Our Programs

Students with physical and/or communication disabilities from 4-21 years of age are provided with developmentally appropriate educational programs based on the Ontario curriculum.

Presently, the programs offered by the Children’s Centre School are comprised of multi-exceptional groups of students, divided among 6 classrooms. Each classroom provides support to students of mixed ages and abilities. The composition of these programs are reviewed annually, and determined based on the needs of the students being referred for service. Services are also provided in order to facilitate the successful transition of students to local community schools.

Each classroom team includes: a special education teacher, 2 education assistants, an occupational therapist, physiotherapist, a speech-language pathologist and a communication disorders assistant. The focus of each team is to provide individualized academic programming and therapy to support the child in the acquisition of academic readiness skills.

Individual Education Plans

All students attending the Children’s Centre School Authority have an Individual Education Plan (IEP). The IEP focuses on the student's success and enables each student to particpate in school and community experiences.

All IEPs are developed with parental involvement through early and ongoing consultation. Using a family-centred approach to IEP consultation, educational and therapeutic staff meet with families early in the school year to identify strengths, needs and meaningful goals for school and community participation.

Student achievement is reported on by both educationand therapeutic staff. IEP's are ongoing, living documents that are shared with families in November, Feburary and June.

Admission Process

1. Children must have a valid Ontario Health Card to gain entry into the Centre School
2. Children entering our school are between the ages of 4 and 21
3. Children must reside in the Regional Municipality of Niagara
4. The child must require a multi-disciplinary team approach for academics and therapy. Children must have complex needs in two or more of the following therapy areas:

• Physiotherapy - moderate to severe delay in gross motor development.
• Occupational therapy - moderate to severe delay in fine motor development and/or functional skills.
• Speech Language Pathology - moderate to severe delay in receptive, expressive language and/or speech development.
• Augmentative or Alternative Communication - exhibits face to face communication needs and/or written communication needs.