Stimulation and Integration

A stimulation centre at the fine point of excellence, Jardin des Papillons welcomed over the past year 32 children with special needs from Garderie Papillon, the Montreal Children’s Hospital and other external sources, from one to four times per week. A psycho-educator, a specialised educator and a psychomotor educator attended to the children on an individual basis or in groups. They also offered special educational support to the educators of Garderie Papillon.

In December 2006, another step in the consolidation of the Society’s specialized daycare and stimulation program materialized with the creation of a new integration resource offered to regular daycare services who welcome children with special needs. An educator of Jardin des Papillons is available to go and help them establish an integration program in co-operation with the parents.

In a few months only, 7 daycares appealed to the Society for this new service.

Pressing Needs
In Quebec, 16,700 children under the age of 5 must cope with a physical or an intellectual disability every day. Unfortunately, at present, the network of daycare centres can only welcome 1,517 of these disabled children who require more stimulation and special attention in order to better develop.

Thanks to the early childhood stimulation centre “Jardin des Papillons”, the Quebec Society for Disabled Children offers to young children from 1 to 5 years of age a unique program which favours the complete development of each child’s potential in order to facilitate integration in neighbourhood daycares or pre-schools.

The centre is equipped with a Snoezelen room, a neuro-sensorial room, a classroom aimed at promoting the development of fine motor skills and language, a gymnasium and several classrooms. The children who attend Jardin des Papillons receive between 12 and 18 hours of stimulation per week from specialised educators and therapists.

Full Support
The Jardin des Papillon offers numerous additional services to its stimulation centre:

• Complete support to parents to help them ensure the continuity of their child’s development at home.
• Training sessions in area daycares to facilitate the integration of children with disabilities in their environment.
• A daycare service directly linked to the stimulation centre.

The creation of the Jardin des Papillons was the work of generous donors such as: