Regional Portrait of the Special Needs Situation for the First Nations of Quebec Clientele between the ages of 0 to 6 years

Highlights

• Approximately 83% of the respondents stated that their service or program has children who have special needs of which 256 children have been registered.• 65% of the children who have special needs have not been diagnosed. Without a diagnosis, it is difficult to obtain assistance and have access to support measures that are adapted to the needs of the child as well as their immediate entourage.
• Even though they can be the main diagnosis, language and learning problems and developmental delays are the types of special needs that are the most often identified. On the other hand, they can also indicate a group of troubles in the case of a main diagnosis.
• 65,2% of the employees who work directly with children ages 0-6 years do not have any training that is specific to early childhood development.
• Knowing that integration measures intended for children who have special needs aim to facilitate access to the services that they require, 64% of the respondents stated that their service or program does not have an integration policy to address children who have special needs.
• 49% of the respondents stated that the equipment and layout of their service or program is not adapted to provide for children who have special needs.
• The two professional resources that are the most accessible in the communities are nurses (88%) and social workers (85%).
• Ergotherapists (53%), speech therapists (51%), audiologists (51%), physiotherapists (51%) as well as specialized physicians (47%) represent approximately half of the professional resources that must be accessed outside of the communities.
• For those who live in isolated regions, the specialized services that must be accessed outside of the community become difficult to obtain either because of the expensive transportation costs and/or the long waiting list to meet a specialist.

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