Adrian Polidano

Take a look around the next time you pay a visit to Grandview Kids in Oshawa. You’ll notice we’ve made a change. The accessibility symbols in our parking lot and throughout the centre have a new look.

Grandview Kids has adopted the new dynamic symbol of The Forward Movement, a symbol which shows the person in their ability, not disability.

The Forward Movement was founded by 23-year-old Dylan Itzikowitz. The idea came to fruition after Dylan became injured following an accident involving a vehicle. He was a pedestrian. The injuries he sustained resulted in him relying on the use of a wheelchair for mobility.

“I learned very quickly how inaccessible my old life was. Both physical barriers but also social. People began to see taking me out as a burden and strangers would think it was ‘so kind’ of my friends to be out with a kid in a wheelchair,” Dylan explained.

While in the hospital recovering, Dylan read about the Accessible Icon Project, the American organization that designed the Dynamic Symbol. He reached out to the organization about bringing the symbol to Canada.

“At first, I was doing it as a hobby to keep myself busy. But as it grew, I learned how it could be used as a vehicle for education and awareness. Also, our model around endorsements allowed me to develop strong personal relationships with other people doing similar work, which really nurtured my knowledge, passion, and empathy.”

Dylan has help from his friend and co-founder Jonathan. The pair are working to have the symbol adopted in towns and cities across the country. Grandview Children’s Centre is the first to display the symbols in Durham Region but we have hope that we won’t be the last.

Thank you to The Forward Movement for helping Grandview Kids move forward with accessibility and awareness. Let’s make this change in symbol spark conversations about the importance of physical and social inclusion for people of all abilities.

Get a Smile, Give a Smile!

From September 11-17, purchase a Smile Cookie for $1 at Tim Hortons restaurants in Durham Region and support Grandview Kids.

The Smile Cookie campaign started in 1996 in Hamilton, Ontario. Since then, more than $46 million has been raised to date.

Purchase a Smile Cookie at one of the 61 participating Tim Hortons locations in Durham Region and your full $1 from cookie sales will be donated to Grandview Children’s Centre & Foundation.

A full list of participating restaurants will be posted soon.

Want to treat your family, friends and/or office with Smile Cookies? Print and fill out the Smile Cookie PRE-ORDER form here. Completed forms can be submitted to your closest Durham Region Tim Hortons Restaurant. You must place your order no less than 48 hours before your desired pickup.

Thank you for your continued support of Grandview Kids.

For the past five years, the staff at Intact Insurance have gone above and beyond to support Grandview Kids. Grandview Kids has benefited not only from their generous donations but from their volunteer work as well.

On July 12, 2017 about 30 employees left their day jobs behind to come and help beautify and clean-up the Oshawa Grandview Kids site. The Intact team helped with a number of maintenance tasks, including painting parking spots, speed bumps and curbs, de-weeding and mulching flower beds, and washing the centre’s exterior windows. It was a hot day and there’s no doubt some of the work was tedious, but not one of you complained. We are so grateful for your time, hard work and your positive attitudes!  The Grandview Kids attending Summer Camp at the facility also enjoyed meeting you and helping out.

From all of us here at Grandview Kids, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We look forward to welcoming you back again next year!

The ‘I Am A Promise’ scholarship award was presented to two very deserving recipients this year. The award is a bursary for clients of Grandview Children’s Centre who have plans for post-secondary education. It was established by Ruth Althouse, a former principal of Campbell Children’s School, the co-located education partner of Grandview.

Ruth presented the awards recently to two clients of Grandview’s Adolescent Program; Carmen Lalonde and Sam Keane

Carmen Lalonde

Carmen has been accepted into the Bachelor of Business Administration program at the University of Toronto. Carmen said she applied for the ‘I Am A Promise’ award because it would be of great assistance in her post-secondary journey. She said it would lighten the load of costs that she will soon incur. Once Carmen has completed her degree, she would like to pursue a Chartered Professional Accountant accreditation or complete her Masters of Business Administration (MBA).  She recognizes that these are big goals that she has set for herself, and this award will help set her in the right direction. Grandview believes in you, Carmen!

Sam Keane

Sam will be attending Durham College’s Sports Administration Management program this September. It’s a program he’s been dreaming about attending since grade nine. Sam hopes that completing this program will help land him a job in the hockey world. That is his number one passion in life! He has been volunteering with the Oshawa Generals Hockey Club as a Fan Services Representative and plans to continue doing so while he’s studying at Durham College. Grandview is so proud of you, Sam! You’ll do great.

Congratulations to both Carmen and Sam! We wish you every success in your post-secondary adventures.

1,200 books have been added to Grandview Kid’s ‘Free to Read’ program thanks to a generous donation from students at Oshawa’s Coronation Public School.

Boxes of books were delivered to Grandview’s Oshawa location on June 27 by a group of grade four and five students from Coronation’s Junior Leadership Team. The books were collected over the course of the school year through a series of book drives. The team of students got the word out through advertising in the school’s halls and organizing and putting on announcements over the school’s PA system. Their goal was to gather as many donations as they could. We think they did just that!

Grandview Kids is so grateful for their efforts. Many clients will now get the chance to bring a book home thanks to the students’ hard work.

Dear parents, families and caregivers in our autism community:

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of announcing a sweeping transformation in how this province provides services and support for children and youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) through the new Ontario Autism Program (OAP). This transformation will make Ontario a leader in this country and around the world for autism services and support.

As we begin implementing the OAP, I want to make sure all of you have the information you need for the transition to go as smoothly as possible. If you have any questions or would like more information, I invite you to visit ontario.ca/autism.

Implementation of the new program will begin on June 26 and will continue until the OAP is fully implemented over the next year. We are doing this incrementally because we want the program to succeed. We need to do this right for you and for your children. I want you to have confidence that the new Ontario Autism Program puts the needs of children, youth, and families first.

As we work towards fully implementing the new Ontario Autism Program across our province, I have insisted our work be built on three guiding principles: choice, consistency, and confidence.

I want to be clear: all children and youth up to the age of 18 who have a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder from a qualified professional will be eligible for the new OAP. This means we are not imposing parameters on the number of hours a child receives or the duration of their intervention. The new program is family-centred, and services will be flexible, relevant and responsive to the needs of individual children and youth with autism, regardless of age.

I also want to reassure everyone waiting for service that your spot on the waitlist will not be compromised. We are working to decrease wait times as quickly as possible and create thousands of new spaces over the next four years.

After hearing from many of you how difficult it can be to navigate support and services when you have a child or youth with ASD, I am excited to share with you that there will be a single point of access to the new OAP. This means starting June 26, you and your family will be able to call a number in each of the nine service areas across our province to access information and services. Please visit ontario.ca/autism for the toll-free number for your OAP single point of access.

Beyond this, once fully implemented, each family will have an OAP Family Support Worker to help you navigate the OAP; an OAP Family Service Plan that is flexible and catered to your child’s goals, needs, and changing development; as well as an OAP Family Team, if you want one, to promote partnerships with other professionals working with you and your child.

Delivering the best services for children with autism means that we must pay attention to the quality, accountability, and regulatory oversight of the services being provided in the new OAP. There will be a permanent direct funding option in the new program by the end of the year, and whether you choose direct funding or direct service, I want you to be confident that your child is receiving the highest quality of care. This is why I have directed the ministry to work towards establishing strong oversight of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) services to achieve this goal. We are already working with our partners at the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to work through options to ensure we have strong accountability mechanisms in place.

I am committed to keeping an open door and working with you as we move forward with these changes. I am going to continue to engage with families, caregivers, advocates, clinicians and providers on the design and implementation of the new OAP. I invite any of you who would like to share your experiences and hear the experiences of other families across Ontario to join my tele-town halls this summer. The first session is on June 27, at 8:00 p.m. If you are unable to join at this time, we will host more sessions in the coming months, and our website will be continuously updated with additional information. More information about the tele-town hall can be found in the “In the News” section at ontario.ca/autism.

At the end of the day, children and youth are the most important individuals in any conversation we have about Autism Spectrum Disorder. I look forward to working with you as we implement this program to ensure it is something we can be proud of for years to come and as a result, make a difference in the lives of children and youth with autism.

Sincerely,

Michael Coteau
Minister