Riverside School Board presents upgrades and renovations planned for REACH School

Yesterday evening representatives from Riverside School Board came to REACH School in St. Lambert to present the plans for the upgrades to the school that are scheduled to be completed this summer. REACH is the English-language special needs school serving the south shore of Montreal. It is one of the few public English-language special needs schools in Quebec, and the only one in the Montreal area.

The plans include replacing all the windows in the school and substantial upgrades in a number of the classrooms and toilets. In many cases these upgrades are the minimum that would be required for the school to meet current standards for school construction. Improvements will include suspended ceilings in many of the rooms, painting throughout most of the school, new floors and new protected lights in the room used as a gym.

On the second floor, a "quiet room" that is no longer used will be converted into a bathroom, so that both upstairs classrooms will have their own bathroom, and a sink / washing area will be created that is separated from the toilets.

The OT room on the main floor will be enlarged by removal of unused closets and sensory lighting will be installed, in order to create the basis of a "sensory room". (the link gives a generic overview of a sensory room) This will be a room in which sensory stimuli can be controlled to establish an ideal environment for each student to feel secure, at ease and confident, as they learn to explore their feelings, their abilities and things being taught by teachers and other professionals. Further additions to the sensory room at REACH will be in terms of equipment that may be added either now or from time to time in the future.

The other major alteration on the main floor will be the enlargement of the kitchen area, where several students prepare lunch for the entire school one day a week, and the creation of a division between the kitchen and the large adjoining room. After the renovations, the larger classroom will be reduced in size and the enlarged kitchen area will also be able to potentially be used as a model "apartment" setting, where students could practice other independence and life skills, such as making a bed.

No doubt more detailed descriptions will be provided soon to all REACH parents. It was confirmed that these renovations have been approved by the school board and the contract for the work has been signed, although certain modifications to the plans could still be discussed during the next week or ten days.

RAPID's new website now up and running

RAPID's website is now up and running.

It is located at the same address that the previous, simple web page was at, www.rapidsouthshore.org.

The link is also available here in the side bar.

The website provides an overview of RAPID's services, activities, fundraising initiatives, contact information and links.

If you have any information that you would like to appear on the website, or have any suggestions or comments, you are most welcome to submit your ideas via email or even add them here below in the form of a comment.

Rapid to Participate in EMSB Special Needs Fair April 12

Rapid (Resources for the Anglophone Population with Intellectual Disabilities) will be represented at a public Special Needs Resource Fair hosted by John Grant and Paul VI High Schools, in collaboration with the English Montreal School Board and Inspirations Newspaper.

It will take place at the EMSB Administration building (6000 Fielding Avenue) in NDG on Thursday, April 12 (7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.) John Grant and Paul VI cater to students with special needs. Their mandate is to encourage personal and academic growth for all learners, regardless of the challenges they face. The Transitioning Towards Independence Resource Fair will bring together a variety of resources for parents, family members, teachers and caregivers of students of all ages with learning difficulties and/or special needs.

The goal of Rapid's participation in this event will be to raise the south shore non-profit organization's profile in the Greater Montreal region, to establish relations and contacts with key service providers and resources in the special needs sector, and to keep well-informed about ongoing innovations. 

Making all of these resources available under one roof will enable parents/guardians and teachers to make better informed life decisions for their special needs child or student.

A Father's Promise - Download Don Hasting's song, I Wish

You may have seen the touching video on youtube, A Father's Promise, by Antoinette Salera.

The video tells the story of her son James, who was born with a brain malformation, and the promise his father made to always be there for him.

Sadly, James' father, Don Hastings, passed away from lung cancer in 2005 and has been unable to keep his promise until now.

The song Don Hastings wrote for his son, I Wish, can now be downloaded on cdbaby. Every time someone downloads this song, a large portion of the price will go towards a respite / educational / social / activity centre for special needs children and adults on the south shore area of Montreal.

This link takes you directly to the page where you can download the song: Don Hastings 'I Wish' on CD Baby. It is also on itunes.

As the price of downloading is only 99 cents, obviously this initiative will need to receive mass exposure and support in order to be successful, so please spread the news!

The project is being supported by RAPID, and of course any donations over and above downloading the song are gratefully accepted. Contributors of donations over the amount of $20 will be provided by RAPID with official tax receipt. Tax deductible donations to Rapid can be made through Rapid members or directly online at CanadaHelps.

Associated with this project is an initiative called POEMS (Parents Organizing Educational Missions Through Songs), which was also the creation of Antoinette. With the background of both Antoinette and her late husband Don Hastings both being educators, combined with the real and present needs of our special needs community, and the magic of song, the opportunities and potential for POEMS are huge! For more information, please refer to www.poemsorg.com.

Further information will be published on this site and also on the Rapid South Shore facebook group page, which all concerned individuals are encouraged to join.. 

Rapid Partnering with Canada Helps to Facilitate Online Donations

Rapid (Resources for the Anglophone Population with Intellectual Disabilities) has now established an account with Canada Helps, to facilitate online donations, with provision of instant tax receipts.

This is an initiative that has become possible with Rapid's recognition as a charitable organization and the acquisition of the tax numbers and right to issue tax receipts. Since the year 2000, over $200 million has been donated through Canada Helps.

Among the advantages of using Canada Helps... 

• Donating online is easier than writing a cheque
• You get your tax receipt instantly
• You can keep track of your giving and receipts all in one place - no more lost tax receipts!
• CanadaHelps offers you unique and innovate ways to give online
• It saves your favourite charities money.

For more information, please refer to Rapid's profile page at Canada Helps.

Rapid is a parent driven non-profit organization that promotes the development and facilitates delivery of local resources that enable children and adults with special needs to participate fully in community life on the South Shore of Montreal.

Rapid to Launch New Phase of Growth at Next Meeting Wednesday, Feb. 15

All interested parties are invited to attend the next Rapid meeting, to be held this coming Wednesday, February 15, at ARSDI in St. Lambert, 240 St. Laurent St.

Rapid has already initiated a number of services and strategic partnerships and we are now presented with new and interesting fundraising and programming opportunities. Please attend if you would like to contribute to improving services to kids and adults with special needs on the South Shore.

Rapid's service area is the entire south shore of the Montreal region, including most of the territory covered by Riverside and New Frontiers School Boards. Rapid caters specifically to anglophone families who have members with intellectual difficulties, however is open to welcoming people of all language backgrounds and all types of special needs.

Special Needs Day Camp Offered for Ped Days on South Shore

A day camp for all special needs kids is offered at the ARSDI (l’Association de la Rive-Sud pour la Déficience Intellectuelle) during school pedagogical days. This day camp is offered in cooperation with RAPID (Resources for the Anglophone Population with Intellectual Difficulties) and with south shore school boards, although entirely operated by ARSDI.

The day camp is offered at the Maison Bétournay at 80 Rue Bétournay, in St. Lambert. Children need to be registered ahead of time with the ARSDI. The centre is open from 7 a.m. The phone number to contact the ARSDI is 450-672-9020. The cost of the day camp is $25.

The ARSDI also offers a day care program for those special needs kids whose schools do not offer day care or whose days cares have difficulty accepting special needs kids.

The Maison Bétournay normally has a very high staff-to-student ratio of 2 to 1. Also, ARSDI has undertaken to ensure that English-speaking staff will be available when there are English-speaking children to look after.

RAPID is offering a program to rebate a portion of the day camp fees to Rapid member who take advantage of the day camp services.

Official Policy Regarding Special Needs Education in Quebec

It would be useful to have more immediate and ready access to, and wider distribution of, the policies concerning special needs in Quebec schools. These policies were adopted about six or seven years ago, as required by the Ministry of Education. Each school board adopted its own policy based on a model provided by MELS, which was then modified in a consultative process with the various stakeholders.

In the future, these policies will be linked here on the sidebar.

This information is being put here as a reference, rather than to provoke questions or concerns. It must be said though, when one see how nearly identical the different school boards' policies are, it is curious how differently special needs education is handled in practice, from one board to another. For example, just the fact that REACH School, in St. Lambert on the south shore is the only public English language special needs school in the Montreal area is quite surprising. The other English special needs schools in the Montreal area are either private or run by charitable organizations. In fairness, most of these differences date back to the randomly differing ways that special needs education was originally handled in different communities.  

This is a link to the policy identified as "Special Education Services" on the Riverside School Board website.

The complete title of the document is: Policy Concerning the Organization of Educational Services
for Students with Handicaps and Students with Social
Maladjustments or Learning Disabilities


On the English Montreal School Board site, there are two similar policies.

This is a link to the Special Needs Policy of the English Montreal School Board. This is only a one-page document.

The complete title of the document is: A Policy Adopting Standards and Procedures for the Organization of Educational Services for Handicapped Students and Students with Social Maladjustments or Learning Disabilities

The other policy on the EMSB site is identified as the Special Education Policy.on the EMSB website and the full title of it is: POLICY GOVERNING THE ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES FOR STUDENTS WITH HANDICAPS, SOCIAL MALADJUSTMENTS OR LEARNING DISABILITIES

This latter is the one that resembles the Riverside School Board policy. It would be most interesting to go through and identify any consequential differences between the two policies.

UPDATE: Oct. 7 - A copy of the document has now been circulated - posting it up on this site will be looked into. It is 50 or 60 pages.

Welcome to Special Needs South Shore Montreal Blog

This blog is for all of the thousands of people with special needs, and their friends, families, work associates and employers, on the south shore of Montreal, and anywhere in the Montreal area.

We are going to strive to be a "catching point" - somewhere for new arrivals to the area and people with new diagnoses to find some answers, and somewhere that people can use as a starting point to start looking for answers.

There will be a lot of news of many different types here. Information on state-of-the-art pedagogical techniques, new medical or scientific theories and real time current events news on special needs happenings in the local or regional area.