More training needed to help kids with disabilities, say some early childhood educators in N.S.

Jenna LeBlanc thought she would be fully equipped to enter the child-care sector when she earned her diploma and became a certified early childhood educator (ECE), but once she got into the field, she realized she had a lot more to learn. 

When it comes to working with kids with disabilities, LeBlanc said she often feels lost. Her first encounter on the job with a child who required one-on-one support was with a young girl who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. 

"That was incredibly hard to navigate because I didn't know what I was doing," she said. "That sounds horrible, but I just did my best." 

LeBlanc got her ECE diploma in 2018 from the Nova Scotia College for Early Childhood Educators (NSCECE), a non-profit private career college in Halifax. She said the two-year program did touch on some intellectual disabilities in two mandatory courses that focused on inclusion, but there was not enough in the curriculum about physical disabilities.

Krista Ahearn, the lead instructor with NSCECE, said by email that their inclusion courses "have been revised and updated quite significantly since 2018."

"We also focus on providing a wide range of opportunities for students to apply these theories and practise in hands-on ways the skills and strategies they will use in the classroom with children with all needs," she wrote.

But CBC News spoke to several ECEs who earned their diplomas from different schools across the province. Similarly to LeBlanc, many described feeling ill-prepared to work with kids with disabilities and said more specialized education was needed.

Beth Towler is the executive director of Wee Care Developmental Centre, one of Nova Scotia's leading inclusive child-care facilities. The non-profit centre currently has over 500 families on its waitlist, according to Towler. 

She said a lack of resources, training and education are the biggest barriers when it comes to creating more child-care spaces for children with disabilities. 

"If that training was there … then all centres would be able to accommodate these children, alleviating that stress for families with children with disabilities not being able to return to work," said Towler.

She said most ECE diploma programs touch on autism, but not so much on more "complex needs." 

Moreover, Towler said the responsibility typically falls on parents to come into the centre to show ECEs how to safely care for their child. 

"We're not medically trained. If a child is tube-fed, the onus is on the family to teach our staff how to administer tube feeding, or rescue medication, or suctioning," she explained. 

"It's imperative that my staff feel confident and able to carry out these procedures." 

Krista Higdon, a spokesperson for the Department of Education, said provincial standards require inclusion to be a core part of ECE programs. 

"Post-secondary training programs are expected to help students develop an understanding of disabilities and inclusion, and prepare students to plan and implement inclusive learning environments for all children," she said in an email. "The province will continue to work with our post-secondary partners to strengthen pre-service training related to inclusion." 

She said a new version of Nova Scotia's early learning curriculum is coming out this spring, and will place greater emphasis on equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility.

Part of implementing the new curriculum includes reworking a series of professional development modules that are available to ECEs, Higdon said. 

Blair Hill is a facilitator of these modules and a teacher with the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) ECE program on the Marconi Campus in Sydney, N.S. 

He said NSCC's program incorporates principles of inclusion throughout all of its courses and has one specific course dedicated to diverse and inclusive practices. However, more specialized care is not a component of the curriculum. 

Disability-related workshops most popular

As of October 2023, there were 571 students enrolled in the ECE program at NSCC across the province, according to a communications advisor for the college. Throughout the program, students have several placement opportunities, which is likely where they would gain hands-on skills, according to Hill. 

"I think there's always more than can be done, but it's just very limiting when you have a two-year diploma program," he said. "I always say I learned more in my first year working in the field than I did in my two-year program."

In terms of the professional development modules, Hill said training for working with kids with disabilities or who require additional support is one of the most sought-after workshop topics. 

"That's one of the topics that staff will look for because they need more resources, and they're looking for other strategies that they can use to help support these children," he said. 

LeBlanc has attended several workshops through Mount Saint Vincent University and said they were helpful. She's even finishing up her bachelor's degree in child and youth studies at the Mount in hopes of gaining more opportunities as an educator.