I have included below most of the links referred to at the Transition Information evening on April 25th. You will find that many of these links will, in turn, link to other sites of interest to parents of children with extra support needs who are transitioning to adult programs and services.
High School, CLBC & MCFD - Who does what?
Transition Planning Framework – Cross Ministry: http://www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/spec_needs/pdf/transition_planning_protocol.pdf
Roles and Tasks of Team Members: http://communitylivingbc.ca/wp-content/uploads/RolesandTasks.pdf
Timeline for Parents: http://family.gobaci.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Transitions-2012.pdf
Burnaby SD#41
Contact Information: http://www.sd41.bc.ca/about/pdf/inside41.pdf
Concerns about one-to-one aides inclusion and independence: http://family.gobaci.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/beCareful.pdf
MCFD:
Into Adulthood, Guidelines and Best Practices: http://www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/spec_needs/adulthood.htm
CLBC:
Transition Planning Process: http://www.communitylivingbc.ca/individuals-families/youth-in-transition/
Eligibility Info in different languages: http://www.communitylivingbc.ca/policies-publications/publications/fact-sheets/
Eligibility Policy and Assessor Report: http://www.communitylivingbc.ca/policies-publications/policies/eligibility-for-clbc-february-2009/
Planning Tools
Inclusion Press – Homepage: http://www.inclusion.com/
Planning for Life: http://www.inclusion.com/books/planningforlifeplain.pdf
Post Secondary Links:
Douglas College, Adult Special Education: http://www.douglas.bc.ca/programs/basic-occupational-education.html
Contact Bob Logelin: 604.527.5126 or logelinb@douglascollege.ca
Vancouver Community College, Adult Special Education: http://www.vcc.ca/programs-courses/detail.cfm?div_id=4&prog_id=148
Contact: Maureen Mills: 604.443.8451 or Kathy O’Donnell: 604.443.8434 or kodonnell@vcc.c
Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Access Programs for People with Disabilities: http://www.kwantlen.ca/aca/appd.html
Contact: Barbara Thomas Brusseze 604.599.2530 or barbara.thomas-bruzzese@kwantlen.ca
Capilano University, Accces to work program: http://www2.capilanou.ca/programs/access.html
Contact: Kathy Moscrip 604.984.1711 or kmoscrip@capilanou.ca
Steps Forward - BC Initiative for Inclusive Post-Secondary Education: http://www.steps-forward.org/
Contact: Tamara Hurtado 604.782.1382 or tamara@steps-forward.org
Dear parents,
I know it might seem a bit early but it is already time to plan for your child’s summer activities and programs. Many summer camps have been taking registrations for a few weeks.
BACI Summer Teen Program
The Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion start taking registration for the Summer Teen Program on Tuesday, May 1, 2012. The program will run July 3rd to August 24th.
The Summer Teen Program offers cool, full-day adventures for youth with disabilities. The program is a Ministry of Children and Family Development funded service for Teens aged 13 to 18 who live in Burnaby and New Westminster. Please see THE FLYER for more information.
Day Camps:
The first place to look is your local Parks and Recreation department. Every City and Municipality in the lower mainland has both segregated and inclusive programs for children with special needs. Don’t forget that you can choose to have your child included in typical summer programs with either paid or volunteer support people. Including your child in a typical program will give you much more flexibility than restricting yourself to only segregated or specialized programs. If your child is already happy in an arts, sports or recreation program in your community check out the summer camp options for that program as soon as possible. Summer camps fill up fast!
Think about using a camp near where you work rather than where you live. It might be easier to drop off and pick up en-route to your workplace. Cities and Municipalities have their recreation programs on-line so it is much easier to research your options.
Burnaby: Visit the CHILDREN’S CAMPS page for information on policies for support and accessibility as well as the Activity Guide. Also see the Leisure Guide for all spring/summer programs.
Vancouver: Visit the ACCESS PROGRAMS page for policies and programs. This page also links to children/youth and adult programs – see links on left side of page
Tri-Cities & New Westminster: Summer recreation program information and support options will be available in late May.
Overnight Camps:
The big daddy of overnight camps is EASTER SEALS CAMPS. They have been around a long time and are well resourced with well-trained staff. There are only a few weeks available since each “week” is specialized in age and disability. You can request that your child shares a room with the friends they made the year before and many children make life-long friends at summer camp. The big draw for Easter Seals is that it is FREE.
ZAJAC RANCH is a high quality overnight camp. Weeks are sponsored by organizations or there are weeks targeting specific disabilities. This camp can be expensive but don’t forget that many disability organizations have campership programs to help finance your child’s camp experience.
HINT: Make sure you join the organization that represents your child’s disability in British Columbia. You may find that they sponsor disability-specific camps or offer camperships to families to help finance a camp experience.
Links to some Resource sites:
The BC Camping Association (BCCCA): This is a site for accredited summer day and overnight camps with a good search engine. BC CAMPING ASSOCIATION
Autism Community Training (ACT): Some good camp listings for both typical children and children with special needs, see SUMMER CAMP RESOURCES
Vancouver Parks and Recreation: Access Services RESOURCES AND LINKS
Vancouver Parents Transition Group: Vancouver-centred resource list that includes some recreation and social links. RESOURCE LINKS
This is a great guide for family advocacy originally put together by BCACL in the summer of 2011. I have updated the contact information for Burnaby families as of January 2012:
