*Some services may be covered by Autism Funding Unit requests and approvals (to age 19)
If you've been looking for services for your child or youth, age 6+, we can help. We have over 30 years of combined assessment and therapy experience supporting children and youth with special needs.
Are you wondering how to help your child? You can start by Contacting Us to talk with an Occupational Therapist or Clinical Counsellor. Do you want to meet face to face or virtually? We can do either, so we can help you, no matter where you live in BC.
When you're ready for your child to be assessed to sort out priority treatment areas, one of our OTs will meet with you and your child in your home or our clinic. We practice COVID protocols and ask that you do, too, when we meet. Our OTs might use standardized assessments. If the assessment is done virtually, our OTs may have to use more clinical observation skills to reach you and your child's treatment goals.
If your loved one has trouble with "pro-prio-ception" (body in space), they'll likely have trouble enjoying structured physical activities, like sports. If this is important in your family, you might find working with an exercise specialist to improve strength and coordination, and reduce tone allows everyone to participate.
"Let's play." "Let's go to the mall." "Let's have coffee." These small moments in life development might not happen for people with special needs, leaving them socially isolated and not able to develop social skills like active listening, taking turns, being curious about other people.
Brushing teeth; showering; getting dressed - wearing clothes! These can be struggles for people living with special needs. Did you know that Occupational Therapists specialize in making adaptations for people to make things easier?
While lots of people find they have intense emotions that are "bigger" than the trigger, people with special needs may experience these more often and more intensely. Structured, goal-oriented skills training can help bring those "big" emotions down to a reasonable size. This is a great website to help you get started: https://positivepsychology.com/emotion-regulation-worksheets-strategies-dbt-skills/ If Counselling for your child and family is the way to go, we can help with that too!
Banking, riding a bus, cancelling appointments, applying for Persons with Disabilities; these are the things we have to do as we get older. When learning these skills is challenging, an intensive and coordinated treatment plan can make all the difference, and our Therapy Assistants can help!
Late teens and adults with special needs may want support to find and keep work. We are providers of the FREE WorkBC employment program and the FREE Jobs in Demand training program. To enroll, each person must identify as a 'survivor of violence or abuse' (any kind at any point in life). If your youth with ASD requires a more specialized approach, Autism Funding Unit (AFU) may cover these costs up to age 19. After that, we can look into other CLBC programs.
Contact us for a free consultation with Sara, our Service Coordinator. She'll listen to your needs or those of your loved one, she'll help you access appropriate funding, including AFU, she'll refer you to other services, or she'll book you for an Occupational Therapy or Counselling consultation.