Merry Christmas!! I hope you are all having beautiful, laid-back time with your family. It’s a wonderful time of year to look back and see everything that we’ve accomplished! For Kindred Kids, it means looking back at our very first year of operation!
For 2023, professional development was a huge part of our year. We had very high hopes to attain a centre in the first quarter of the year. We were not able to get our centre, but that allowed us more time to think about how we were going to support the children in the community while we wait for our Kindred Kids home. During the first quarter, we learned as much as we could about neurodiversity and how to include this in our practice. This new vocabulary and understanding has been embedded into our day-to-day practice.
In the second quarter, Kindred Kids began taking more action. We couldn’t wait any longer to work with children. We used part of this time for planning and exploration of where our temporary workplace would be. Just before June, we were able to start assessing children and seeing them individually. This was such a special time as Erin, the Lead Practitioner, was getting a little antsy not being able to play all week!
The third quarter was the start of our Group ESDM sessions. This was a time for children to get to know each other while they learned the structure and format of our sessions. We were able to bring Jessica, our Early Childhood Therapy Assistant, into the mix. The dynamic of each session changed with the addition of all the interests, experiences, and backgrounds. This creativity is now applied to adapt each of our groups for the children that attend.
Now, we are at the end of our fourth and final quarter. Kindred Kids welcomed our second practitioner, Samantha. Adding Sam has allowed us to grow again, which means that we are getting much needed early intervention to more children. Our groups are continuing to grow with the addition of new families, and it won’t be long before we full… or adding another practitioner!
Although we haven’t quite found our centre yet, Kindred Kids is hopeful that 2024 is our year! We already have a lovely group of children to support and hope that in the new year they can access our full intervention plan. Thank you so much to everyone that has made this a fun, successful year for Kindred Kids. A very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to all our families!
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