CHEEP Program Children
What does CHEEP provide for program children (children eligible for PUF)?
- A small class consisting of 10 children with special needs. The SLP and therapist assistant work full time in the classroom and the certified teacher works part time. The OT and PT work weekly in the program and students are frequently also engaged in school programming.
- An Individualized Program Plan (IPP) is designed at the beginning of the year by the collaborative team, including parents. This document outlines the child's strengths, goals and identifies strategies to support the child's growth and development. It is reviewed regularly and the child's progress with objectives is formally updated twice during the school year.
- The team of developmental specialists work collaboratively to design classroom programming capitalizing on functional, motivating and developmentally appropriate preschool activities.
- All children have exposure to total communication (opportunity to communicate in a variety of ways using words, signs and pictures) in the classroom.
- The school team engages in ongoing informal assessment throughout the school year to monitor a child's progress. Formal assessment is completed in the spring to help determine programming options for the following school year.
- A comprehensive year end report is completed for each program child by the school team.
- Families are provided with support for making transitions to new schools/programs. This can involve providing information, accompanying care-givers on tours of programs, facilitating observations of the child at school for staff of the receiving school, and/or coordinating a transition meeting with staff of the receiving school.
- Parents/Guardians are eligible for transportation funding (as available through Alberta Education).
- Speech-Language Pathology students frequently complete clinical placements in the CHEEP classroom, further enhancing support to children with significant speech-language delays/disorders