About the CDC project
In April 2017, CanAssist at the University of Victoria was thrilled to receive $1.5 million from the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD). This funding is allowing CanAssist to deliver innovative, practical technologies to children across BC who access Early Intervention Therapy and/or School-Aged Therapy services provided by MCFD-contracted agencies – often called Child Development Centres (CDCs). The technologies provided will improve outcomes for children living with special needs.
Under its service agreement with the MCFD, CanAssist will provide 32 CDCs across the province with a kit that contains several existing CanAssist technologies that have proven beneficial to previous CanAssist clients. During several months in 2017, CanAssist worked with key Ministry staff, the BC Association for Childhood Development and Intervention (BCACDI) and CDC staff to determine which technologies would be most useful in a CDC environment.
After extensive consultation, the suite of technologies was finalized. It includes the following:
Choices2Go for iPads (3 units)
Indoor Ball Launcher (2 units)
Switch-Accessible Spinner (3 units)
Mobile Music Therapy Kit (1 unit)
Remote Control Toy Car (2 units)
In addition, each participating CDC has identified one or more preferred “bonus technologies,” which may include additional units of the devices listed above OR a choice of:
Robotic Grabber (1 unit) or
Accessible Gaming Controller (1 unit)
Deliveries of all technologies will take place during 2018 and early 2019, with the project scheduled for completion by Mar. 31, 2019.
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