Ontario Special Needs Strategy Update – June 2016

OSOT’s School-Based OT Team (SBOT) is actively monitoring the Special Needs Strategy. Members of the SBOT team met with the representatives of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services in March and with representatives of the Ministry of Education in April. At these meetings, we provided information to the ministries regarding how occupational therapists can contribute to the Special Needs Strategy and potential impact for OTs working in this sector.

The following provides an update on the implementation phases of two elements within the Special Needs Strategy, Coordinated Service Planning and Integrated Delivery of Rehabilitation Services. Members are encouraged to monitor the Special Needs Strategy website regularly. Registration is required, but is just a formality as the site is within the Ministry of Children and Youth Services and cannot be accessed with a Google Search.

Coordinated Service Planning
Coordinated Service Planning is being implemented in phases in throughout the province. The ministries continue to work with all proposal development tables to clarify proposed models for coordinated service planning and confirm the identification of coordinating agencies. Additionally, the ministries are developing program guidelines and performance measures for coordinated service planning that will provide further guidance regarding the delivery of coordinated service planning, such as for identifying the population that will benefit from coordinated service planning, prioritization and wait list management. Drafts of these documents will be shared with the initial group of coordinating agencies that are implementing coordinated service planning in the first phase for their input and advice.

Integrated Delivery of Rehabilitation Services
In October 2015, each of the 34 communities in Ontario submitted proposals for the Integrated Delivery of Rehabilitation Services. Local proposal development tables have received feedback on their respective proposals. Feedback has included the following common messages;
  • Integrating the delivery of rehabilitation services requires significant transformation, and the development of local proposals for consideration by the ministries is the first step. 

  • At this time, no provincial decisions have been made regarding funding transfers. Information gathering will inform government decision making to support implementation of the integrated delivery of children’s rehabilitation services. 

  • Implementation of integrated delivery of rehabilitation services will occur over two years with full implementation, including service transitions among providers, provincial policy changes, and provincial funding transfers to support service delivery, to begin in Year 2 (2017-18). In the interim, it is the expectation of the ministries that existing service capacity and service levels continue to be maintained.
  • View the Ministries’ update on key themes emerging from Local Planning Table interactions with the Ministries, the Program Guidelines and Next Steps here.

On June 14, 2016, the ministries released Program Guidelines and implementation planning templates that build on the core service requirements for the integrated delivery of rehabilitation services. These Guidelines will be a key resource for setting out provincial expectations and provide direction for providing rehabilitation services to children and youth with special needs. They will be used by agencies and school boards to guide local planning and program delivery. These can be viewed at the SNS website – see Tools & Resources.

View OSOT's Response to the Draft Policy & Program Guidelines for Integrated Delivery of Rehabilitation Services, July 22, 2016.

Implications for Occupational Therapists

Occupational therapists working with children and youth with special needs are key stakeholders to this strategy development and reform and are encouraged to monitor the strategy evolution and implications for practice to facilitate positioning of services.  Members are encouraged to review the Program Guidelines for Integrated Rehabilitation and to identify questions and implications for OT.  The Guidelines require a paradigm shift from the traditional practice of one-on-one intervention for every child to a continuum of service delivery approaches based on need and shift the focus away from a traditional impairment-focused approach to a development-focused approach to service delivery.  OTs will likely support the foundational principles and underpinnings of the proposed tiered service delivery framework and the potentials for real capacity building within the system. 

OSOT's School Based Occupational TherapyTeam is committed to gathering information and providing input on the evolving strategy and encourage member participation - know your comments and questions are welcomed by Team Chair, Debra Kennedy.