1.
Step
By
Step
Early
Intervention
Society
-­‐
History
The
concept
for
our
Society
grew
as
Helen
Enns
(
Private
Physiotherapist)
worked
with
many
families
of
young
children
with
developmental
delays.
Our
history
is
written
from
her
heart.
"Over
the
last
2
years,
my
private
Physiotherapy
caseload
began
to
include
more
and
more
very
young
children,
between
12-­‐24
months
of
age,
whose
parents
were
seeking
my
help,
often
because
they
knew
something
was
"not
right"
with
their
child's
development
but
were
not
sure
what
was
going
on.
They
had
usually
already
sought
the
opinion
of
their
family
doctor
or
public
health
nurses
but
were
often
told:
"Let's
just
wait
and
see!
Every
child
develops
at
their
own
pace.
Come
back
in
6
or
12
months
and
we
will
revisit
it
then!!"
Although
the
professional
may
have
felt
they
were
trying
to
calm
the
parents
with
these
words,
so
as
not
to
add
more
worry,
for
many
families
it
did
the
opposite
as
they
just
had
a
certain
feeling
something
was
not
right.
Coffee
&
Chat
groups:
As
this
number
of
families
increased,
the
parents
of
these
children
gathered
together
in
my
basement
for
Coffee
and
Chat
groups
on
Saturday
mornings.
We
had
done
this
somewhat
regularly,
often
with
one
family
bringing
along
another
new
family
they
have
met
along
the
way.
Both
Moms
and
Dads
have
shared
their
stories
with
each
other,
encouraged
and
supported
each
other
and
they
also
have
been
learning
about
available
services
and
how
to
go
about
accessing
what
they
need.
It
has
been
a
joy
to
see
the
dynamics
as
friendships
blossomed
with
the
sharing
of
both
happy
and
sad
news
between
friends.
Many
of
the
families
have
mixed,
vague
or
no
diagnoses
for
their
children's
delays
and
so
each
family
has
a
unique
set
of
steps
to
follow
depending
on
their
child's
need.
Step
By
Step:
We
began
calling
it
"Step
by
Step"
group
at
that
time
as
often
we
were
hearing
of
"baby
steps"
of
progress
in
the
right
direction,
which
we
could
celebrate
together.
The
families
eventually
became
connected
with
FSCD
(Family
Support
for
Children
with
Disabilities)
programs
and
services,
often
starting
with
a
developmental
aide
contract
so
that
an
aide
could
train
along
with
the
family
to
help
with
the
child's
development.
As
we
went
along,
after
one
or
two
developmental
aide
contracts,
it
seemed
time
to
seek
a
larger
team
approach
so
we
could
include
an
OT-­‐
Occupational
Therapist
(for
more
specific
training
regarding
Activities
of
Daily
Living,
play,
hand
use
etc.)
and
a
Speech
Language
Pathologist(
SLP)
for
aiding
communication
whether
through
enhanced
language
learning,
teaching
signs,
development
of
a
variety
of
Aided
language
displays
or
working
towards
a
communication
book.
Also
some
children
expressed
frustration
when
they
could
not
be
understood
and
so
we
are
able
to
include
support
from
a
psychologist
to
add
family
training
with
strategies
to
help
decrease
frustration
and
develop
more
appropriate
ways
of
communication
as
taught
by
the
SLP.
At
this
time,
many
of
these
families
have
been
successful
with
acquiring
Specialized
Services
contracts
from
FSCD
for
their
child's
program
which
I
am
able
to
coordinate
so
we
can
use
the
team
approach
to
offer
a
holistic
development
approach
to
family
training."
Helen
Enns
(
B.P.T.
)
Physiotherapist
Manager
–
Step
by
Step
Early
Intervention
Society

2. Recognizing
that
there
is
a
gap
in
Calgary
for
services
for
identifying
and
supporting
very
young
children
with
developmental
delays
and
their
families,
Step
By
Step
Early
Intervention
Society
was
formed
and
became
incorporated
in
March
2015.
We
are
a
Not
for
Profit
organization
who
believe
that
Early
Intervention
for
babies
and
toddlers
with
developmental
delays
needs
to
begin
as
early
as
possible
and
that
the
families
of
these
children
need
support
from
and
links
with
a
community
of
caring
,
like-­‐minded
people.
This
is
the
backbone
upon
which
all
our
programs
and
services
are
built.
Our
motto
is
“By
Families
for
families”.
Our
programs
include:
1. Early
Developmental
Screening/
Assessments
(if
needed)
:
-­‐
for
babies
and
toddlers
who
may
not
be
meeting
developmental
milestones.
2. FSCD
Developmental
Aide:–
support
for
young
children
with
developmental
delays
accessing
Family
Support
for
Children
Disabilities
(FSCD)
funding
for
an
in
home
developmental
aide
program.
3. FSCD
Specialized
Services:
–
support
for
young
children
with
developmental
delays
accessing
FSCD
funding
for
Specialized
Services.
4. Program
Unit
Funding
(PUF)
–
for
children
with
motor
or
speech
delays,
who
will
be
2.5
years
old
by
September
1
st
to
attend
a
community
pre-­‐school
and
families
seeking
a
community
based
program.
5. Common
Approach
–
Combined
programming
with
common
ISPP
(
Individualized
Services
Program
Plan)
for
children
accessing
both
FSCD
&
PUF
Programming.
6. Training
Centre
:
Another
significant
component
of
Step
By
Step
is
our
ability
to
provide
training
to
families,
therapists
and
support
personnel
on
a
variety
of
topics
specific
to
Early
Intervention
methods
and
concepts.
It
is
our
plan
to
become
known
as
a
First
Class
Early
Intervention
Training
Centre
where
we
will
offer
multi-­‐
day
conferences
as
well
as
weekend
and
evening
training
sessions
for
parents,
therapists,
aides
and
others
involved
with
the
Early
Intervention
community
in
Calgary.
We
will
use
local
and
global
trainers
depending
on
the
topics
and
needs
expressed
by
staff
and
families.
7. Parent
Support
:
Underlying
all
of
our
programming
is
the
creation
of
a
community
of
supportive
parents.
Step
By
Step
has
identified
a
need
for
families
to
have
access
to
emotional
support
from
people
who
have
shared
similar
experiences.
A
sense
of
community
provides
an
opportunity
for
healing
and
mentorship
by
offering
others
emotional
support,
sharing
of
best
practices
and
experiences,
which
helps
to
alleviate
feelings
of
isolation
as
a
parent
of
a
child
with
special
needs.
Our
foundation
program,
Play
&
Chat
Group,
is
testimony
to
that.
This
group
is
a
structured
biweekly,
2-­‐hour
parent/child
playgroup
with
an
emphasis
on
training
the
parent
alongside
their
child
while
providing
opportunities
for
parents
to
celebrate
successes
and
empathize
with
the
challenges.
As
an
organization
with
parents
at
it’s
heart,
we
understand
when
families
feel
overwhelmed
and
frustrated
when
all
each
parent
wants
is
what
is
best
for
their
child.
We
hear
parents
concerns
about
their
child’s
development,
we
educate
and
encourage
parents
as
they
access
existing
funding
and
we
offer
a
caring
community
of
support
as
families’
grow
with
their
child
in
the
early
years.
By
offering
a
variety
of
training,
Step
By
Step
will
empower
parents
to
be
the
best
advocates
for
their
child
and
create
a
collaborative
environment
for
all
early
intervention
professionals.