Your Experience with the Centre

First, parents and caregivers are key members of their child’s support team! It is important for parents and caregivers to participate in all appointments by providing information about your child’s needs, progress, and medical updates, asking questions, and learning the strategies modelled by the clinician(s) so you can ensure that you can follow through on recommendations in your home.

Depending on your child’s needs, one or many professionals may be involved in providing services for your child. At times, one professional may take on the role of service coordinator for your child or may take the lead in carrying out activities designed to achieve goals that were set by another professional on the team. Children involved with multiple services may receive a “team-based” approach to service delivery based on their individual needs.

Descriptions of the various professionals who may be involved with your child, based on their needs, can be found on our Programs and Services page.

We look forward to working with you! Your child’s first appointment at the Centre is an important first step in your child’s care, and this section provides information to help you prepare.

Your first appointment is an opportunity for you and your child to meet your assessment team, and for the team to do a preliminary assessment of your child’s strengths and needs. You will remain in the room with your child during the appointment, and you are encouraged to ask questions and provide information about your child. You are welcome to invite other professionals involved with your child’s care to attend the assessment. At the end, the team will summarize their observations, provide you with their recommendations, and discuss next steps.

To get the most out of your child’s first appointment, we recommend you:

• Write down any questions or concerns you have and bring them to the assessment
• Call a few days before the appointment to confirm the date and time
• Bring a pad and pen, or use a note-taking application on your phone, to record information you receive during the meeting, which may include recommendations from staff or details about your child’s assessment
• Bring along a family member, if you like, who can provide support and help take notes
• Ask questions, especially if there is something you do not understand or if there are medical terms or words you are not familiar with
• Make sure you are clear about the next steps with Niagara Children’s Centre staff – for example, individual therapy sessions, a re-check appointment, a group session, etc.
• Ask Niagara Children’s Centre staff any questions or concerns you have about the assessment process

We use a variety of different therapies and approaches to service. All therapies and approaches to services are based on:

• The best available evidence as to what is the most effective approach to your child’s particular needs
• The goals you have for your child
• The results of your child’s assessment
• You and your child’s readiness skills or ability to participate
• The progress your child is making towards their goals based on the model of service they are receiving

The Centre uses a Response to Intervention or Tiered Approach to therapy. This involves starting with more generalized strategies and regularly monitoring your child’s progress. We only move on to more individual models if the less-intensive models are not working.

Service Delivery Models may include:

• Home programming
• Parent/caregiver education, coaching, and training (group or individual sessions)
• Consultations to provide strategies to be implemented at childcare centres and schools or community agencies; and/or
• One-to-one work with your child in group or individual sessions

We will discuss with you the approach/model most suitable for your child and develop a service plan at one of your initial appointments. Your clinician(s) will regularly monitor your child’s progress to determine if your child is meeting their goals and/or to determine if another service delivery model is more suitable and/or referrals to other agencies may be appropriate for your child.

The Centre embraces the “F-words” as the goals and objectives that we work toward helping children achieve:

For more information regarding goal setting, please visit CanChild’s goal setting resources. 

Your child will be discharged from particular services, the Centre as a whole or your child may be transitioned to services provided in their school or other agencies for any of the following reasons:

• Your child/family moves out of the Niagara Region
• Where applicable and possible, our clinicians can facilitate a transfer to similar services within Ontario.
• Your child’s skills are within normal limits, your child has achieved the goals you and your clinician(s) have established, or your child no longer meets the eligibility requirements of the specific service.
• Your child reaches the age limit of particular services.
• Your child would be best serviced by another agency or by a service model that is only provided by another agency (e.g. children’s mental health services).
• You decline assessment or treatment at any time during the course of intervention.
• Your child is involved with private services that do not meet our concurrent therapy policies (private clinician(s) do not keep in contact with Centre clinician(s) when contraindicated by their regulated health college; private therapy approach is not compatible or conflicts with the Centre therapy approach).
• You do not respond to phone calls, emails, or letters from Centre staff. It is your responsibility to keep your contact information up to date with your clinician(s) or by calling Reception.
• Any situation as described in our attendance and cancellation policy.

In all cases, you will be kept informed of any plans to discharge or transition your child’s services.

In many cases, children may be re-referred for particular services as their needs or circumstances change.

If your child had been discharged from a particular service due to attendance or cancellation policies, they will be placed on the regular waitlist for that service if a re-referral is made and they meet eligibility criteria.

Telepractice (Virtual Care) refers to the use of information and technologies to deliver health care services when the client and clinician are in different physical locations. The following information refers to video-conferencing on the Zoom Healthcare platform that is “live” and interactive.

Niagara Children's Centre (headquarters)

• 567 Glenridge Ave, St. Catharines, ON, L2T 4C2
• Our main location is across the street from Brock University and beside the Hotel Dieu Shaver Rehabilitation & Health Centre
  

Niagara Centre YMCA

Boys and Girls Club of Niagara - Fort Erie

• 1555 Garrison Rd, Fort Erie, ON L2A 2S6

Your child’s appointment(s) may be at Niagara Children’s Centre, a designated Centre satellite site, a community-based location, a publicly funded school, or may be conducted through telepractice. It is important to confirm the location with the person booking your appointment and to ensure you have adequate information to park, navigate the location and find your clinician for your appointment.

When You Arrive: After entering the driveway, please turn right and park in front of the building. There are designated parking spaces for parents, as well as accessible parking spaces. Parents may also park in spaces designated for visitors.

Cost for Parking: Parking is free.

Inside the Building: Upon entering the reception area, visitors to the Centre need to sign in with the receptionist. To assist us with parking control, you will also be required to provide your license plate or vehicle description. You can then wait with your child in the reception area for your therapist.

The Centre hours of service are from 8am-9pm Monday to Thursday and 8am-5pm on Fridays.

The types of appointments available during these hours may vary based on:

• Individual programs
• The age range of children served by the program
• Location of the service