Case Study: Vanier Children's Services

Many children, including those with exceptionalities and special needs are often integrated into child care environments including organizations and after school programs. Quality care that responds positively while providing appropriate accommodations catering to a wide range of capabilities, age, and temperaments of children is crucial to learning and development. Vanier Children’s Services, in Southwestern Ontario works with children and youth from 0 to 14 years of age and their families with behavioural and emotional issues. This is inclusive of children who are coping with daily stresses they encounter including deaths, divorce, neglect, parental substance abuse, parental mental health issues, violence, or problems that result from parenting
Through these services, Vanier’s vision is to work with families, professionals, and the community to foster an emotionally healthy, compassionate and supportive environment to help all children strive to their full potential. Vanier differs to other organizations that serves and accommodates individuals with exceptionalities in a few ways, first of all, it is a member of the Pillar Nonprofit Network and is an accredited Children’s Mental Health Centre. Secondly, the organization offers interpretation services as Vanier Children’s Services understands the importance of providing assistance in a family’s first language and it is also a way to reach out to communities who may need the help they offer. Vanier’s diverse team of members have the ability to provide interpretation, sign language, and bilingual services in English, French and on occasion, Spanish. The costs of mental and behavioural health services, methods of assessment and intervention, and the importance of clear communication within the context of Vanier Children’s services will be further
Diagnoses of emotional disturbances are not usually made prior the age of six due to the fact that the development of children have not been sufficiently stable as of yet to warrant a clear diagnostic picture of these disorders as opposed to adjustment disorders (Winzer, 2007). However, views of etiology vary with the adoption of different conceptual models, as behaviours could potentially be a result of stress or traumatic events due to the inability of children to cope or process situations. As for behavioural disorders, the difficulty in assessment lays upon the fact that there is currently no universally accepted definition. There is a continuum of disturbance from mild to severe in addition to different expectations based on values, culture, and religion, causing an inability to provide a benchmark of what is considered “normal”. As health care professionals and educators providing services to these children, it requires them to use “detective skills” to pick up on cues as these emotional disturbances are not always externally visible (Winzer,