Who Are We?
CanAssist is an organization of the University of Victoria that is dedicated to helping people with disabilities improve their quality of life and increasing awareness of disability issues. Since its early days as a small volunteer venture, CanAssist has had a direct impact on the lives of thousands of people with disabilities and their families. Unique in North America, CanAssist takes a client-focused approach to provide customized technologies and innovative programs where there are gaps in existing services.
In addition to the Behaviour in the Early Years Initiative, CanAssist has led two additional initiatives in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Child Care: The Inclusive Toileting Initiative and the Foundations of Inclusive Child Care Initiative.
Inclusive Toileting Initiative
Toileting is a barrier for many families in accessing child care, particularity for families of children with support needs. In some instances, children are denied access to care due to not being able to toilet independently. Because children learn at different rates depending on their ages and stages of development, adapting care environments to better support all children’s diverse range of abilities can reduce instances of exclusion due to toileting. Reducing toileting as a barrier within care environments means we are one step closer to inclusive child care.
Initiative Deliverables
Inclusive Bathroom Design Considerations: A resource which includes questions and considerations when building, renovating, or furnishing bathroom spaces intended primarily for use by children. The Ministry of Health, Community Care Facility Licensing and Assisted Living Registry helped develop this resource.
Toilet Learning Position Statement: Outlines an inclusive, child centered approach to toileting. It includes discussion about various approaches and strategies for toileting that addresses a broad range of children, including those with support needs.
Toileting Resource Evaluation Tool: Developed to support child care providers, early childhood educators, and related staff in determining the quality and effectiveness of toileting resources and to help them identify resources that best meet the needs of the children and their families.
The Toilet Step Stool (TSS): Designed to offer more stability and a greater sense of security for children when toileting versus standard commercially available step stools. Key features of the TSS include, adjustable height, deep grab handles, a removable toilet paper holder, smooth surfaces for easy cleaning, and it can be collapsed for storage. 1000 step stools were delivered to child care programs across the province in 2021.
Foundations of Inclusive Child Care Initiative
Inclusive child care supports the individual strengths and needs of each child. All children are welcomed, supported, and valued, which allows them to participate meaningfully in all aspects of the child care program. In inclusive programs, children of all abilities have equitable access to quality child care and are provided supportive opportunities to learn through play with other children.
This initiative marks a significant step towards a more inclusive future for BC Child Care. It allows educators and community members to share a common language and goal when it comes to building inclusion directly into their programming.
Initiative Deliverables
Foundations of Inclusive Child Care Position Statement: This resource was developed to create a shared understanding of inclusive child care. It includes a high-level overview of inclusive strategies and approaches in child care programs.
Foundations of Inclusive Child Care Online Training: This training provides an overview of inclusive practices and implementation strategies for inclusion in child care settings. Designed for child care providers, early childhood educators (ECEs), and other professionals in the child care sector, but can be beneficial to anyone working with children.
The Foundations of Inclusive Child Care Initiative provides an introduction to inclusion and ways to incorporate its principles in child care settings. Inclusion is viewed as a broad and multi-dimensional concept which influences almost every aspect of a child care program. This course focuses on reflective practice and building plans for putting inclusion into action. We know that when more children with support needs and disabilities are included in community child care, everyone benefits!
Questions, comments, concerns? Email us at: canatraining@uvic.ca