Centre of Excellence for Children and Adolescents with Special Needs (CECASN)

Projects & Resources

• Mother Baby Nutrition Program
• Preventing Hearing Loss
• Preschool Obesity Studies
• Aboriginal Early Childhood Education Worker Training
• Centre of Excellence for Children and Adolescents with Special Needs Library

Mother Baby Nutrition Program

In partnership with the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Human Resources, Labour and Employment, CECASN developed the Mother Baby Nutrition Program.

The Program provides $45 each month to low income families up to the child’s first birthday to meet the nutritional needs of pregnancy and infancy.

Follow-up evaluation found that infants of mothers who received this benefit were less likely to  be born preterm or with low birth weight.

Preventing Hearing Loss

Otitis media is the leading cause of hearing loss among Aboriginal youth in northern communities. In 1999, CECASN developed a project to address hearing loss in northern communities. Project partners included the Winnipeg Adult Education Centre, the Nunavut Department of Education and Lakehead University.

The project worked with young mothers and the education system to develop culturally sensitive methods to help prevent hearing loss. Approaches included:

• Redesigning classrooms in Nunavut, including installing sound amplification systems in all new schools.
• Changing the curriculum to better accommodate children with chronic middle ear disease
• Changing attitudes toward breastfeeding and second-hand smoke exposure, two main factors associated with otitis media
• Developing a video workshop for schools and nursing stations to promote hearing loss prevention

The Centre is conducting an evaluation of its previous otitis media studies.

Preschool Obesity Studies

Two preschool obesity studies investigated the health behaviours of young children. These studies raised awareness of childhood obesity and filled a gap in scientific knowledge.

CECASN partnered with all six regional health authorities in Newfoundland and Memorial University to analyze data from provincial preschool health checks.

The first study was published in the Canadian Medical
Association Journal in 2004. A follow-up study analyzed archived preschool health Check records and was published in 2006 in the International Journal
of Paediatric Obesity.

The studies found that a high percentage of Newfoundland and Laborador preschool-aged children are already overweight or obese, and that prevention measures must begin before preschool age if the problem of overweight and obesity is to be addressed successfully.

Aboriginal Early Childhood Educations Worker Training

In February 2007, CECASN brought researchers, policy makers and community experts from across Canada to Ottawa to develop a new special needs program for early childhood and to adapt assessment tools for Aboriginal communities. The event was hosted in collaboration with the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and Human Resources and Social Development Canada.

Participants also designed and implemented a project on distance learning on special needs for early childhood education workers in Aboriginal communities.

Recommendations and reports from the roundtable are available on CECASN’s website