July 3, 2020
Dear Autism Programs Families:
This week, we are still working on resuming in-person services in child care centres and for families receiving services in rural Manitoba.
Next week we will be welcoming children back to the London Street and Wall Street classrooms. The following week we will be welcoming students back to our Minnetonka School classroom. As we shared last week, we will be staggering start dates and offering shorter sessions for the first two weeks. We will work with you to gradually increase your child’s hours while ensuring we are able to uphold public health guidelines for cleaning and screening.
At 440 River Road, we are in the process of modifying the new entrance and moving the classroom to a new space to be able to welcome children back to that location this month. As we have shared in the past, people supported at 440 River Road in our Health & Transition Services program are still experiencing strict visitation limits and we want to ensure that while re-opening the Autism Early Learning services, we keep everyone supported at this location safe. Your team will be in touch with you as soon as any more details are available and we will continue to send weekly updates.
For families who have indicated they are ready to resume in-person services, but do not currently have a space for their child within their usual child care centre, we will be reaching out to you late next week to begin exploring options for resuming services for your child.
As I shared last week, we ask that if your situation has recently changed, and you have regained a child care space, please reach out to Tiffany Pang (Family Information and Resource Manager) so we can begin planning for in-person services to resume. Tiffany can be reached at tpang@stamant.ca or you can leave her a message at 204-256-4301 ext. 3481.
A number of families have asked if we are able to extend Early Learning services for children exiting the program this fall. While we cannot extend Early Learning services, we are working in close collaboration with our funders to develop an option that will continue to support children exiting the Early Learning program this fall, by increasing capacity for our Enhanced Consultative Services throughout the 2020/2021 school year.
The goal of this model is to support your child, your family, and your school for the transition from the St.Amant Programs to school in the fall and as needed throughout the school year. You can click here for more information on Enhanced Consultative Services for Families and here for more information on Enhanced Consultative Services for Schools. We will be reaching out to families exiting the Early Learning program by early August to share how they can access these services. If you would like any other information before that time, please reach out to Tiffany Pang (contact information above).
We are really looking forward to having all children who are participating in the Early Learning Program back to in-person services and are doing all we can to make this happen as quickly as possible, while following provincial guidelines.
Thank you again, for your patience. This transition is happening at a different pace for each family and we really appreciate your flexibility as we walk together through this new process.
Sincerely,
Kerri Walters Ph.D., C.Psych., BCBA-D
Director, Autism Programs and Psychology Services<
