KidsAbility Blog

Photo collage of a black KidsAbility family. Dad is seated with two young boys on his lap and Mom is sitting beside them with her arm around the son on the right. 

Moving from Awareness to Acceptance

By: Emily Shaw

Autism Acceptance Month kicked off this year with World Autism Day, celebrated April 2, to help spread awareness and teach acceptance about autism. In true KidsAbility fashion, staff wore every colour under the rainbow to celebrate and honour the uniqueness and beauty of autistic people. However, autism acceptance and awareness is not something relegated to a single day, it’s part of a larger conversation that happens throughout the entire month of April and beyond.

Read more....April 2021 Blog Post 

 

Three images of multi-coloured socks 

Rockin' The Socks: Celebrating World Down Syndrome Day

By: Emily Shaw

World Down Syndrome Day occurs every year on March 21, 3/21, to celebrate the third multiplication of the 21st chromosome. KidsAbility talks with Arisa Alexanian, a volunteer for Waterloo Wellington Down Syndrome Society (WWDSS), about her work with the society and how everyone can show their support for the event.

Read more....March 2021 Blog Post 

Therapeutic recreation symbols: a weight, collection of hands, KidsAbility butterfly, artist's brush and a heart  

Finding Accessible Sports, Activities and Recreation in Your Community

 

By: Emily Shaw  
February is National Therapeutic Recreation Awareness Month first beginning in 1996, by the Canadian Recreation Association (CTRA).

KidsAbility’s Recreation Therapists work with children to focus on helping children develop skills to participate in community recreation.

Read more...February Blog Post 2021


 Norma Williams, a KidsAbility Speech-Language Pathologist, sits cross legged on the floor in a KidsAbility therapy room. Behind her on the wall are symbols to help encourage speech and she is pictured showing a young client a book.

Reading To Your Child Can Have Positive Impacts On Their Speech Development

By Emily Shaw 
Family Literacy Day is an annual event that’s celebrated every January 27th. It was started in 1999 to raise awareness about the importance of reading together as a family, encouraging speech-language skills in children from a young age. This year’s theme is Travel the World Together.

KidsAbility talks with Norma Williams, a Speech-Language Pathologist, on how she found herself working in her field, helping children say their first words, and tips on how to encourage reading in your home. 

Read more....January 2021 Blog Post

 

 Collage of a therapist using green screen technology in a jungle, the first client is welcomed back onsite by a therapist in PPE and a therapist provides physiotherapy to a young girl in a mask

A Thank-You to Our Community in A Most Uncommon Year  

By Linda Kenny
If you Google “big events in 2020” your search will return a very long and rather surprising list of everything that transpired around the globe this past year. It was such an uncommon year, that Oxford Dictionary had to amend their “Word of the Year” release to an entire report because there was no single word that could define this past year. For a year that left us speechless at times, it is ironic that it takes an entire report to define 2020.

Read more....December 2020 Blog Post

Photo collage of Megan Sherwin as a young girl running, playing hockey, swimming and standing in a Canada t-shirt wearing three medals 

#KidsTakeover: My Journey

By Megan Sherwin

I don’t think I would be where I am or who I am today without all the opportunities I received from the sport and recreational services available in my community. Through these experiences I’ve realized that one of my drives and passion is to show everyone that people like me can do anything that we want to do, all we need is an opportunity to show you.

Read more....November 2020 Blog Post