It has been the pleasure of the BC Chapter to provide summer intervention to our families for many years. This exceptional program is offered through the generous support of the Ministry of Children and Family Development of the Provincial Government.
The Summer Intervention Program serves children and youth who are deafblind from the ages 5 - 19 and provides services that allow them to interact more fully with their environment through intervention.
The program helps to maintain skills acquired during the school year and ensures that participants continue to utilize and practice their communication and social skills and realize the goals established by their parents and the school team. This program is run for July and August. Intervenors are hired by the families, and these intervenors are trained through a deafblind specialist hired by the CDBRA-BC.
The overwhelming response of the families has been a better understanding of intervention and the difference it can make in the lives of their children and their families. We anticipate the parameters of this program expanding as more hours are needed per family. The gains that families have made, and the ability of students to retain skills learned over the school year make this program invaluable .