Clinical Services

It was another year full of opportunities for the clinical service team!

Transform the client and family experience across all life stages

How can we improve the Grandview experience for children, youth and families? That is a question we often ask ourselves and last year was no different. Except…we started at the very beginning. We slowed down the intake process, added service navigation to our team and removed the requirement of a physician’s referral for occupational therapy and physiotherapy. A medical referral is still required for medical services.

Now, when we receive a referral, the family can expect:

A telephone call from a team assistant within 48 hours to acknowledge receipt of the referral, confirmation and/or gathering of general information, and scheduling of an appointment with a service navigator.
A scheduled Discovery Interview with a service navigator will be booked within 6 weeks, where the strengths and needs of the client and family are explored, Grandview services are offered when an eligibility criterion is met. All families are supported by connections to appropriate community agencies and resources.

The feedback from families has been very positive!

“…as a parent, getting to speak to someone promptly has really been helpful. I understand I will still need to wait for referrals, but speaking with a real person on the phone was very reassuring and made me feel more empowered and capable of navigating this process. Your assistance has been invaluable.”

Early identification and early intervention are critical to a child’s development. Families report that some information closer to the time that a concern is identified would be helpful. In response to this need, Grandview launched or expanded parent sessions to provide some general strategies for children with specific needs. “Let’s get started!” Series for children referred for speech and language services by their 2nd birthday, over 20 workshop and groups topics with names like Tricky Transitions, Beyond the Walls and Communicate Learn and Play for families with children with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, are just a few offerings. Over 1000 individuals registered for these services with more than third attending more than one workshop.

Champion a connected system

Grandview and our clients and families are part of a broader system. We are pleased to work with families and community partners to co-create a system that works for families.

We had another very successful year co-hosting the Annual Spring into Literacy Conference. Grandview hosted the 7th Annual Spring into Literacy Conference in partnership with EarlyON Child and Family Centres, Durham District and Durham Catholic District School Boards, and Carea Community Health. There were over 150 participants, vendors and volunteers in attendance. That is a lot of community capacity supporting literacy development in children from birth to 6 years of age!

Grandview continued to collaborate with local school boards and community agencies to facilitate school success for children with special needs. Activities included working with the Speech and Language Transition Committee, “Building Blocks for School Success” program, School’s Cool program, and working closely with the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital Communication and Writing Aids team.

The other big project this year was the transfer of the School Based Rehabilitation services from the Central East Local Health Integration Network to Grandview. Grandview is managing previously established contracts with four service provider organizations (SPOs) to provide speech-language pathology, occupational therapy and physiotherapy services through the School Based Rehabilitation program. From January to March 2019, the SPOs completed almost 8,000 visits with children in Durham Region and Scarborough!

Build Capacity

Grandview supports staff and partners to continue to develop competencies needed for specialized services. We were excited to host a number education sessions attended by staff, families and community partners. These sessions included, but were not limited to:

Picture Exchange Communication System-Level 1;
Motor Speech 201;
the Hanen Centre’s 4 I’s to Socialize; and
Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge –Level 1.

Grandview also had the honour of presenting posters and workshops at the Empowered Kids Ontario 2018 Conference: Movement and Mindfulness Group, Sensory Program Service Pathway, Preschool Consultation using Supportive Personnel, and Starting the Journey – Universal Services.

As we head into another year, we are already looking for more ways to improve the Grandview experience for children, youth and families we serve.