December 2015 Newsletter

Early Learning Programs

Discovery Group: The AIM Discovery Group provides an enriched early-learning program to children between the ages of 0 - 2 ½ years. The goal of the program is to introduce parents and caregivers to techniques that will aid in their child’s development of speech, language, sensory processing, social skills, and motor skills. Programming for this is a collaboration amongst a variety of early-learning specialists, including, Speech-Language Pathologist, Music Therapist, and Occupational Therapist.

The Discovery Group now has openings! This is a unique opportunity for your child to receive specialized services, while engaging in fun, age-appropriate activities with a group of same-aged peers. If you or someone you know is interested, please call our front desk at 306.381.6246 for more information.

The Bridge Program:  The Bridge program provides an enriched early-learning opportunity for children between the ages of 2 1/2 - 5 years, diagnosed with Down syndrome, as well as up to three children without Down syndrome. 

Collaboration amongst parents, a Speech Language Pathologist, Teacher, Music Therapist, and Occupational Therapist enables the program to target a wide-variety of critical skills for the early years .  Specific areas of focus include speech, language, sensory processing, social communication, and self-help skills.  

Update from Mrs. Baudais, Early Learning Program Teacher

Bridge is off to a great start. Our first reports from the team went out to families in November, and parents are quite happy with the format and the goals so far. The students are all making good progress and are enjoying the program.

In the fall we did make a list of priority items of toys we still would like for the Bridge Program. This list was sent out to the AIM families.  One or two of these items have come in and hopefully they will continue to come in as the year progresses.

The children enjoy participating every week in Leanne Hoeft’s music therapy program. They are learning so many things in this program including concepts of up and down, high and low, sitting and waiting for their turn, responding appropriately to questions and imitating actions.

The children are also enjoy having David Ambrose, our Occupation Therapist, in the  classroom. David has been helping students with fine motor skills and developing strength in their hand muscles. He has started doing the Handwriting Without Tears Program with the students and many of them have begun the prewriting skills which include, holding a writing tool appropriately and imitating different lines on a page. All of these skills will help them when they are introduced to writing letters.

In the classroom we are working on sitting and waiting, taking turns, sharing, making choices, listening to directions, following expectations and routines, speech and language skills, gross motor skills, sensory play and many more.

FAMILY NIGHT

One of the committee’s responsibilities is to provide input around how to support and engage families in events such as Family night.

Goal for Family Night:  To create an informal causal setting for caregivers and parents to form connections, network, and visit with each other.  While their children of all ages have an opportunity to play with each other (includes siblings).  Volunteers support the children to have fun and be safe.

Family nights occur every second Friday of each month. 

Toy Drive:

We have a wish list of toys that staff is looking for in toy donations (slightly used or new). Please refer to the list below.  If you have any of these items listed, please confirm at admin@aimprogram.ca  that they still require the item.

The toys will be used for programming. 

FUNDRAISER

Thank you to Tammy and Trevor Pike who have purchased bracelets and pins to celebrate and bring awareness about children with Down syndrome.  We presently have them in the office where you can pick them up.  They are $2.50 each. Proceeds go to AIM Programming.

HOLIDAY PARTY

The 2nd Annual Holiday Party was held on Sunday, December 13th.  The children had a special visit from Santa Claus and enjoyed decorating ginger bread men, making decorations, and playing with their friends!  Thank you to all the families that came out as well as the volunteers that made the event possible!  Santa photos will be e-mailed out to families as soon as possible. 

Please don’t hesitate to connect with the committee by emailing myself or other members at admin@aimprogram.ca.

- Francis Cashin, Chair, on behalf of the committee

The AIM High Campaign

The AIM High Campaign began January 1, 2015, and we have raised $53,812.78 so far (excluding grants). 

The AIM program is able to support children with Down syndrome reach their potential because of the funding and support by the Government of Saskatchewan and the generosity of many people and organizations. A sincere thank you to everyone!  Your contributions are having a true impact on the programming we are offering for the children.

Below highlights just a few stories of how individuals raised money to support AIM:

• Trevor Pike and his son Aiden raised money by collecting cans and bottles.  If you would like to donate your recyclables to the AIM Program please contact Trevor at (306)270-8458 (306)270-8458 to schedule a pick up!
• Chatelle Cory with Speech Therapy Saskatoon had chosen AIM as her charity to donate to when she reached a certain number of  ‘likes’ on her facebook page.  For every ‘like’ she donated $1.
• Employers such as Potash Corporation have matched their employees contributions.  Other organizations have provided a contribution based on the employees charity of choice. 
• Individuals have made donations in memory of a family member who had Down syndrome or in honor of a child who is in the program.
• Individuals made a quilt and instead of accepting a fee they asked that a donation be made to AIM.