Adrian Polidano

You wouldn’t know Daniel Ferriera has been diagnosed with moderate spastic diplegia cerebral palsy if you were to hear the long list of accomplishments and powerlifting goals he has smashed since his diagnosis.

Daniel is a Grandview kid. He has overcome every challenge that has come his way and never gives up. Daniel is truly living his life to its fullest potential and he isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

The Beginning

According to Daniel’s mom, Anita, Daniel was twin B born two months early in an emergency situation. He was rushed to Women’s College Hospital, going home with his family three weeks later after being bounced around to numerous hospitals. They knew almost immediately that Daniel had cerebral palsy.

Daniel’s journey with Grandview Children’s Centre began almost right away, at around 6 months old. Their experience started with infant development and the preschool outreach program, which equipped Daniel with what he needed for day-to-day activities at the YMCA daycare.

Then, came Campbell Children’s School.

“We were absolutely blessed to have two full years there,” said Anita. “That was a huge changing point for us in that it opened up bicycle options and he had to get a wheelchair at that time and we learned about Botox and serial casting.”

Whatever Campbell Children’s School recommended for Daniel, his family investigated and implemented.

“Back then we didn’t know what he was going to be able to do,” says Anita. “He has moderate spastic diplegia and it’s pretty significant so we didn’t know what that looked like for the long term. Well, we just said ‘it’s not going to stop us’ and on we went.”

Daniel and his twin brother, John, both used services at Grandview Children’s Centre. Daniel had Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy services from 6 months on. He participated in swim therapy, karate classes and music classes just to name a few. John used Speech-Language Pathology, Social Work and took part in Siblings Day as well.

While involved with Grandview, Daniel took part in anything and everything he could to keep himself busy and active.

“We took wheelchairs hiking, to the beach, we carried the kids in a wagon…nothing slowed the kids down,” says Anita.

Athletic Pursuits

Once Daniel was in mainstream school and walking on his own, he began taking part in every sport he could get his hands on. From track and field, to basketball and volleyball. He couldn’t be stopped and nothing could slow him down.

Now in grade ten, this is still very much the case. Not only is he an honour student, but Daniel is also crushing his weightlifting goals.

A few years ago, Grandview therapist Marj Kennelly asked Daniel to join the Abilities Centre. Some might say the rest is history.

Powerlifting Success

“They had a six week course there about strengthening and conditioning. I signed up for it and I really liked it,” says Daniel. “After that, it just kind of took off. My parents got me a personal trainer at the Abilities Centre and then he recommended that I try powerlifting. So, I went online and found my coach, met with him and everything has just been going from that point.”

Anita can’t say enough about how incredible it was to have Marj in their lives.

“Marj was Daniel’s Physical Therapist in Campbell Children’s School, then she picked him back up at the Abilities Centre,” says Anita. “Marj has been an amazing support working with a teenager, because now it’s his input and she works with him. He’s been able to takeover his own self-care, which is incredible.”

Daniel and his mother say that Marj would always kickstart Daniel when he needed it.

“Sometimes teenagers get into a comfy kind of pattern, which maybe isn’t the best pattern as far as muscle and bone development. Marj had an exceptional way of motivating him in being honest about how if you choose this pathway, this is what you’re choosing for your body,” says Anita. “I have a great respect for her ability to relate to the teenagers and for Daniel’s sake be able to kick-start him and get him on the right track.”

This year, Marj Kennelly is actually retiring from Grandview Children’s Centre.

Since this encouragement from Marj, Daniel has worked long and hard to become the weightlifting champion he is today.

What started at the provincial level in Ottawa, Ontario has grown. After this competition, he attended the Nationals in Calgary, receiving a 92.5 kilogram record for bench-press in para, however he also competed in the able-bodied competition as well. This result qualified him for worlds, which he attended this past May in Finland, coming 4th in the world.

What’s Next?

What’s next for Daniel? Even bigger dreams.

In December 2019, he will be participating in a para competition in Guatemala.

This will get Daniel the qualification he needs to go to Kazakhstan for the World Para competition. After this level of competition comes the Pan American Games in Peru.

We could not be more proud to have Daniel Ferriera as part of the Grandview Kids family.

The classrooms at Campbell Children’s School have been busy learning during their last few weeks before summer vacation. Each classroom has been focusing on something different and the kids were incredibly excited to share what they’d been working on.

Explorer Room

The Explorer Room has been exploring a few things during the month of June, but lately the kids have been focused on learning about shapes. Throughout this classroom, you can see posters that highlight different types of shapes and the names of those shapes. The kids have been putting shapes together to create different items and have even been incorporating shapes into their artwork.

The Explorer Room has also been curious about beards! For fun, the kids made felt beards and were wearing them around the class. The teacher’s at Campbell’s always allow the students to explore what they’re curious about!

Curiosity Corner

Believe it or not, the curiosity corner has been getting curious about circuits and coding!

Travis, one of the students from Curiosity Corner, demonstrated his ability to complete a circuit. He was not only able to complete the circuit so music played, he was also able to alter it and make the song play on a loop.

Odin, on the other hand, was able to demonstrate how he had been working on coding using the Osmo tablet. The tablet sees what Odin does on the desk in front of him, following his sequence, which moves the character across the screen. Odin was so quick with the Osmo, it was hard to keep up!

The Windows of Opportunity

This classroom has taken the nice weather as an opportunity to explore nature.

In the far corner of the classroom, you can see that the classroom fish named Bill had recently acquired a few new friends.  The classroom has a small fish tank full of tadpoles at different stages of growing. Hunter was excited to share the life stages of a frog, pointing out one of the tadpoles who had already sprouted legs.

This classroom was also excited to show the chrysalis they had, getting ready to turn from a caterpillar to a butterfly.

Cozy Corner

The students of the Cozy Corner classroom have been spending time making pickles!

They learned about how this yummy snack is made and actually made some themselves. The students were excited to share that they helped to create these snacks and some even remembered the entire process and specific ingredients for next time.

A few of the kids decided to try them, making a couple sour faces, but ultimately decided they were tasty.

We love to see how much these kids love to learn!

At Grandview Kids, keeping up-to-date with new advancements in psychological and paediatric studies is critical in order to best work with and treat the children in our care. Our research team dedicates much time and effort into reading and fact checking these studies in order to confirm their legitimacy as educational tools. Our team has compiled a list of readings to keep you in the loop with our recent research. We hope you find them helpful!

What we’re reading now:

1. Measure of Processes of Care: a review of 20 years of research. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology. 445-452. Barbara J. Cunningham., Peter L. Rosenbaum (2013).
2. Parents’ perceptions of the services provided to children with cerebral palsy in the transition from preschool rehabilitation to school-based services. Child: care, health and development. 455-463. M. W. Alsem, M. Verhoef, J. W. Gorter, L. C. M. Langezaal, J. M. A. Visser-Meily and M. Ketelaar (2016).

Here is a list of their most recent readings:

Most of these studies and articles can be found with a simple google search!

Developing a classification system of social communication functioning of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 1-7. Di Rezze, B., Rosenbaum, P., Zwaigenbaum, L., Cooley Hidecker, M. J., Stratford, P., Cousins, M., et al. (2016).

Folinic acid improves verbal communication in children with autism and language impairment: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Molecular Psychiatry, 00, 1-10. Frye, R. E.,  Slattery, J., Delhey, L., Furgerson, B., Strickland, T., Tippett, M., et al., (2016).

Clinically relevant copy number variations detected in cerebral palsy. Nature Communications. Oskoui, M., Gazzellone, M. J., Thiruvahindrapuram, B., Zarrei, M., Andersen, J., & Wei, J., et al. (2015).

Parents’ adoption of social communication intervention strategies: families including children with autism spectrum disorder who are minimally verbal. Journal of Autism Developmental Disorders, 45, 1712-1724. Shire, S. Y., Goods, K., Shih, W., Distefano, C., Kaiser, A., Wright, C., et al.  (2015).

Prenatal exposure to acetaminophen and risk of adhd.  Pediatrics, 140(5), 1-11. Ystrom, E., Gustavson, K., Brandlistuen, R. E., Knudsen, G. P., Magnus, P., Susser, E., et al.  (2017).

Stay tuned for more reading materials in the future:

We hope that you find articles like these ones as informative and educational as we have, and can make use of the information provided in them. At the very least, maybe you learned something new and exciting, like we did.

This week, local father and police officer Nafis began his five-day journey by bicycle from Queens Park to Ottawa.

Officer Nafis decided to embark on this journey because of his son, who has been diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy as well Autism. Nafis says that he aims to bring awareness to Autism and reduce the stigma that can surround a variety of special needs.

As a police officer, Nafis has seen a variety of family instances that has made him want to work towards further acceptance of all.

“What I’ve seen is during the calls that I’ve attended, is that there have been a lot of domestics where the husband blames the wife for the children having Autism or it’s the wife blaming the husband,” said Nafis.

Because of what he’s seen, Nafis thinks spreading awareness is incredibly important. He also hopes, though, to raise money for Grandview Kids.

“Even if I gained some money to reduce the wait times, I’m happy with that,” said Nafis. “A child shouldn’t have to wait to get treatment.”

As if riding his bike from Queens Park to Ottawa wasn’t challenging enough, Nafis has also decided to fast during the day.

“It’s the month of Ramadan and I’m a practicing Muslim. What I’ve done is for these five days of the bike ride, to show solidarity to the Muslims… I’m not eating meals during the daylight, but I am drinking fluids to keep hydrated,” said Nafis.

So far, his ride has been a success. He has met a variety of interesting and welcoming people.

“People in the small towns have been incredibly hospitable. They’ve offered for me to use their place to rest, or grab a meal or drink and always checked up on me to make sure I was okay whenever I stopped on my bike just to take a break,” said Nafis. “Canadians have been really hospitable, as they always are.”

What’s Next?

As of May 25th, Officer Nafis reached his final destination: Ottawa! Thanks for all your hard work, Nafis!

To support Nafis on his ride in support of Grandview Kids – visit his fundraising page.

After a long winter of playing in the snow, the kids at Campbell Children’s School are ready to embrace spring, with their teachers even bringing it into their learning curriculum.

Spring Gardens

In fact, April snow showers did indeed bring May flowers! The students are working on growing and caring for a variety of plants. From flowers, to vegetables and even grass, the students at Campbell’s have it all.

According to Janet Harper, the principal of Campbell Children’s School, “The gardens were part of the SCC (School Community Council) plan for last year, so we are continuing and growing the idea this year. We are also planting a medicine garden to support our Indigenous Studies.”

Walking into the classrooms over the last few weeks, students would be seen preparing their plants, learning about how they grow and watering them daily.

These gardens are another great example of the unique learning opportunities these kindergarten students receive. Around every corner, the teachers and early childhood educators at Campbell’s are coming up with new, fun and interactive ways for the kids to learn about day-to-day life.

Observing the Birds

Gardens aren’t the only way the students at Campbell’s are getting involved with nature, though.

Around the edges of the children’s accessible playground, soft wire cones full of material such as dryer lint, string and straw can be seen. What are these cones for? Building bird nests!

“Our School Community Council (SCC) created a plan at the beginning of the year to have bird nests that the students could observe,” said Janet. “The kits are incentive for the birds (to build their nests) and the bird houses will be attached to the classroom windows so the students can observe the building of the nests.”

These bird nest building kits will be a great way for the students to observe nature up-close in their school environment. We can’t wait to see what the birds build and if we’re lucky, see baby birds grow, too!

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On May 2, McHappy Day took place at McDonald’s restaurants nationwide, raising money in support of Ronald McDonald Houses and other local children’s charities.

This year, in the Durham Region, McDonald’s Restaurants were raising money for Ronald McDonald Houses and Grandview Kids!

After Durham Region McDonald’s owners pledged to raise $500,000 to build and support the new Grandview, they decided McHappy Day’s donations would be the first big fundraising initiative towards this total.

Last year, eight Durham McDonald’s partnered with Grandview Kids for McHappy Day. This year, 22 McDonald’s restaurants in Durham participated. Next year, McDonald’s Durham Region restaurants will be supporting Grandview once again. This time, all locations across the region will be donating to Grandview.

During McHappy day the community rallied together, lining up the McDonald’s drive-thrus throughout the community, donating change and purchasing Big Macs, Happy Meals and hot McCafe beverages throughout the day. By the end of the day, $161,441 was raised for Grandview Kids.

An entire classroom visited the Bowmanville location at lunch during their lunch break to support Grandview.

“I decided to take my students to McHappy day to support Grandview. I have a child that goes to Grandview and they know and care for him,” said local teacher Darlene Lomax. “They have always been supportive and thought it was a good cause. I was so proud of my class as they were very polite, patient and donated generously. They even sought out the donation collectors when they couldn’t see them. Another customer commented on how well behaved and respectful they were. These are a group of grade eight students that felt good about being able to help in their own way. I am proud of these students and proud to be their teacher!”

It was incredible to see the outpouring of support from all corners of Durham.

Grandview is so thankful for this partnership with McDonald’s as well as the support and involvement demonstrated by our community.

We can’t see what’s in store for Grandview next!

Want more information?

For information on what locations participated, or our partnership with McDonald’s, visit our blog about it!