American Sign Language (ASL) Clubs
Central Okanagan Public Schools support staff offer hearing, hard of hearing, and deaf students an opportunity to learn ASL in an informal club setting at the middle school level.
Club activities are organized on a rotation basis for eight weeks at four different middle schools in the district. The activities are led by a fully qualified and certified ASL instructor who is deaf.
The ASL Club is designed to promote sign communication amongst hearing and hard of hearing/deaf peers. The Club provides these students with exposure to ASL and deaf culture before they select this course at the secondary level.
American Sign Language (ASL)
Curriculum Implementation
Central Okanagan Public Schools provides opportunity for hearing, hard of hearing, and deaf students to take ASL as a second language at the secondary school level in order to fulfill graduation requirements and meet the admission requirements at all BC, as well as some Alberta colleges and universities.
This course is taught by a fully qualified and certified ASL instructor and a member of the deaf community. The course is presently offered to grade 10 – 12 students at Rutland Senior Secondary School, Mount Boucherie Secondary School and Kelowna Secondary School.
Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) Clinic
The ADHD clinic is for parents and teachers. The 7 to 8 sessions help parents deal with problems they may encounter when helping their children complete homework. Based on a behavioural management model, participants are screened, coached, and evaluated as they proceed through specific phases. Teachers are provided with information to assist them in helping their students become more successful at homework completion.
Contact: Lyndsay Reynolds, 250-878-6620
Children's Low Vision Project of British Columbia
(CLVP-BC)
CLVP-BC provides low vision clinics for visually impaired students. The clinics are held throughout the province of British Columbia. Any child with visual impairment who is enrolled in preschool through twelfth grade may be referred by a teacher of the visually impaired, school staff, preschool vision consultant, an ophthalmologist or optometrist. Contact one of our district's Vision Teachers for more information.
Powder Hounds Downhill Ski Program
Inclusive Education Services staff, including a multi-disciplinary team of physical therapists, occupational therapists, resource teachers, and CEAs facilitate a downhill ski program in conjunction with Powder Hound Adaptive Ski Club at Big White. The program serves 15 – 20 students with severe and multiple disabilities, intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, and autism. Contact your school's Inclusion Teacher or Resource Teacher for more information.
Kindergarten Transition Liaison
The Kindergarten Transition Committee facilitates a transition process for children with support needs from community services to Central Okanagan Public Schools. The process provides families with the opportunity to exchange information with School District 23 school and district staff prior to their child’s entry to kindergarten and help develop a plan to support a successful transition into kindergarten. For more information, contact your local elementary school.
Medical Benefits - At Home Program
Physical therapists and occupational therapists are responsible for the selection of and funding requests for specialized medical equipment for students with physical disabilities. Therapists work together with families, medical equipment dealers, and the Sunny Hill Health Centre Positioning and Assessment Outreach team to identify equipment to meet the student’s current and future needs. This equipment may include wheelchairs and other positioning devices.
The Medical Benefits – At Home Program is a provincial program through the Ministry of Children and Family Development. Its mandate is to assist parents with some of the extraordinary costs of caring for a child with severe disabilities at home. This program provides a range of health services for children who are assessed as dependent in most areas of self-care. For more information, please contact the school board office, Inclusive Education.
WHEELS Transition to Employment Program
It is the aim of the Transition to Employment and Bicycle Maintenance Project to provide designated youth and young adults in School District 23 with opportunities to learn skills and gain experiences that will help them make successful transitions to adulthood and to directly aid them in making those transitions. Students who are on Evergreen School Completion programs and who are receiving Resource Teacher support are eligible for this program. Based on the Edmonton Public Schools model, the WHEELS Transition to Employment Program is offered in a professional, community-based setting in order to facilitate transitioning students' physical and attitudinal shift from school to adult environments. The project facilitates student learning and achievement in the following areas:
• Support for obtaining paid employment as adults
• Skill development in key transition areas, such as vocational development, recreation, home living, health and personal hygiene, and personal financial management.
• Opportunities to participate in a Bicycle Maintenance and Repair program and in Shoe Repair and Shoemaking School in order to further develop hand-eye coordination, problem solving, customer-service, and pride of workmanship. One author observed that, "The …significance of work that grapples with material things may lie in the simple fact that such things lie outside the self. A *shoe (the word "shoe" substituted for the author's original word, "washing machine"), for example, surely exists to serve our needs, but in order to contend with one that is broken, you have to ask what it needs. At such a moment, technology is no longer a means by which our world is extended, but an affront to our self-absorption" (Crawford, Shop Class as Soul-Craft, 2009)
Learning to repair things is good for students. It increases their connections to others, to the physical world, and within their own mental processes.
People in Motion
Physical therapists and occupational therapists work with People in Motion, a local non-profit group working on behalf of individuals with disabilities.
People in Motion provides adapted recreational equipment and wheelchairs through their equipment loan cupboard. This specialty equipment is available for students with challenges to participate in fieldtrips.
Special Olympics British Columbia
SO Inclusive Program
The goal of the SO Inclusive Program is to assist schools in creating inclusive learning environments for students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities, help raise awareness about intellectual disability and Special Olympics, and involve student and teachers in the Special Olympics movement through volunteering and fundraising.
The SO Inclusive manual is full of ideas for administrators, teachers and students to get involved in activities that support and involve all students while fulfilling curricular requirements. The program is sponsored by Special Olympics BC and has been developed with and for teachers. It is meant to help them raise awareness about intellectual disabilities and continue to be active in supporting individuals with different abilities. For information and to link to the SO Inclusive Resource Package go to:
SO Inclusive - SOBC Provincial Office
Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children
Positioning and Assessment Unit Outreach Clinic
Two therapists and two technicians from Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children provide 3 one week long clinics per year. This team works with local therapists to assess, recommend, and fabricate customized seating components and other positioning equipment for children with physical disabilities.
Sunny Hill Health Centre
Sunshine Dreams for Kids
Physical therapists and occupational therapists circulate information from the office of Sunshine Dreams for Kids. This group makes dreams come true for children who face severe physical disabilities or life-threatening illnesses. Individual dreams are fulfilled year round for children who have not received a dream or wish from a similar organization. The therapists help identify students who would be candidates for an Individual Dream or participation in a one day Dreamlift to Disneyland.
The Cutters Edge
The Cutters Edge is a service learning project at Rutland Senior Secondary School. Students with and without disabilities manufacture and market Christmas and all season greeting cards. Students learn important life and vocational skills, interact with the public, and use a portion of the funds generated through the project to give to worthy causes in the community.