Date: Saturday, September 15th

Time: Pre-game reception 6-7pm

1st period 7pm sharp

Location: Flames Central

Greetings Let’s Talk Hockey Fans

I am honored to have you on the guest list for a great cause, PREP. I know I have big shoes to fill after Kelly Hrudey and thank him for introducing me to PREP. I too believe in the services they provide to families who have a child with Down Syndrome.

On September 15th I am looking forward to being a rookie host with a great team behind me. I will make an effort to bring both a player and management perspective to the hot hockey topics of the day. Stay tuned for my BIG guest announcements, as you get the chance to have an inside look at all things “Flames”.

Veterans are the heart of the Let’s Talk Hockey team and the students PREP so proudly serves benefit greatly from your ongoing support. Please join me at Flames Central for my rookie debut as host. It will be fun to get the fans out to kick of the 2012 season!

See you on September 15th,
Craig Conroy

PREP offers exceptional, therapy and family support services for children with Down Syndrome from birth to adulthood. With PREP’s support these students are becoming active, contributing citizens of Calgary. Inclusion starts in the home, continues in school, extends to community and ultimately results in meaningful employment. Thanks to Let’s Talk Hockey PREP has a team that makes a difference in the lives of over 200 students a year.

Select this link to download the Individual RSVP Form (PDF File)

Select this link to download the Sponsor Registration RSVP Form (PDF File)

Although we run in a pack, we do run alone. The great oxymoron in running is that although only one person is “first” every participant is a “winner”. In the running community we celebrate personal achievement. It is a sport that promotes community, which is why group runs, running clinics, family fun runs, and charity races are so popular.  At a running event, you see the heart in a community.

Runners come in all shapes, sizes and ability levels. You want to see diversity, watch a road race!  Pounding the pavement we are often so intent on finishing the race that we don’t notice everyone around us.  It is when we gather at the finish line to cheer on family & friends, relax at the post race festivities, & watch the awards that we truly realize what an inclusive community Calgary runners enjoy.

The PREP Program is returning to the Calgary Marathon Charity Challenge for our 2^nd year. We are back because Calgary’s running community welcomed our families with open arms and open minds. It was very cool to see our students with Down syndrome crossing the finishing line with HUGE smiles.  Deanne Frere speaks for all PREP moms when she relates that “watching our son run his heart out alongside hundreds of other kids was an incredibly fitting analogy for our journey of inclusion”.

Every life journey has its challenges and celebrations. Good health and fitness strengthens the individual for the journey ahead. We believe in the benefits of running for everyone. Participating in this race sparks change and sends a powerful message about inclusion.  Our t-shirts say it all; “I believe, I belong” and in the spirit of competition the back challenges our other runners to; “Just Watch Me”.

If you are interested in registering for the Calgary Marathon Charity Challenge, please register at http://www.calgarymarathon.com/ . If you have any questions, contact Jan-Marie (jan-marie@prepprog.org; 403-282-5011 ext. 112) or Lora (lora@prepprog.org; 403-282-5011).

Submitted by:
Barbara Tien, Executive Director, The PREP Program, Runner
Lora Baker, SLP, The PREP Program, Runner

[Show as slideshow]

Learn how PREP partners with parents to advocate for each child’s health, wellness and inclusion in home, school and community life.

Talk to our staff and plan a visit!

Select this link to read more about Early Learning

February 29, 2012

It is evidenced by the number who attended this presentation, that knowledge about the prevention of bullying is vital information.

Kim Edwards, B.Ed. from Dare to Care defined bullying; speaking about the need to teach empathy and take action as bullying behaviors increase with age.  By providing examples, parents learned how to help in discreet, yet effective ways.  Kim provided a number of techniques and strategies we can teach our children.  The attendees’ feedback stressed the value of learning the HA HA SO strategies.  It is also important to praise your child’s kindness towards others.  Let your child know that kindness is valued.

Speak Up for Your Child with Barbara Tien

November 21 – 24, 2011

This very important and informative workshop was well attended by families and PREP staff.

Many parents at the Speak Up for Your Child workshop quickly came to the realization that they really do not know with certainty how well their child is doing in school. Completing this questionnaire gave them some talking points to meet with their teacher or principal about. In the workshop parents learned what to ask and who to go to for answers. Clearly communicating your expectations can make the difference between a mediocre or a great year. It is up to you!

Audiology Presentation – November 2, 2011

This very important and informative workshop was well attended by families and PREP staff.

Following is a brief overview of the information presented.

The audience was captivated as Dr. Anne Woolliams, M.Sc., Au.D., R.Aud, Aud(C), F-AAA spoke of the importance of annual audiology testing for children with Down syndrome. She began her power point presentation by speaking about the physiological structure of the ear; describing how an individual with Down syndrome is susceptible to ear infections and conductive hearing loss due to the eustachian tube being smaller and narrower and also the alterations in the skull base. Dr. Woolliams discussed the effectiveness of Pressure Equalization Tubes. As a child with Down syndrome gets older their hearing can change and hearing loss can develop. She advised the audience that it is of utmost importance for parents to act as advocates for their child – if you know your child is having difficulties with their ear (fluid, hearing loss, tubes) it is important to inform your Physician. It is necessary for Physicians to document the frequency of these concerns and to aggressively control ear infections to avoid permanent damage. She also gave a detailed overview of audiology services. An explanation of an audiogram and levels of hearing loss was provided. Hearing is of utmost importance for language development, therefore the use of hearing aids for even minimal loss to ensure optimal speech and language development is necessary. Various forms of FM systems are available and are certainly helpful in a classroom. As you can see, there was a large amount of valuable information covered in a short time.

Jan Stewart, Hard of Hearing Services Coordinator, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Society (DHHS) has been hard of hearing since birth. She described her personal experiences of what being hard of hearing was like as a child, and now as an adult. From this description came a number of strategies used for hearing (speech reading, visual pics, personal FM systems, etc). Jan also described the change in equipment over the years. Hearing aides are now much more comfortable and a great deal more effective today than even a few years ago. As Jan is a visual learner she brought a special vibrating alarm clock (just one example of the many tools that can be used to assist those who have hearing loss), various pamphlets and a booklet titled The Hearing Loss Handbook Ear Smarts. We have a limited number of copies available. Please contact Debbi at Family Support if you would like one.

We are thankful to both Dr. Woolliams and Jan for sharing their time and expertise.

Hearing Loss – Detection, Treatment & Ongoing Management

Hearing loss in children with Down syndrome is typically treatable, yet many children go undiagnosed. Is your child being tested annually per medical guidelines? Research indicates that up to 80% of individuals with Down syndrome will have some problem with hearing.  Early detection and intervention at any age makes a huge difference to learning. Children with undetected hearing loss are at high risk for speech delay and may get isolated socially or labeled as a behavior problem. The key is proper medical management of colds and ear infections and seeing an audiologist annually. Proper care will lessen the possibility of permanent hearing loss. Practical adaptations can help you, your child, and his teachers cope with the impact of hearing loss at home and in the classroom.

You will learn:

• How hearing loss impacts learning and behavior
• Options for audiology testing in Calgary and area
• Questions to ask you family doctor
• Great ideas to share with your child’s teacher to assist your child to hear better in the classroom.

PREP Family Support is pleased to welcome guest speakers:

Dr. Ann Woolliams, B.A., M.Sc, Au.D., Audiologist & Owner of Sound Wave Hearing

Jan Stewart, Hard of Hearing Services Coordinator, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services (DHHS)        

RSVP by October26 to Debbi Thompson @ 403 282-5011 ext. 126  Or email debbi@prepprog.org

A minimum of 10 registrants is required.

An email confirmation will be sent out to all registered on Oct. 31.

Light refreshments will be served.

Our family applied for the dog in Nov 2006. Once accepted, we then had to wait three long years and were expected to fundraise $18 000 towards the dog. We did manage to raise the full amount thanks to friends, family and Calgary’s Petland stores which ran a fundraiser called “Paws for Autism”.

Rowan loves his dog. He talks to her, reads to her, sleeps with her, feeds her, walks her, and just wants to be with her. Whitby is legally permitted in public places so she accompanies Rowan to the movies, to the mall, to Prep, to the grocery store and even on airplanes. Her presence calms him and he settles much more easily into new situations when she is by his side. We hope that by January of next year Rowan will be completely independent with Whitby and thus able to take her to school. It would be nice if he could have his best buddy with him when he heads off to Jr. High School in September of 2010.

If you see Rowan and Whitby at Prep feel free to ask if you can pat her. She and Rowan both love the attention.

How to Live in the World of Possibility

My first daughter was diagnosed with Down syndrome soon after she was born. Her language is delayed. Her abstract thinking abilities impaired. She is easily distracted and sometimes refuses to follow or listen to directions. She has some autistic-like tendencies. She has a bilateral hearing loss. Hearing aides have been recommended but she refuses to wear them. She has an uncorrected vision of 20/200 and a corrected vision of 20/60 at a distance. She is highly farsighted with nystagmus. She can be extremely stubborn and sometimes makes inappropriate comments. She can perform some functional tasks but has trouble with basic tasks like counting money and making change. She can follow simple cooking instructions. She can make her bed.

My second daughter is a sophomore in college. She is majoring in science. She loves anatomy and physiology, biology and anything connected to science. She loves to read but because of a vision loss she needs to take frequent breaks. She has a hearing loss so it helps if she can see the speaker and keep background noise to a minimum. Recently, she has become very interested in sketching portraits. Because of this new interest she is taking a course in advanced drawing. She is popular – the life of the party. She loves to flirt – in fact, her senior class in high school voted her most flirtatious. She has many friends. She has the ability to make other people feel welcome and loved. She is persistent, loves having fun and has a great personality. She loves to dance, travel and write to and receive letters from friends. She dreams of starting her own rock band.

The story of my two daughters illustrates the power of our words and our perspectives. It illustrates the power of the scientific processes and the labels we continue to use to diagnose, predict and sort people.

How? Both stories are about the same person, my daughter. The stories “differ in the way they are constructed – in their purpose – in their consequences – and in the assumptions they shape.” (O’Brien & Mount)

The story about my “first daughter” was constructed from exact words and phrases found on my daughter’s school and employment related documents, written in the language of professionals, educators, psychologists and job specialists. It tells what she can’t do, won’t do and why. In this story, she is in need of repair, and thus in need of lots of professionals to fix her. The purpose of this story, in part, is compliance with federal and state regulations. The first consequence is that we (and the rest of society) accept the story as true and begin to adopt the language and beliefs and practices. Once that happens, the sad consequence is segregation, a client’s life, a planned life surrounded by professionals. The assumption in the story about my first daughter is that she is needy, broken, difficult and – most important – that her life should be safe and predictable surrounded by the service system.

The story about my “second” daughter was constructed from love, experience and by paying attention to gifts. It is told from the perspective that my daughter has immeasurable capacity once she has a valued and connected life in her community. The story about my second daughter is shaped (and lived) from a capacity perspective. This story is told in “context” of a life connected to others, a life that unfolds in exciting and unexpected ways precisely because of the many relationships she has. The consequences of this story are community and risk taking and surprises. The consequence is citizenship. The assumption in the story about my second daughter is that she is person who has capacity, interests, gifts, and contributions especially when her life unfolds in the presence of and participation in community.

The story of my two daughters represents two different worlds – the world of measurement and the world of possibility. Often, as my daughter grew up, I felt the overwhelming gravity of the world of measurement, pulling her toward specialized services and segregation with the promise of safety, and simplicity, and repair. In the world of measurement you get to know others by measuring and comparing. But it is the world of possibility that I find most powerful and promising.

The story about my second daughter is the story of possibility. It is the NEW story that we must learn to tell. It is the story told (and lived) from a capacity perspective, from a community perspective. We can learn to tell this NEW story by first examining our own perceptions and advocacy efforts. We can learn to tell the NEW story by listening, seeing, asking, discovering and taking action in the direction of gifts and capacities. We can learn to LIVE the NEW story by supporting rich relationships and taking actions that lead to more inclusive opportunities in our schools and in our communities, for it is these rich inclusive and ordinary experiences that will yield the context necessary to live in the world of possibility.

Freeing the book from its pages, the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus in Camrose is getting rid of the written word entirely in its living book series.

With titles like A Father’s Heart, A Bra and a Gun, Dodged a Bullet and Six Feet Under, the books haven’t been written yet and likely never will be.

The books are simply the people themselves, people with unique experiences willing to sit down, answer questions and tell a group of undergraduate students their story.

“In society, there’s too many hush-hush topics — you shouldn’t talk about that or you shouldn’t ask unless they mention it,” says Nancy Goebel, head librarian and human rights advocate on campus.

“Yes, you need to be sensitive and respectful, but it’s good to talk about it and it’s good to learn from others.”

That’s the message she’s trying to get across to students.

Members of the public are free to drop in as well at the sessions, which run today through Thursday evening.

The idea of a living library comes from folk music festivals in Scandinavia, where curious festival-goers would meet in cafes and ask questions to those who declared they had a story to tell.
They were originally designed to help people break down prejudices and stereotypes.

Goebel says Augustana has expanded the concept to bring in people with significant or unique life experiences.

Six Feet Under is a conversation with a funeral director.

Dodged a Bullet is a survivor of the NATO bombing in Belgrade. A Bra and a Gun is a female police officer.

Other books feature a professor who still carries memories of growing up on the wrong side of the tracks in Winnipeg, a provincial court judge who struggles to keep cynicism at bay, a transgendered person and a young man living with serious disabilities.

Goebel is trying to convince professors at Augustana to let students reference the living books to whom they talk in undergraduate research papers.

A Father’s Heart is about Dale Swanson’s journey to become a father.

His first child, Brendyn, was born with Down syndrome. He knew something was wrong as he watched the caesarean section from beside his wife’s shoulder. A nurse held the child, lifted his arm and let it fall again like a dish rag, then frantically suctioned his mouth to get a cry.

The child survived and, at age 12, Brendyn acts like a healthy three-year-old — smiling, lovable, but the moment Swanson or his wife take their eyes off him, he will do something like jump into a pool with his clothes on.

Swanson still thinks of his second child, Jayde, when he sees a ski hill.

She lived only 22 days, and spent a week at home lying on his bare chest in the living room, his steady breath reminding her to breath, too.

Snow fell outside the window and he told her about the hills they could soar down together. Gradually, her breathing stopped.

After Jayde, Swanson and his wife couldn’t try to get pregnant again. While they were still aching from the loss, they started the process of adoption from Haiti.

And when the orphanage in Haiti finally sent a photo, they dropped Brendyn off with a babysitter, drove to a quiet park, prayed and opened the envelope.

Keysha is now seven.

Her birth mother is in heaven caring for little Jayde.

They switched places, the family says.

Swanson wants to tell the students that adopting children doesn’t make them any less yours.

And he wants the students to better understand what it means to have Down syndrome, and to parent a child who matures and learns much slower.

“Some might say he’ll have simpler tastes, but he’s going to have a rich life.”

There are lessons about grief here, but having children, and losing children, has also taught Swanson what it means to be a father.

“Being a father is to choose to step back out of the limelight and nurture a new life. To see where they go, and what their gifts are.

“And when they’re happy, gosh, your father’s heart, it’s full and breaking.”

I Dream of when I can communicate with the world,
 and when the world can understand…

I Dream of being seen and known,
just for who I am.

I Dream of giving of myself to those I know…
and for them to see the value of my offer.

I Dream of having friends who really like me
and want to play and be with me.

I Dream of rainbows and clouds…
and of balloons and colors and light.

I Dream of things that others do not see…
because they don’t know how to look.

I Dream because a dream is all I need…
to change the world
so they know just how much they are loved.

And so…I Dream…
…for I have been given…
the gift of dreams and dreaming.

Come and Dream with me…

-Bev Swanson

Peer tutoring starts in ECS with sharing the news of the day, moves to buddy reading in early grades, and culminates in science fair or other team projects in higher grades.

When students learn to listen to and learn from their peers the many benefits include:

• The development of social skills in and out of the classroom
• An improvement in student-student relationships
• Learning to work as a team
• Faster rate of learning and greater retention of academic material

Whether a student is the “tutor” or the “learner” one major impact is improved self esteem. Peers can be more powerful teachers than adults simply because they are non-threatening and less judgmental. Simply put, learning can be more fun! Students are on a equal footing unlike in student-teacher relationships, where the student is always subordinate to the teacher. Within the peer tutoring session students are more relaxed, open to ask questions or ask for help, and eager to start their work. Remember to have your students switch roles regularly, so that each knows how to give and receive.

There are specific purposes for introducing peer tutoring centres in your classroom:

1. to encourage shy or unmotivated students to interact with classmates
2. to mentor students with special needs (e.g., ESL, Down syndrome)
3. to teach students with special needs “learning” behaviours (e.g., eye contact, sitting, taking notes, silent reading)
4. to create a community of learners where classmates are accepting of differences
5. to create more opportunities for individual attention

At each grade level students benefit and you will see results in improved cooperation and communication. You, as the classroom teacher, will learn so much about each of your student’s personalities, character, and learning needs.

Only so much can be accomplished with large group direct instruction. Applied learning happens when peers have the opportunity to practice math, reading, and social skills in small groupings. Peer tutoring centres support and supplement traditional large group instruction or individual direct teaching.

At their desks students do math drills with the teacher on the board. They then complete a work sheet as the teacher circulates marking their sheets. Upon completion of the worksheet, students hand it in and pair up to play a card game on the carpet.

Math manipulatives, computer centres and quality educational games lend themselves well to the creation of peer tutoring opportunities in your classroom. Educational games motivate reluctant learners to practice reading and math skills and are a powerful tool to help immature students connect socially. Among their peers, students are more apt to take risks and persevere with problem solving because it is easier to ask a peer for help and there is more tolerance of mistakes.

One of the simplest and most powerful motivators for students struggling with reading is to have a peer buddy to read with. Peer buddies report that they enjoy helping their fellow student. It is an important responsibility that they take seriously and exude pride in doing.

Each teacher has their own system of grouping kids. Whether it be assigned or pick a partner or random draw the goal should always be regular “change ups”, so students aren’t always in the same grouping. Students need adult support and help in situations where they don’t feel comfortable with differences in attitude, ability level, or personality.

Peer tutoring embodies good citizenship in a classroom community. Students will generalize the skills learned to helping a sibling or volunteering for a leadership role in their scout or guide group.

Many students first realize the gifts they have received from their peer tutoring experiences in elementary school when they start to volunteer in junior high or high school.

Rest assured, the gift does go on giving.

How Can Parents Support Peer Tutoring In Their Child’s Classroom

1. Have your child “buddy read” to a younger sibling or relative
2. Ask older siblings to be the homework coach at least one night a week, so your child learns to work appropriately with peers
3. Ask the teacher to include your child in group projects
4. Practice songs or instrumental pieces your child is working on at school regularly at home
5. Invite classmates over after school or on a Saturday – create a social network outside of class time
6. Consider Scouts or Guides as they provide a venue for structured peer learning outside of school
7. Expect your child to behave appropriately with siblings – sharing and turn taking begin at home