Parent perspective - inclusion

They include my son in every single thing they do. And he’s been participating in different things like crafts, which he would never ever have been interested in unless somebody pointed that out to him and helped him. Things like playing in the water, things like being outside and just playing in the nature. Like there’s no toys outside, it’s just a hill with grass and some trees and some flowers and I’ve noticed that he just loves doing that here.

And I feel that it doesn’t matter what disability your child has, they will always make the adaptions that they have to make that child feel comfortable. For example, my son has a rocking chair that he sits in at the table when he’s eating. And they purchased that specifically for him because they knew that he liked to rock and that he had a rocking chair at home. So they kept it consistent for us and he uses it when he reads and he uses it when he eats.

If he’s having a hard time learning things, they just make it simple and find ways to make sure he’s having fun and happy and that’s what matters to me is that he’s happy and included. And that’s exactly what happens here every day.

He has an adapted bike that he’s had made for him through the Children’s Rehabilitation Center and it’s amazing. They actually keep it here for him and allow him to ride his bike in the hallways through the wintertime so that he can continue to learn.

I think this daycare means happiness to my son. I would say that my son is happy 99 percent of the time when he’s here. Unless he’s sick or something’s really wrong, there is no reason for him not to be happy and he shows it. He shows it through his kisses, his hugs, he shows it through the pictures that I get sent home, the videos.

The way that the staff treat my son and the way that the educators work so hard to make sure he’s happy, it’s all that matters to me and it’s of course for a child being happy is the most important thing. He’s made friends here, he’s gone to birthday parties, he’s learned how to interact with children, which he never did before. And he’s learned to trust the educators and to have a personal relationship with them. My son has been so happy here that I feel like I want him to stay here forever and I don’t want him to go to kindergarten.