The Medicine Hat Public School Division is hosting its annual child development checkup session April 11 at Southview School to ensure future students have the support they need.
“The purpose of the assessment is to determine where the children are at in their development and possibly identify any concerns, so we can assist in guiding children for further assessment or programming supports if necessary,” says associated superintendent Tracy Hensel.
The checkups take about 15 minutes and parents are free to drop in with their kids at any time between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.
They will be done by community early learning teachers, who are employed by the MHPSD.
“They have screening tools that will identify children’s development in those core pieces – speech and language, fine and gross motor, and social-emotional,” said Hensel.
The assessments are geared toward kids between the ages of 3 and 5, so from those in day care to those who are going into Grade 1.
“We really want early intervention, because we know that when we have early intervention, we can identify concerns and get supports in place quicker,” Hensel said. “However, if there are children (already) in our system and those are identified issues, then we would have supports in schools to help them.”
She said occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists, and physical therapists are available to MHPSD students.
