All children have the right to grow up in a safe and loving family with access to a full range of social, educational, and community experiences. It is the overall intent of the Infant Development Program to support families so that these rights may be realized. Central to this is assisting families in developing and maintaining loving relationships with their child.

We believe:

• Interventions for some children with developmental problems may be most effective if begun early in the child's life.
• Infancy is an important period of life and delays in development during that period may have long-lasting, cumulative effects on the patterns of development of a child, as well as on the patterns of interaction between the child and his/her family and community.
• The family unit is the most crucial source of learning, of emotional support and of developmental encouragement available to the child.
• The aims of the program is to help parents to make optimum use of available services, to enlarge their knowledge of those factors pertinent to the overall growth and development of their child, and to learn skills that will enable them to encourage the development of their child.

The Infant Development Program has an open referral policy, therefore both parents and professional can referral a child to this program.

Firstly, to qualify, the child needs to be between birth and the third year of life.

Additionally, there are three options for the child to qualify: The child may be at risk for developmental delay (such as a baby who is born with a low birth weight, born over 4 weeks early or born with an environmental risk such as alcohol use by the mother during pregnancy). The child may have a diagnosis that would effect their developmental progress such as Down Syndrome or Cerebreal Palsy. Finally, the child may be developing below what would be typical for a child at their age.

The West Kootenay Infant Development Program is based out of Castlegar. Therefore referrals need to be made to the phone number and address you see below: include idp phone number, fax number, web address and physical address at end of page.

What we do:

This is a home based program. Beginning with initial contact by telephone and home visit, information is gathered to determine the strengths and needs of the infant which will enable the Consultant and parents to plan a program and to evaluate the progress of the infant in relation to that program. We collect information by interviews with the parents and involved professionals, by discussions with parents, by observation of the child, home and community life, and by informal and formal assessment of the child.

From there we develop with the parent what services best met their needs.

These may include:

· Regular monthly home visits to encourage progress, develop new activities and support parents
· Developmental assessments and written reports
· Playgroup with parent participation
· Parent workshops or support groups
· A toy, video and book lending library
· Assistant with making the transition to a preschool or day care program

Service coordination with other professionals such as with:

· Public Health Nurse
· Speech & Language Pathologists
· Physiotherapist/Occupational Therapist
· Physician/Pediatrician
· Preschool/Child Care personnel
· Hospital Professionals
· Social Workers
· Behaviour Consultants
· Supported Child Care Consultants
· Family Resource Program Staff

The program is funded by the Ministry of Children and Family Development and is sponsored Kootenay Family Place. Staff report to our Executive Director and the Kootenay Family Place board and also receive direction and support from a Local Advisory Committee. The West Kootenay Infant Develoment has a Local Advisory Committee which serves as a voluntary, multi-disciplinary consultant body. Membership includes parents of children who have received or are receiving service, a public health nurse, other professionals involved with the early years such as early childhood educators and speech-language pathologists, and a MCFD social worker. The aim of the committee is to concern itself with the development and continuity of program for infants and their families. At present our Local Advisory Committee is jointly run with the Supported Child Development Advisory Committee.

Infant Development Consultants in your area are:

Linda Hunter, Manager-- Nelson, Kaslo, Salmo areas

Jerri Schmidt - Castlegar, Slocan Valley, Nakusp areas

Julia Stockhausen - Trail, Rossland, Fruitvale areas

E-Mail - idp.kfp@telus.net