Calgary child care embracing sensory learning and playing
Children at The Immigrant Education Society's Little Beginnings Urban Oasis child-care centre have been introduced to a number of sensory tools and materials to assist in their learning development.
The Little Beginnings Urban Oasis (LBUO) child-care centre at The Immigrant Education Society (TIES) in northeast Calgary has introduced a number of sensory tools and material to help children learn.
The centre has 26 children enrolled from birth to six years old who come from more that 20 countries around the world. Raghda Abouelfetouh, LBUO childcare centre manager, brainstormed with all the educators in the program to choose the equipment they felt would be most beneficial to the children.
Abouelfetou says exposing kids to sensory activities at a young age is vital.
'All children have, and even adults, have different learning abilities, different skills,' she said. 'So if you work in advance, you will be most probably be preventing challenging behaviors to occur in the school age children and are setting them up for success.'
The sensory tools help kids visualize and hear things but also help with math and learning the language.
'If I don't speak English and I'm here and everyone is speaking English, I will be frustrated,' said Abouelfetouh. 'I want to express, I want to engage, so this way we are letting everyone engage the way they are.'
She says that since the program started in March, educators have seen an 80 percent drop in kids who lash out through frustration, and adds that's a positive indicator for the work they're doing.
'A couple of parents, especially in the preschool room, they were sharing that the children now are speaking way more -- (they) are very expressive,' she said. 'I'm like, here we go! We're so happy with that.'
Identifying special needs
Sensory tools can also be used to identify children with special needs or those with neurodivergent conditions. Abouelfetouh says many children in Alberta are not eligible for any kind of cognitive assessment before the age of three.
'Until we get the assessment, (the child) will be almost four years old -- which is too late, because 80 per cent of the child's development is done by the age of three so we don't want children to lose these opportunities,' she said. 'Why not offer this intervention as early as possible to prevent any learning delays and developmental delays in the school age.?
Racheal Ashamu's four-year-old daughter Adesua is in the program.
'I have noticed a lot of improvement and she even wants me to have (the sensory tools) at home,' she said. 'I can confidently say right now she is ready for kindergarten, because when I look at the Alberta curriculum, she knows everything that is expected of her already.'
Ashamu says Adesua has now developed a knack for building things that could lead to a career one day.
'I know that she likes stacking things, like creating something,' she said. 'I mean, for her age (she is) maybe some sort of little engineer who wants to create something.'
Aboueleftouh is excited at the potential for the program for the current and future students.
'When you're talking about the children, you're talking about next generation, you're talking about the future of Canada.,' she said.
Learn more about LBUO here.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
How to keep your home bug-free this summer
How to keep your home bug-free in the summer. Summer has officially arrived and that means it's an important time to stay protected from ticks and mosquitoes. While it's important to protect yourself from bugs while hiking or camping in the woods, they could also be lurking in your backyard. Ticks and mosquitoes are the most common critters that bring not only bites, but illnesses and viruses as well. CTV Morning Live spoke with Dr. Paul Roumeliotis to talk about ways to protect your backyard from bugs this season. Ticks Roumeliotis says personal protection is key when preventing ticks, including long sleeves and insect repellent, but knowing how they move and breed is equally important in keeping them away. Lyme disease can be transmitted by ticks, an infection that is spread to humans from bites. Ticks can also carry other diseases. 'There's a lot of things we need to do to understand where ticks live. Ticks like to live in the dark, foresty, grassy areas,' he said. Homeowners living by a forest or grassland are most at risk of being affected by ticks on their property. Roumeliotis recommends building a barrier of mulch or gravel to surround your property. 'You can prevent the ticks from entering your property because they don't fly,' he said. 'If there's a lot of shrubbery, old branches, get rid of them too because they like to hide in there.' Ticks How to keep ticks off your property from Dr. Paul Roumeliotis. (CTV Morning Live) The higher the grass, the more likely they will lurk in that area, he says. Making sure your grass is mowed properly is also important. 'If you have picnic tables, you can put gravel or sand or keep the grass as low as possible,' he said. Roumeliotis says reports of tick bites are increasing in the summer months. He says it doesn't just impact kids, but those working in shrubbery and landscaping as well. 'The amount of ticks that we see in the area has risen. Right now, we see them across eastern Ontario, Ottawa, between the St. Lawrence River and the Ottawa River.' Mosquitoes Outside of an itchy and painful bite, mosquitoes can also carry diseases such as West Nile virus, making it even more important to prevent them from growing near your home. Roumeliotis says knowing their habits and where they thrive is important in learning how to prevent them. 'When we talk about personal protection, it's great, but you need to be aware of these mosquitoes and ticks and where they breed and then we can actually diminish the amount of them in our backyard,' he said. Roumelitois says mosquitoes like to lay their eggs in pooled water. He recommends checking your property to limit areas that collected water, including pales and tires. 'Similarly, pots, wheelbarrows, recycle bins, all those things left out in the rain that create a puddle or a pool, can actually promote mosquito growth in your area,' he said. Roumeliotis says some may have noticed an increase in mosquitoes this year, linked to higher amounts of rain in the region this year.
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
What charging for COVID-19 vaccines means for Albertans going forward
When the province announced that most Albertans will have to pay for COVID-19 vaccines themselves going forward, the phones at Mohamed Elfishawi's two Edmonton pharmacies started ringing. "People are scared," Elfishawi said during an interview at his south Edmonton location, describing the calls he's had from clients – especially seniors. Earlier this month, the province announced it would only cover vaccines for particular high-risk groups: people living in care homes and group settings, those receiving home care, people on social programs such as AISH, and immunocompromised individuals. Everyone else will have to pay an estimated $110 if they want the vaccine. Accessing the shot will also be more limited: in the near future, pharmacists like Elfishawi will no longer be allowed to administer them, they will only be available at health clinics. Alberta's new path makes it an outlier in Canada, prompting questions about why the province has diverged from national recommendations on vaccines, what the timeline is for rolling out the new distribution system and whether or not the vaccine can be added to group health benefit plans. Will group benefits offer coverage? The United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) is already in talks with employers, seeking to get COVID immunization coverage added to group health benefits. "But even if they do, what that means is that it will fall onto the insurance companies, which will mean increased premiums both for employees and employers," said Heather Smith, UNA's president. UNA is also looking into benefits covering the cost for its staff. If it can't get sorted out in time for the fall rollout of vaccines, Smith said they plan to offer reimbursement for employees who pay to get immunized. Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teachers' Association, said they are exploring options through insurance, but he has also written to ministers asking them to reverse the decision. "We have policy around this that teachers should get vaccinations provided to them because they're working in congregated settings with students," Schilling said. "We know we have overcrowded classrooms." Alberta Union of Public Employees vice-president Bonnie Gostola calls the plan to charge for the shots a "slap in the face" to members working in roles like hospital porters, housekeeping, and other service roles. "Workers that barely make above minimum wage — $110 is one day pay for those members – it's excessive, especially when they are also responsible for looking after other people," she said. Gostola said AUPE has been telling workers this is an occupational health and safety issue, and that it believes the employer needs to take on the responsibility of covering the cost of vaccines. Some employers are suggesting other avenues for staff. The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority said in a statement that its workers will be able to use their employee health care spending account to pay for the shot. A complex change For people who do have health benefits, getting COVID vaccines added to group benefit coverage won't be simple. Alberta Blue Cross – a non-profit insurance provider that runs government coverage programs as well as private plans – has been getting inquiries from both employers and plan members about covering the vaccines. "We are waiting for more information on the COVID vaccines — including the cost and specific details on the way Albertans will access and be charged for the COVID vaccine — before we can make a decision regarding private plan coverage," said Blue Cross spokesperson Sharmin Nault Hislop in a statement. "The change is complex and there are a lot of factors at play." Hislop explained that it's not a simple internal decision as private plans have many different designs, some including vaccine coverage and some that don't. The organization also has an internal drug review process that needs to be done to determine if and how it can add COVID-19 vaccines to its roster of covered medications. U.S. comparison There is variability in the types of health care and medications publicly covered province-to-province. For example, shingles vaccines are free for older adults in some jurisdictions but not others. But changing access to COVID-19 shots, which were freely available across the country for so long, creates a compelling case study, said Jamie Daw, an assistant professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. "I think it's not something that anyone expected access would be taken away," Daw said. "I think that's sort of part of this broader conversation about sort of privatization in the Canadian health-care system more generally, and how we should grapple with it and what policies and regulations might be needed in cases like this." Daw said that in the United States, about 90 per cent of Americans can still get COVID vaccines for free — covered by private insurance, and Medicare and Medicaid programs. Unlike Canada where following the isn't required, the U.S. has federal regulations requiring that certain vaccines be fully covered by public and private coverage. Diverging from NACI's recommendations The province said in the 2023-2024 respiratory virus season, 135 million worth of doses went to waste. For the upcoming season, Alberta has ordered 500,000 doses – some of which will be given for free to the identified high-risk groups, and the rest available for purchase to help Alberta recoup the coast. Most Albertans will soon pay about $110 for a COVID shot 1 day ago Duration 2:43 With Alberta soon to end free COVID-19 vaccines for most residents, there's growing concern about cost, coverage and access — especially for vulnerable seniors. When provincial funding ends, most Albertans will have to pay an estimated $110 per dose. A statement from Minister of Primary and Preventive Health Services Adriana LaGrange's office this week said the decision still offers protection to vulnerable Albertans, and takes low uptake of the vaccine by the general population into account. And while Lagrange's office said the province was informed by NACI's recommendations on vaccines, it decided not to offer free vaccines to a number of high risk, priority groups that NACI identifies because of "Alberta's specific needs," such as uptake trends. Those high-risk groups not being offered free vaccines include all people over 65, pregnant people, Indigenous people, members of racialized and other equity-denied communities, and health-care workers and other care providers in community settings. The exclusion of people over 65 is particularly concerning to Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Alberta. She said it's a major deviation from NACI's recommendations, which do take cost to provinces into consideration. "It doesn't really endorse using the vaccine very strongly from a public health perspective if they're not covering it," Saxinger said.
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Bankers, athletes, students are using drugs. This hotline tries to keep them safe
There's a national overdose hotline that some Canadians call before they're about to use drugs. But the people dialling in aren't who you might think. Since the National Overdose Response Service (NORS) launched nearly five years ago, it's been reaching drug users who wouldn't typically use consumption and treatment sites. "We do know that a lot of people are hidden substance users," said Monty Ghosh, an addictions physician in Alberta and a NORS researcher. "It could be that they're afraid of losing their job, they're afraid that the family might leave them, they're afraid that the children might get taken away from them." Ghosh says that's where the hotline comes in. He says many people calling in have voluntarily disclosed that they have jobs and stable housing. "We're talking [about] people who are lawyers, physicians, engineers, people who are professional athletes," he said. "A lot of them are using the service because they don't identify as the same population as who uses a physical supervised consumption site." How does NORS work? NORS is like a buddy system — operators stay on the line as people use drugs, ready to alert emergency services if they suspect the person has overdosed. People can also text the line, if they can't or don't want to call. To see who is reaching out and how the hotline works, CBC News met up with an operator in Hamilton, Ont., and listened in on multiple calls. WATCH | NORS operator provides advice while callers take drugs: Canada has a hotline for people who hide their drug use 20 days ago Duration 9:17 An anonymous hotline has fielded over 20,000 calls from people across Canada who want support when using drugs alone, and as CBC's Jennifer La Grassa uncovers, the callers who rely on the National Overdose Response Service (NORS) are not who you might think they are. The operator, Jodi, starts any call by confirming the person's address, telling them to keep their doors unlocked and pets away. These are all precautions in case EMS has to respond. One of the calls was from a student who was about to use crack. "I heard that there was a bad batch going around in my area and I was just wondering if you knew anything about it?" the person asked Jodi. A quick online search for alerts about tainted substances in the caller's region turned up empty, so Jodi cautioned, "Start low, go slow." Another caller, who was smoking fentanyl, told Jodi she's trying to use less frequently. When she does, she's started testing her drugs to stay safe. "Keep doing that," Jodi told her. "Just the stuff that's going around right now, it's actually really scary." Once people use, Jodi stays on the line with them for about 10 to 15 minutes. She makes small talk — asking what they ate for dinner and what their plans are for the evening — all the while paying attention to how they're responding. "We're not therapists, we're not counsellors, we're not social workers," Jodi told CBC News. "We're not here to dig deep [into] why they started using drugs. It's just, 'Hey, how's it going today?'" No one overdosed the night CBC was on the line with Jodi, but it has happened. Of the almost 20,000 calls NORS has received, it's responded to more than 200 overdoses. According to the organization, nobody has died while using the line. In comparison, between March 2020 and February 2025, drug consumption and treatment sites across Canada received more than three million visits. Goal is to 'keep people alive' "Our mandate at NORS is to keep people alive while they're using substances," said Lisa Morris-Miller, the executive director of the hotline. Her sister, Rebecca Morris-Miller, founded the line in December 2020, with the help of her friend Kim Ritchie. The pair had complicated pasts with drug use and met during a recovery program. With a cellphone, $1,000 and some volunteers, Ritchie says they started an early version of the hotline. By the end of 2020, she says partnerships with the University of Alberta and Health Canada led to funding that launched the line across the country. NORS is the first and only national overdose response hotline in Canada. For two years, Rebecca helped grow the service and became an advocate for people who were struggling. But throughout, she continued to struggle with her own addiction to fentanyl. In October 2022, Rebecca used drugs alone and didn't call her own hotline — and ended up dying from an overdose. "My opinion … is that there is still so much stigma associated with substance use, so much that … one of the key founders of this organization wouldn't call her own line," said Lisa Morris-Miller. Lawyers, bankers, athletes calling in Most NORS callers are from Ontario, Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan, according to researcher Ghosh. The most recent data from the hotline shows that of more than 3,200 calls, about 50 per cent were women and 16 per cent identified as gender diverse. In interviews, Ghosh said these callers told them that they prefer the hotline because of stigma and safety. While the organization hasn't released research on this, Ghosh says about 10 per cent of their calls have asked about referrals for mental health, opioid treatments or treatment centres. Ian Tait, communications director for the Ambulance Paramedics of British Columbia CUPE 873, says he isn't surprised to hear who is using the service. "In British Columbia … we go to million-dollar mansions for, you know, issues with substance use," said Tait, who is also an advanced care paramedic supervisor. He said that most of the overdose calls they respond to are for people who are unhoused, with mental health and substance use issues. Tait cited an app called Lifeguard, which he says people in B.C. will often use. Those with the app will activate it before taking their drug of choice and they then have to deactivate it within a certain period of time. If they don't, EMS will be alerted. "In this type of crisis, we have to look at ideas that are outside of the box," he said. Faith O'Toole, a 22-year-old Ottawa resident, has been revived multiple times because of the hotline. Having used crack and fentanyl since she was a teenager, O'Toole has lost count of how often she's overdosed. Her mom, Tamara, allowed Faith to keep living at home and using drugs, but insisted she call the hotline. "Of course I don't want my child to use drugs — nobody does. But if they're going to and I can't make her stop, what can I do to help keep her as safe as possible?" said Tamara. She estimates Faith has overdosed at least three times while using NORS. "Overdosing sucks, but the hotline is really useful," said Faith. "It's convenient. I mean, if you have a phone … you can call and you're safe." But Faith no longer lives at home and says she doesn't call the hotline as often. Hotline can't replace drug consumption sites: experts Despite how helpful virtual resources like hotlines and apps can be in this crisis, experts say they can't replace controversial drug consumption and treatment sites. The hotline fills some gaps — like being available around the clock and allowing people to smoke their drugs (which many drug sites don't allow) — but it's not accessible to everyone. For example, some people might not have a cellphone, says Caleb Clay, administrative manager for a mobile overdose prevention site at Sunshine House in Winnipeg. "I think that physical and virtual options can work hand in hand," he said. "I don't think physical sites will ever go away." Ghosh says these sites are essential, specifically because they're often used by people who are experiencing homelessness, and can provide them with a range of support. For example, they connect people to the local mental health care system, help bandage wounds or offer drug test strips and clean needles. But drug consumption sites have historically faced a lot of backlash. Most recently in Ontario, the provincial government shut down several facilities under new legislation and said it doesn't plan on approving any more sites. Right now, NORS has 20 employees across the country and is fully funded by Health Canada until 2028. NORS operator Jodi says people who call in just want to protect themselves, without judgment. She gets it, because she was once addicted to drugs, too. "It's kind of embarrassing," one caller told Jodi the evening CBC listened in. "What's embarrassing?" Jodi asked. "You know — you don't want to tell your family, but you don't want to be alone," they said.
