Targeting developmental delays

Times Contributor

 

Parents bring a child into the world with the highest hopes for their development and well-being. If in the early years they see their child struggling with basic developmental tasks; it can be heart breaking, worrisome and frustrating to try to understand what is happening. If certain tasks aren’t mastered in the early stages of life, it can affect the child in many areas, all through their life. 

“Age one to five is the most critical stage in development and this year, we are seeing kids coming into the school system not ready,” said Lana Lane, who is a Wheatland teacher. “So how do we get those struggling families in the door, to help them get the resources they need.”

Lane is involved with the ECMap program. She came to Wheatland Council on Feb. 5, to update council on the Wheatland area testing results and offer council an opportunity to become involved.

ECMap is a program managed by a coalition of individuals and agencies, led by the Community-University Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth and Families and initiated by the Alberta Government Department of Education. It was developed to find out how children, up to the age of five, are doing developmentally. Other provinces are also involved with the hope to develop a Canadian perspective on Early Childhood Development.

Children five and under were tested in areas of physical health and well-being, social communication, emotional maturity, language and thinking skills, communication and knowledge, to gain a working baseline. Consideration was given to where the children lived, plus the physical and financial resources available to them. Children with an alternative primary language to English, or severely physically, mentally challenged children were not included in this set of tests. Some students could have their testing fall under other districts, for example Rosebud was included in Drumheller statistics. Siksika and children attending Colony schools were not tested.

There were 383 children tested in the Wheatland area. Results showed students had areas needing significant improvement. In the five developmental areas, those children needing some help ranged from approximately nine to 25 per cent, with the higher categories being Comprehension and Knowledge and Social skills. Those needing significant help ranged from approximately eight to 12 per cent, the higher categories being Physical and Social development. For more information on the process see, www.ecmap.ca. The exact results for the Wheatland area and specifics of the testing will soon be posted on the website.

“What happened to the days of cutting and pasting paper together or cuddling on the couch and reading with our children?” asked Lane, considering some of the reasons children may be experiencing delays. She considered perhaps with the benefits of technology, some of the basic skills are being neglected. She acknowledged parenting is hard and as a member of the community, she wanted to be a part of this group that will develop programs and services to help struggling parents and children.

The next step in the program becomes setting up a plan and initiating action. The Wheatland ECMap initiative currently has 20 members. They are looking for more volunteer members. They want to form partnerships with individuals, businesses, groups and agencies to help children succeed. Currently, they have attained a $50,000 grant that will fund organizational and communication needs for a two year period. They have speaking engagements to communicate the results to 50 more groups in the region. People can also contribute by cash donations, or articles in kind like paper, photocopying or office space. 

They would like to develop ongoing initiatives and see the program run long term. One example would be to run parent workshops, showing various games and activities that address developmental skills.

Councillor Alice Booth thanked Lane for the presentation, but suggested that excluding special needs children and those with language and cultural differences makes the study somewhat incomplete. She felt society has a responsibility to those communities as well. Councillor Booth suggested initiatives were needed to address their developmental needs.

Other councillors suggested that family background information perhaps would explain some of the variances on the tests, and it should have been included in the analysis. Lane also added that children were examined by Public Health agencies up to 18 months old, but there is no follow-up in families until the children hit kindergarten. Council took the ECMap results for information and consideration, and indicated they would be interested in the group’s progress.