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Who does the Home Visiting Program help?                                                  

We work with families of young children aged birth to 6 years who have or are at risk of having a developmental delay and who live in London-Middlesex, Oxford, Elgin, Huron, and Perth counties. Many of the children who require ongoing developmental supports are transitioned to other community service providers after the age of 2 years.

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What is a developmental delay?

Most young children learn new skills in predictable ways and at predictable times. Some children need more support to learn how to hold up their head, roll over, sit, drink and eat solid foods, talk, play with people and toys and build relationships with their family members. When children take longer to learn new skills, it may be called a developmental delay.

Why would a baby be at risk of having a developmental delay?

Some things that might cause a developmental delay are:

  • Health problems during pregnancy, birth, or as a very young infant (such as substance exposure during pregnancy, birth complications, prematurity, or serious illness like, meningitis).
  • Some genetic or medical conditions (such as Down syndrome, or seizure disorders).

Often it is not known why a child's development is progressing at a different pace than other children his or her age. Services and support are available.

What does the Home Visiting Program do?

We are here to help. Our services are free and completely voluntary. We work with all kinds of families and value learning about your unique family and culture. Language interpretation services are available if you need them. We would like to speak with you to learn more about your child and what kind of supports might be helpful to you.

A Parent Infant Therapist will be assigned to you. This therapist will get to know you and your child. This therapist will support you and your family, answer your questions, and help connect you with community supports. They will make regular visits, usually every 2 weeks, to work with your family, and to set goals with you. During the visits, together you and your therapist will explore play activities to help your child learn new skills. Other team members will meet with you as needed. Towards the beginning of service, we will offer you a Team Screen, which is a play-based assessment to allow you to meet your child's whole team. We will offer formal developmental assessments if these would be helpful.

We hold groups at CPRI and community locations to support families and teach them skills. We offer loans of equipment and materials.

Many of our families work with us for about one year, and we will work with you to decide how long our services would be helpful. If your family still needs supports as your child approaches the age of 2 years, we will begin to explore with you other services that are available to you in the community. These may include, the Thames Valley Children's Centre, tykeTALK, smallTALK, daycare centres, and others. Your Parent Infant Therapist will be able to help you to make those decisions and complete the referrals.

Where does this happen?

Families tell us that it is most helpful to them to receive supports in their homes. We can also meet at our offices in St. Thomas Aquinas High School, at your child’s daycare, or at another location, like an Ontario Early Years Centre. Groups are held at CPRI and throughout the community.

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