Adrian Polidano

Things look different at Grandview Kids; from health screen checkpoints at the entrance to clinicians decked out in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), a number of changes have been made to the daily processes and protocols at the Centre in order to ensure the safety of families, staff and volunteers as in-person therapy appointments resume.

PPE:

PPE is used to reduce exposure and prevent transmission by droplet or contact with another person. Examples of PPE barriers include gloves, gowns, facial protection and/or eye protection including safety glasses, goggles or face shields.

Masks are required when entering Grandview Children’s Centre. All staff, volunteers, and parents will be asked to wear a mask throughout the duration of their time at the Centre. Kids under 2 years of age are not recommended to wear a mask. Children and youth with breathing difficulties and those unable to take off the mask on their own are also not recommended to be masked. Families will be provided masks upon entering the centre and do not need to bring their own from home.

Watch below as Grandview Kids Physiotherapist, Corrie, shows you how your child’s therapist may look when you meet for an in-person therapy appointment.

Health Screen:

When arriving at Grandview Kids, you will be met by a screener/greeter at a checkpoint at the main entrance to the parking lot at the Oshawa Grandview Kids site. You will be asked to complete the health screen (see below) and if you and your child pass, you will be asked to park your vehicle and await a call from a Grandview Kids staff member to invite you inside. Upon walking in the main doors you’ll see a table set up with another screener/greeter waiting. This person will ask you to perform hand hygiene and put on a mask. They will also ensure that you passed the health screen.

Waiting room:

The main waiting room has been eliminated. This is now a place for Grandview Kids staff to pick up the PPE they require for their appointments. If you are driving your child to their appointment, you will be asked to wait in your vehicle until your clinician is ready for your appointment. If you are arriving by walking or by public transit, a screener/greeter will bring you to a private waiting space until your clinician is ready.

Watch as Grandview Kid, Faith, and her mom, Amanda, demonstrate how to navigate the changes at Grandview Kids.

Meet 2-year-old Grandview kid, Matteo! He is a smiley kid who loves animals (especially elephants), reading books and singing –– in particular, his favourite, Wheels on the Bus.

Matteo has Spina Bifida (L5-S5), and when his mother Michelle was 24 weeks pregnant, she underwent fetal surgery to repair the lesion at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. This was the ninth surgery of this kind to take place in Canada. Thanks to this surgery Matteo is thriving, but he does have some challenges with mobility. He still primarily crawls to get around, his parents Michelle and Victor detail, but he also has a walker to use for when he feels like it.

Matteo’s journey at Grandview Kids started when he was a year old, with Grandview Kids Physiotherapist Kate, where he began his physiotherapy treatment. His mother Michelle states, “he was developmentally behind in gross motor [skills,] which is to be expected in a child with Spina Bifida. The first thing she worked on was teaching him how to transition from sitting to lying down (and vice versa). Once he figured this out, his whole world changed! The small act of independence was a game-changer.”

Matteo is described as a cautious kid by nature by his parents, but that has not stopped him from pushing his boundaries and achieving massive goals by any means. In February, at 21 months old, he took his first independent steps with Kate! His parents did not think that he was ready for it at the time.

His parents describe the moment as very emotional, describing that at the time of his diagnosis they assumed that their baby would not ever be able to walk, “that was what we thought Spina Bifida meant. But with the help of Kate and Grandview Kids, and other support organizations, like Spina Bifida Families of Canada, we have learned so much more about Spina Bifida and that Matteo’s future is one of endless possibilities.”

Despite the COVID-19 Pandemic hitting pause on in-facility meetings, it has certainly not rested Matteo’s progress. He still gets excited to see and play with Kate through their Zoom appointments and learn something new. “I think he really likes showing off for her…his face lit up when he saw her and I had to stop him from grabbing the computer”, Michelle says.

His parents describe Grandview Kids as “a place that helps kids who need some extra help reach their full potential in a supportive and inclusive environment.” Matteo is making tremendous strides in his progress and he is always learning and growing. Seeing his progress is inspiring.

What’s next? His parents say, “With Kate’s help, we are well on our way to reaching our goal of getting Matteo to walk independently – which has been a dream of ours since his diagnosis.” We cannot wait to continue following your story, Matteo!

The warmer weather is finally here! Grandview Recreation Therapy Assistant, Maddy, has created some activity suggestions that you can do outside as a family. These activities will provide an opportunity for your family to get outside and enjoy the warm weather while being active, creative and most importantly having FUN together!

Activity List (See pictures below)

Outdoor Movie Theatre/Drive-In
Backyard Water Park
Backyard or Neighbourhood Picnic
Backyard Fort
Treasure Hunt
Neighbourhood Zoologist
Outdoor Animal Yoga
Summer Sports

Outdoor Movie Theatre/Drive-In

Instead of staying inside to watch a movie – design your own outdoor movie theatre! You will need a place to sit, pillows and blankets to keep comfortable, an extension cord, and a T.V. or laptop. If you have a projector and a white sheet you could make a big movie screen.
To make this event more exciting – decorate seats/chairs as cars using cardboard and craft supplies. You can make your very own drive-in movie theatre in your backyard. Pick a Disney movie or a family favourite to watch with popcorn, chips, and candy snacks.

Backyard Water Park

With pools and water parks unavailable – try turning your backyard into a splash park! Some items to add could be a hose, sprinklers, small blow-up pools, buckets of water, water balloons, and sponges. Have the kids jump through the sprinkler, play duck-duck-goose with wet sponges, or dip their toes in the pool. Use slip and slides and water toys if you have those to add some extra fun!

Backyard or Neighbourhood Picnic

To make lunchtime more exciting – take it outside! You will need a basket/cooler to hold food/drinks, plates/utensils/napkins, a garbage bag, and your choice of lunch and snacks. Simple lunch foods and snacks to take outside for your picnic include sandwiches, water bottles/juice boxes, cut up fruits and vegetables, and chips. Get creative and try different foods while going on your backyard picnic!

Backyard Fort

A fun activity that can be played indoors or outdoors is building forts! Use items that can be found around the house/backyard such as chairs, blankets, pillows, cushions, tables and other items to make your fort. Add fairy lights to make your fort even more magical!

Treasure Hunt

Ahoy Mateys! Pretend you are pirates on the hunt for treasure! Before starting, set up clues ahead of time that leads you to the ‘treasure’. To start, give your children a clue that will lead them to the next clue. For example, “Go to the place that keeps your food cold”. The children will then go to the fridge/freezer to find the next clue and so on. The last clue will then lead them to their treasure (toy, snack, fun prize, etc.). You can do these inside of your home or outside. For extra fun have your children dress up as pirates/explorers and make the treasure hunts themed!

Neighbourhood Zoologist

Want to make walks or hikes more engaging for your children? Have them take a notebook and pencil to write down every animal you see in your neighbourhood. Your children can be zoologists and see how many animals they can find. Look for dogs, birds, squirrels, bunnies, etc. To add extra fun – bring binoculars, crayons to draw the animals, magnifying glasses, etc.

Outdoor Animal Yoga

Pretend you are your favourite animals while doing some exercises and stretches outside! This is a great activity for all ages as you can modify the difficulty of the yoga poses based on ability. Some yoga poses to try can be dog, cat, butterfly, flamingo, snake, frog, etc. Get creative and have your children choose what animals to do!

Summer Sports

There are a lot of fun outdoor sports and activities to play while enjoying the summer sun! Games such as Bocce Ball, Frisbee, Corn Hole, Horse Shoes and Ladder Ball are great family games to play outside. Some other activities that can be done outside are obstacle courses, chalk, bike rides, soccer, volleyball, basketball, baseball, road hockey, and many other sports! Work on increasing your skills while getting some exercise outdoors!

Use caution while outside. Wear hats, sunglasses, and sunscreen while staying hydrated!

While the doors of Grandview Children’s Centre were closed in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the work to support and care for Grandview kids and their families did not stop.

#TeamGrandview has worked tirelessly, around the clock to retool their practices and therapies to ensure children and youth were able to receive the care they needed and continue working on the goals they are working hard to achieve, albeit in a completely different and new way.

Prior to COVID-19, the heart of Grandview Kids could often be seen and heard in the halls of the Centre; with smiles and laughter booming from wall-to-wall. Over the last 12 weeks, that heart kept beating; as close to 200 clinicians were set up at home with the technology required to deliver services virtually.

Grandview’s team of Physicians even reconfigured their usual methods to partner with the Vanderbilt Institute out of Tennessee, U.S.A. to receive training on how to virtually diagnose Autism Spectrum Disorder, making Grandview Children’s Centre one of the leaders in Ontario, along with Holland Bloorview Children’s Hospital to be using this intervention.

“It has been well-received by families who’ve been waiting long periods of time to get a diagnosis for their children,” explained Grandview Kids CEO, Lorraine Sunstrum-Mann.

“We are ramping up each week. Families are getting more comfortable, clinicians are getting more comfortable and so we are seeing these virtual telepractice activities increase.”

In addition, Grandview has also provided critical in-person appointments at its main Oshawa headquarters. The team developed a prioritised ranking to determine which children would come into the centre to receive therapy in-person. Up until this time it has been only a very select group of children who predominantly have had an increase or an exacerbation of pain or loss of function. These children and youth have been coming in for an intervention at the Botox clinic.

“Staff used recommended PPE and took all the necessary precautions to be able to support those kids,” said Sunstrum-Mann.

As the Province reopens in phases, so too is Grandview. Beginning Monday, June 8 the number of in-person appointments will grow.

Schedulers are reaching out to families with children and youth with urgent needs to book therapy appointments at Grandview’s main headquarters.

The increase in in-person therapy has caused Grandview to have to retool the organisation once again, reconsidering almost every aspect of how the team delivers services.

“Working with children and the work we do is very high contact,” explained Sunstrum-Mann. “We have to think from a health and safety lens first and foremost so we have redesigned almost every process at Grandview.”

What to expect at appointment in Centre:

Appointments will be scheduled with a COVID-19 health screen for both the client and caregiver.
Main waiting room eliminated.
Only one parent/caregiver allowed to accompany child to appointment.
Screener/greeter will meet families upon arrival to their appointment and another COVID-19 health screen will occur.
Families will be asked to wait in their vehicles (if that is a possibility) until their clinician is ready and then they’ll be escorted directly to a treatment room.
If arriving by transit or by walking, families will be health screened and greeted then asked to wait in a private, designated waiting space until their appointment time when they’ll be escorted directly to the treatment room.
Staff and families will don the appropriate PPE based on Public Health Ontario’s recommendations.

Children under 2 years old, people with breathing difficulties and those unable to remove a face mask on their own are not recommended to wear a mask or face covering.

“This can be tricky. Many kids at Grandview might struggle to wear a mask because of sensory challenges or other concerns and so our staff in that case would not require the child to mask but staff themselves would increase their level of PPE so in addition to a mask they would don a face shield for example.”

Grandview has a priority ranking for clients to return to the Centre.

“Just like we’ve been seeing a very select children in-person all during COVID, the ranking will increase the number of kids based on urgent requirement to come in and see a therapist.”

This new priority ranking system is part of Phase 1 of Grandview’s reopening. This is expected to continue over the summer, gradually increasing to more groups of children as required based on their need and Grandview’s ability to maintain safety.

“There won’t be hundreds of kids next week but we plan to start gradually increasing the number of appointments over the month of June and then into the summer,” said Sunstrum-Mann. “This means for some families they’ll continue with virtual services until September and for other families, depending on the need of the child and the kind of intervention required, that they will be given an option of returning to the Centre for that in-person care.”

Sunstrum-Mann acknowledges for some families neither of those options will work and so a break in therapy may be what’s best, with plans to resume in September or whenever is best for the family.

Fast Facts:

Grandview has conducted close to 13,000 appointments during the time period of COVID, which includes telephone calls, virtual sessions and a small number of in-person interventions.
Grandview has 7 locations but will begin the reopening stage at the main Oshawa headquarters only.
In Centre staff to work limited 4-5 hour shifts, alternating schedules due to elimination of staff lunchroom and areas where people could congregate.
The maintenance team has undergone extensive training to prepare for heightened cleaning.

Meet Grandview Kids sisters, 10-year-old Teagan and 5-year-old Logan!

Both girls are long-term members of the Grandview Kids family –– Teagan first came to Grandview in 2012 and Logan in late 2016. Teagan is a bubbly and active social butterfly who loves politics, staying up to date on current events and making new friends. Logan loves to sing and dance; she is a huge bookworm, easy-going, and although she is commonly quiet, she maintains an outgoing nature. Both girls can’t get enough of travelling together on planes (especially when the destination is Disney World)! They do a lot of print work together for autism awareness, and they love to see the final project when it comes out.

Upon first meeting Teagan, you will notice that her chatty and social demeanour comes so easy to her. Upon first meeting Teagan, you will notice that her chatty and social demeanour comes easily to her. Through her time at Grandview Kids and her strong desire to thrive, learn, and grow, Teagan has become entirely verbal and can certainly strike up a conversation with anyone! In September 2012, she was officially diagnosed with autism/ADHD. You would have never guessed that, at an early age, she was given the diagnosis that she would not be able to talk. According to her parents, she showed signs indicating that she has autism and ended up receiving a referral to Grandview Kids from their Paediatrician, who noted that Grandview “would be the perfect opportunity to help them unlock and achieve all their possibilities and potential.”

According to her mother, Logan and her sister differentiate in that Logan tends to be a little shy and quiet. However, she is coming into her own more every day! She was diagnosed with autism/ADHD when she first came to Grandview. Like her big sister, Logan is fully verbal and enjoys a wide range of activities and services that Grandview offers. Her favourites are taking advantage of the Free-to-Read program and swimming lessons.

Teagan and Logan “have grown tremendously over the years past and continue to grow in the years ahead, and we have Grandview Kids to be thankful for,” their parents say. “[The] Parent Support Groups, our Social Workers for six-plus years, all of the many countless therapy blocks of Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy… and all of the appointments with Dr. Hunt, they would not be where they are today!”

Family is a term that comes up often when their mother refers to their experiences at Grandview. “Just walking in the doors at Grandview equals home and family… knowing that it is ok to act as themselves is the biggest thing, knowing that they are feeling secure in their environment”, she describes. Being a part of a welcoming and knowledgeable environment where no one is left behind makes Grandview Kids a place where they feel the most secure.

Note: This blog was originally posted in 2020.

Every family is different, but daily chores are universal. Let’s talk about laundry. We all wear clothes and we all have to wash them. The laundry pile NEVER ENDS.

What if we could get this chore done AND teach our children tons of language at the same time? The possibilities are endless!

A few tips to remember:

1. Interaction is key. Before you start layering lots of new language, let your child get used to the fun of “helping” with laundry – pulling the clothes basket, pouring, soap. When the activity is fun, they will want to come back.

2. Teach, teach, teach before you test. Your child will leave quickly if you start asking them to identify the name of every item you show them. Comment about what is happening, and model keywords when you have your child’s attention. After you say something, remember to WAIT to give your child a chance to take a turn in the conversation.

3. Use a variety of word types including: object labels (e.g. soap, washing machine, dryer, basket, clothing labels, action words (e.g. pour, carry, open, sort, fold, wash), and descriptive words (e.g. colours) – Tip: Many descriptive words can be taught as opposite-pairs (dirty/clean, empty/ full, wet/dry, same/different when matching socks!)

How can I apply early language strategies to laundry?

Here are some tried and true strategies that you can use to build your child’s early communication skills:

Join in! Do the laundry TOGETHER!

Let your child take a turn – do or say something and then WAIT to give your child an opportunity to take a turn. When your child says something, looks at you, holds something up, reaches for the soap etc., he or she has taken a in the conversation.

Respond immediately when your child takes a turn. You can:

IMITATE – copy your child’s gesture or word

INTERPRET – model a word or phrase that you think he/she means

EXPAND – if your child uses a word, copy and add a word or two (e.g. if your child says “soap” you could say “Pour the soap”)

How can I target other areas of communication for children who already have a large vocabulary?

Model grammar structures:

Pronouns: This is MY shirt, these are YOUR socks, this is daddy’s shirt – HIS shirt is bigger, here’s Emma’s dress – SHE loves this one!

Plurals: Here are my socks.

Possessive nouns: This is Evan’s sock, This is mommy’s shirt, these pants go in Aidan’s pile.

Is/are: The clothes ARE drying, the washing machine IS full, these socks ARE daddy’s, my shirt IS blue.