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Delivering High-Quality, Client Centred Care

2021/22 in Review

Leadership

Our COVID-19 Response

Throughout the fiscal year, the safety and well-being of our staff and clients remained our number one priority. As part of our COVID-19 support, we provided educational resources and connected clients, families and caregivers with access to a COVID-19 vaccine clinic that best met their needs. We hosted 19 vaccination clinics for people with developmental disabilities, their caregivers, and families, vaccinating 927 individuals. We also completed targeted outreach that led to specialized clinics for Chinese populations and individuals in Scarborough with intellectual or developmental disabilities. The success of our vaccine clinics led to other organizations adopting our clinic process to further support the community.

We partnered with University Health Network to host vaccine clinics in downtown Toronto and Scarborough. We also worked closely with SickKids to refer clients who would be better served by their clinic and with Toronto Paramedic Services to refer individuals needing homebound vaccinations.

New Leadership for Toronto Programs

This fiscal year, the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services selected Surrey Place as the new lead agency of the Blind-Low Vision Early Intervention Program, the Infant Hearing Program, and the Preschool Speech and Language Program for the Toronto Region. The change was to have these services led by a single, community-based, multi-service agency specializing in clinical rehabilitative services. As a result, the Ministry selected Surrey Place as the lead agency to deliver these essential clinical early identification and intervention services to children and their families beginning April 1, 2022.

As a long-standing agency delivering the Preschool Speech and Language Program and the Blind-Low Vision Early Intervention Program, we have existing support and administrative efficiencies enabling our capacity to integrate these services seamlessly. We also created a dedicated project team, built our capacity, and added new roles to support the needs of these new and expanded services. This new programming will allow for a streamlined service navigation pathway between clinical service providers, a reduction in wait times, and improved child health outcomes through earlier identification and intervention for children experiencing vision loss, hearing impairments and delays in their speech and language development.

Reconciliation

At Surrey Place, we are committed to increasing Indigenous inclusivity, indigenizing our practices, and building Indigenous partnerships to better work with and serve Indigenous people and communities. We strongly believe in the value of building knowledge and understanding of Indigenous perspectives, worldviews, histories, cultures, and belief systems. It is essential to enable steps towards true reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

In 2018, Surrey Place committed to ongoing Indigenous education for employees to provide greater Indigenous inclusion, access, and reconciliatory efforts in alignment with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action and Surrey Place’s strategic direction. This year, we offered two live training sessions for staff presented by our Indigenous Advisor, Lindsay Kretschmer. Last fiscal year, 170 Surrey Place staff, partners and board members were trained in Indigenous Cultural Awareness, which aims to provide critical insights into the past, present and future toward greater awareness, empathy and understanding of Indigenous issues.

Candlelight Ceremony

On our journey with Truth and Reconciliation, stressing the importance of providing a truthful account of the abuses suffered in residential schools and other harms towards Indigenous peoples is paramount. On June 2, 2021, we held an online candlelight ceremony to acknowledge the mass grave of 215 Indigenous children discovered on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School within the unceded lands of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation territory. Surrey Place staff and the broader community came together to honour the lives that were lost and to show support for the grieving and healing of families and community members. The discovery reminds us of the horrific reality of residential schools and the work required to build stronger relations with Indigenous peoples as part of the path to reconciliation.

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day

To acknowledge and pay respect to the residential school children’s lives taken and to show our firm belief that every child matters, we used this important day to share educational resources with staff and created a video for our social channels about how Surrey Place is taking continuous steps toward building stronger relations with Indigenous communities.

MMW Webinar Series

In February 2022, the Surrey Place Mashkikiiwininiwag Mazinaatesijigan Wichiiwewin (MMW) Clinical Videoconferencing Program hosted Aging Matters: Indigenous Perspectives, a three-part webinar series presented by Bi pi maadzing zaagidwin teg jichaaming (Circle of Life in the Spirit of Love Project). This project was funded by a one-year grant from AIDE Canada and presented the unique needs, challenges and strengths of Indigenous adults aging with intellectual or developmental disabilities in Northern Ontario.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Calls to Action

In July 2021, Surrey Place issued a letter to our local Member of Parliament, The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, requesting advocacy and support for adopting The Truth and Reconciliation Committee Calls to Action in the area of Health. By sending this letter, we hope to receive support from our government to join us in this vital work.

Delivering High-Quality, Client Centred Care

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Ensuring a Sustainable Organization

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Investing in Our Team

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Communicating with Purpose

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By 2 months

Has your baby had their hearing screened? YES NO

By 6 months

Does the child?

Startle in response to loud noises? YES NO
Turn to where a sound is coming from? YES NO
Make different cries for different needs (hungry, tired)? YES NO
Watch your face as you talk? YES NO
Smile/laugh in response to your smiles and laughs? YES NO
Imitate coughs or other sounds such as ah, eh, buh YES NO

By 9 months

Does the child?

Respond to their name? YES NO
Respond to the telephone ringing or a knock at the door? YES NO
Understand being told no? YES NO
Get what they want through using gestures (reaching to be picked up)? YES NO
Play social games with you (Peek-a-Boo)? YES NO
Enjoy being around people? YES NO
Babble and repeat sounds such as babababa or duhduhduh? YES NO

By 12 months

Does the child?

Follow simple one-step directions (sit down)? YES NO
Look across the room to a toy when adult points at it? YES NO
Consistently use three to five words? YES NO
Use gestures to communicate (waves hi/bye, shakes head for no)? YES NO
Get your attention using sounds, gestures and pointing while looking at your eyes? YES NO
Bring you toys to show you? YES NO
Perform for social attention and praise? YES NO
Combine lots of sounds together as though talking (abada baduh abee)? YES NO
Show an interest in simple picture books? YES NO

By 18 months

Does the child?

Understand the meaning of in and out, off and on? YES NO
Point to more than 2 body parts when asked? YES NO
Use at least 20 words consistently? YES NO
Respond with words or gestures to simple questions (Where's teddy? What's that?)? YES NO
Demonstrate some pretend play with toys (gives teddy bear a drink, pretends a bowl is a hat)? YES NO
Make at least four different consonant sounds (p ,b, m, n, d, g, w, h)? YES NO
Enjoy being read to and sharing simple books with you? YES NO
Point to pictures using one finger? YES NO

By 2 years

Does the child?

Follow two-step directions (Go find your teddy bear and show it to Grandma.)? YES NO
Use 100 to 150 words? YES NO
Use at least two pronouns (you, me, mine)? YES NO
Consistently combine two to four words in short phrases (Daddy hat. Truck go down.)? YES NO
Enjoy being around other children? YES NO
Begin to offer toys to other children and imitate other children's actions and words? YES NO
Use words that are understood by others 50 to 60 per cent of the time? YES NO
Form words or sounds easily and without effort? YES NO
Hold books the right way up and turn the pages? YES NO
Read to stuffed animals or toys? YES NO
Scribble with crayons? YES NO

By 30 months

Does the child?

Understand the concepts of size (big/little) and quantity (a little/a lot, more)? YES NO
Use some adult grammar (two cookies, bird flying, I jumped)? YES NO
Use over 350 words? YES NO
Use action words such as run, spill, fall? YES NO
Participate in some turn-taking activities with peers, using both words and toys? YES NO
Demonstrate concern when another child is hurt or sad? YES NO
Combine several actions in play (puts blocks in the train and drives the train, drops the blocks off.)? YES NO
Put sounds at the beginning of most words? YES NO
Use words with two or more syllables or beats (ba-na-na, com-pu-ter, a-pple)? YES NO
Recognize familiar logos and signs involving print (Stop sign)? YES NO
Remember and understand familiar stories? YES NO

By 3 years

Does the child?

Understand who, what, where and why questions? YES NO
Create long sentences using five to eight words? YES NO
Talk about past events (trip to grandparents house, day at child care)? YES NO
Tell simple stories? YES NO
Show affection for favourite playmates? YES NO
Engage in multi-step pretend play (pretending to cook a meal, repair a car)? YES NO
Talk in a way that most people outside of the family understand what she/he is saying most of the time? YES NO
Have an understanding of the function of print (menus, lists, signs)? YES NO
Show interest in, and awareness of, rhyming words? YES NO
Read to stuffed animals or toys? YES NO
Scribble with crayons? YES NO

By 4 years

Does the child?

Follow directions involving three or more steps (First get some paper, then draw a picture and give it to Mommy)? YES NO
Use adult type grammar? YES NO
Tell stories with a beginning, middle and end? YES NO
Talk to try and solve problems with adults and with other children? YES NO
Show increasingly complex imaginary play? YES NO
Talk in a way that is understood by strangers almost all the time? YES NO
Generate simple rhymes (cat-bat)? YES NO
Match some letters with their sounds (letter b says buh, letter t says tuh)? YES NO