of funding from Alberta Education and services through Kids Developmental Services, will register their child again through schoolcloud.ca/KDS.
- All parents will receive the signature page documenting the Individualized Program Plan meetings through the year and be required to sign this document, as per Alberta Education policies for the receipt of funding.