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London-area children born during the COVID-19 pandemic in both school boards are getting some extra help in the form of pop-up clinics as they prepare to enter kindergarten this fall.
For the first time ever, the Thames Valley District school board and the London District Catholic school boards are rolling out screening clinics to figure out where a child’s “gaps in development” may lie and get help to parents earlier.
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“We know parents have worries especially for this group of students entering kindergarten next year because they were all born during the pandemic,” said Kathryn Lambert, manager of professional services for the public board.
“(Those children’s) lived experiences during the pandemic may be different than other generations.”
The clinics are about engaging with parents “to understand their kids and leverage their expertise about their child’s development,” she added. “For some parents it’s their first time interacting with school board staff.”
Parents can bring their child or come on their own to the clinic to learn “whether they are on track or not,” Lambert said.
Staff then use a questionnaire designed for children younger than six, she said.
The questionnaire looks into different areas of development including communication, fine and gross motor skills and problem-solving as well as social and emotional skills..
“Our staff are trained . . . to provide parents feedback on where there child is in the domains of development,” Lambert said. “More importantly (they) provide parents with information about daily activities that can be done to support the child’s development.”
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The clinics will help parents address learning gaps caused by circumstance created during the pandemic, says Gail Lalonde, a senior administrator with the Catholic board.
“(It’s a chance) for those parents to learn about the development of their little person and what opportunities exist for them to build skills for entering the school system,” she said.
Information is then provided to the parent about what they can be doing at home to prepare the future pupil for their first classroom experience, she said.
The drop-in programs are located in EarlyON centres across all regions of the Thames Valley and Catholic school boards.
“We wanted to go where families were going with their kids; we didn’t want families to come to us,” Lambert said. “EarlyON centres offer programming for kids at this age during the summer – so our staff are going to those programs across all the regions of the board.”
Drop-in mental health clinics are also being offered to Thames Valley students, Lambert said.
More information about pop-up clinics and mental-health supports can be found here.
HRivers@postmedia.com
@HeatheratLFP
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