Many communities outside of the Lower Mainland do not have the opportunity to provide specialized resources to families of children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. For those families, we are able to provide a plan in collaboration with the local community service providers. We believe that the best way to provide for the long-term needs of the children and families throughout British Columbia is to strengthen the local communities.
Our Outreach Program offers contact with professionals who specialize in working with children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing and their families. These are experienced Early Interventionist with training as Speech-Language Pathologists, Teachers of the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing or Listening and Spoken Language Specialists. There are also Deaf and Hard-of Hearing Mentors, Sign Language Teachers and Family Support Parents available to support our Outreach families through this program.
We work together as a team with community service providers (Speech Language Pathologists, Audiologists, Infant Development Consultants, Supported Child Development Consultants, Daycares and Preschool) to provide continuity of services. For those very remote communities without community service providers, we can also provide regular ongoing Intervention via TELEHEALTH, supplemented with in-person community visits from our Outreach Consultants during the year.
Outreach families are always welcome to visit our Surrey, Vancouver and Victoria Centres to take advantage of the other programs and activities that happen there. Many families like to coordinate their visits to BC Children’s Hospital with some additional days at one of our Lower Mainland Centres. We also occasionally provide additional events and programs in cities other than where our three Centres are located.