On February 17, 2020, Académie de L’Enfance (ADE) had the pleasure of welcoming Quebec’s Family Minister, Mr. Mathieu Lacombe, and Fabre’s Deputy, Mrs. Monique Sauvé to our centre. During this visit, an important discussion took place about a future project that could help support our inclusive education model, as well as the importance of providing funding for families who have children with special needs.
Did you know? Families with a child diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may pay up to $60,000 yearly in order to offer their child the special services they need during early childhood. These costs accumulate and increase over the lifespan, particularly if an intellectual disability is identified.
ADE’s mission is to be at the forefront of inclusive education by providing an inclusive educational experience to all children; offering the support of special needs technicians and child development professionals; and supporting collaboration between our professionals, our team, and our families.
This inclusive environment and approach benefit both children with special needs, as well as typically-developing children in the following ways:
An inclusive environment helps children understand and accept children that have special needs.
It encourages sensitivity and acceptance for children with differences.
It increases awareness and decreases the rate of bullying in school-age children.
It helps promote the development of social skills in children with special needs by allowing them to imitate their typically-developing peers.
It offers a stimulating and enriching environment where children with and without special needs can learn and develop.
Did you know? Many important skills develop in the first three years of life – this is why early intervention is important if a child shows any signs of a possible developmental delay. Early intervention includes the following services and support that help babies and toddlers with developmental delays such as speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and more.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that intervention is likely to be more effective when it is provided earlier in life rather than later. Early intervention can change a child’s developmental path, and it can help families better meet their child’s needs from an early age and throughout their lives.
At ADE, we believe in the importance of early intervention and we work closely with our families and specialists in order to offer services to children with special needs such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, behavioural therapy, and more. Studies show that early intervention improves a child’s communication skills, social skills, learning skills, as well as overall brain development.
We hope to be able to provide the best services and programs for our families, this is why the meeting with the Family Minister was so vital. In order to continue to provide these services to families and to improve the services offered, we made four requests to the Government of Quebec and the Family Minister:
ADE requested subsidized daycare spots for children with special needs in our preschool program.
ADE requested the same rights, subsidies, and benefits as subsidized private daycares and CPEs for the integration of children with special needs.
ADE requested that the subsidies allocated to a child remain with that child in the event that the parents decide to relocate them. Parents should be able to decide where their child’s needs are best met.
ADE requested the grants in response to being the first inclusive preschool in Laval, potentially as a pilot project.
Update - February 2022
We are in continuous communication with the Provincial and Federal government and are currently working on projects that will continue to promote inclusive education and excellence in early childhood education. We are looking forward to announcing new projects shortly!
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