SpeciaLink AGM
SpeciaLink’s 2009-2010 Annual General Meeting
was held on
June 21, 2010 at
St. Boniface College, Collège Universitaire de Saint Boniface,
Winnipeg MB.
After a welcome by Vic Stone, chairperson, the AGM proceeded according to the
by-laws of the organization. The meeting was especially important because it
closed the Winnipeg chapter of SpeciaLink, after which the organization
was returning to Sydney, Nova Scotia. Because of extreme financial pressures
facing the organization, the board of directors accepted the recommendation made
by the Executive Director, Debra Mayer, to lay her off. The previous Executive
Director, Dr. Sharon Hope Irwin, had agreed to take on the task, with consultative
and financial assistance from several organizations and several board members. Read
AGM highlights/agenda [PDF
3pp 24KB]
SpeciaLink Annual Report 2009-2010 [PDF
8pp 2MB].
Back to Cape Breton with Regrets and Renewal
SpeciaLink: The National Centre for Early Childhood
Inclusion has returned to its roots in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia,
after a three-year term in Winnipeg. With great regret but also with
a sense of commitment and purpose, the returning Cape Breton Executive
Committee and Executive Director, Dr. Sharon Hope Irwin, welcome
the opportunity to move ahead on the SpeciaLink mission to “Expand
the quality and quantity of early childhood inclusion.”
As Dr. Sharon Hope Irwin says: “Debra Mayer has brought her
incredible skills to SpeciaLink, securing a recognizable brand to the
materials, further developing the range of programs that have had training
in the tools, strengthening connections with training institutions
and services across Canada, and strengthening involvement of members,
board and executive committee. Thanks to Debra Mayer, we’ve entered
the 2nd decade of the 21st century more visible than ever. I wish Debra
all the best in her new positions and hope that she will still be able
to work with SpeciaLink on our journey toward a fully inclusive early
childhood world.”
Your membership support is more important than ever, and all memberships
and resource orders will be handled by Sharon and Breton Books in Sydney
Nova Scotia. Contact Sharon via email.
SpeciaLink Early Childhood Inclusion Quality Scale
 The
SpeciaLink Early Childhood Inclusion Quality Scale (2009),
by Dr. Sharon Hope Irwin.
This
workbook is a tool for assessing inclusion quality in early childhood
centres and for helping centre move toward higher quality inclusion.
The Scale provides a picture of sustainable and evolving inclusion
quality—an emerging
issue as more children with special needs attend communitybased
centres and as inclusion pioneers leave their centres and a new
generation of directors and early childhood educators take on
the inclusion challenges. Read more/order »
Assessing Inclusion Quality report
Assessing
Inclusion Quality in Early Learning and Child Care In Canada
with the SpeciaLink Child Care Inclusion Practices Profile
and Principles Scale. [PDF 64pp 600KB].
A report prepared for the Canadian Council on Learning. by
Donna S. Lero, Ph.D., Jarislowsky Chair in Families and Work
Centre for Families, Work and Well-Being, University of Guelph,
February, 2010.
"Disability and Inclusion: changing
attitudes-changing policy"
This chapter by Debra Mayer appears in the recently published Beyond
Child’s Play: Caring for and educating young children
in Canada Our Schools/ Our
Selves, Spring 2009 (vol. 18, no. 3, #95) published
by the Canadian
Centre for Policy Alternatives, Ottawa.
"As we move towards the end of the first decade of the 21
st century, Canadian families continue to be stymied by the lack
of a national early learning and care system, and policy makers
continue to be confounded by the concept of a “rights based” rationale
for children’s
entitlement to early learning services separate from their parents
employment status."
Read the full chapter: Disability
and Inclusion: changing attitudes-changing policy [PDF
7pp 82KB].
Inclusion training: SpeciaLink on the
Road
If you have not yet taken part in our inclusion training, please visit SpeciaLink on the Road, to find out where we are offering training next.
SpeciaLink: The National Centre for Child Care Inclusion
76 Cottage Road,
Sydney, NS B1P 2C7
Phone (902) 562-1662
FAX (902) 539-9117
Contact us by email
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