A Heart for Children Early Learning Centre, Airdrie, Alberta, offers small sized Kindergarten classes to children of all abilities.

Specialized & Inclusive Supports

Individualized Support. Collaborative Teams. Meaningful Inclusion.

At A Heart for Children, we believe every child deserves the opportunity to be understood, included, and supported to reach their potential. As an Alberta Education-approved Early Childhood Services (ECS) program, we support eligible children through Alberta Education funding, including Program Unit Funding (PUF) and Mild/Moderate supports.

Our collaborative team may include Alberta-certified teachers, Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs), Occupational Therapists (OTs), Physical Therapists (PTs), Behaviour Specialists, educational assistants, and families working together to support each child's individual strengths, needs, and goals.


Programme Unit Funding (PUF)

Programme Unit Funding (PUF) provides additional support for eligible young children with identified severe disabilities or delays.

For children who qualify, funding allows our team to develop individualized programming and provide specialized supports within the child's educational environment.

Whenever appropriate, strategies are embedded into the child's everyday experiences—play, classroom routines, communication, friendships, transitions, and learning activities—so children have meaningful opportunities to practice their developing skills throughout their day.

we believe every child deserves the opportunity to be understood, included, and supported to reach their potential.

Mild/Moderate Supports

Children with identified mild or moderate needs may also be eligible for additional supports within their educational program. Depending on the individual child, support may address areas such as:

  • Speech, language, and communication
  • Social communication and peer relationships
  • Emotional and behavioural regulation
  • Attention, engagement, and participation
  • Sensory needs
  • Fine- and gross-motor development
  • Independence and self-help skills
  • Early learning and school readiness
  • Play skills
  • Transitions and flexibility

The focus is always on helping the child participate, communicate, develop independence, build relationships, and experience success.

Junior Kindergarten children at Heart For Children play, move, create, imagine, investigate, and wonder.

Individualized Program Plans

Children accessing specialized supports have an Individualized Program Plan (IPP) developed around their unique strengths, needs, and priorities.

An IPP provides a shared plan for the child's educational team and family. It identifies meaningful goals and helps everyone work together toward the skills that will make a difference in the child's learning, participation, communication, and independence.

Goals may focus on areas such as communication, social development, regulation, motor development, independence, classroom participation, or early learning.

Most importantly, an IPP is not simply a document. It is a working plan that guides how we support the child throughout their educational experience.

Parents Are an Important Part of the IPP Team

Parents know their child best. Family input is an important part of developing meaningful IPP goals. We want to understand what families are seeing at home, what is important to them, where they see their child's strengths, and what skills they feel would make the greatest difference in their child's everyday life.

Parents have opportunities to provide input into their child's goals and priorities and to discuss progress with the educational and specialized support team. This collaborative approach helps ensure that goals aren't developed for families—they are developed with families.

Meeting with Families Three Times Each Year

Families of children with IPPs have three scheduled opportunities throughout the school year to meet with the team and participate in the IPP process. These meetings provide opportunities to:

  • Share family priorities and concerns
  • Discuss the child's strengths and successes
  • Develop and review individualized goals
  • Hear observations from educators and specialists
  • Review progress toward IPP goals
  • Discuss strategies that may be helpful at home and school
  • Adjust goals as the child's skills and needs change
  • Celebrate growth and accomplishments
  • Plan together for the child's next steps

Regular communication may also occur throughout the year as needed. We believe families should understand what their child is working toward and feel like an active member of the team.

A Collaborative Multidisciplinary Team

Children's development is interconnected, which is why our approach brings together professionals from different areas of expertise. Depending on the child's individual needs, the team may include:

Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs)
Supporting speech, language, understanding, expressive communication, social communication, and a child's ability to communicate their wants, needs, ideas, and feelings.

Occupational Therapists (OTs)

Supporting fine-motor development, sensory needs, regulation, self-care, classroom participation, and independence.

Physical Therapists (PTs)
Supporting gross-motor development, mobility, strength, balance, coordination, positioning, and physical participation.

Behaviour Specialists
Helping the team understand behaviour and develop proactive, supportive strategies that promote regulation, participation, communication, positive relationships, and successful learning experiences.

Teachers & Educational Staff
Bringing specialized recommendations into the child's everyday educational environment and providing frequent opportunities to practice skills during authentic classroom experiences.

Support Within the Classroom

Children don't only develop skills during individual therapy sessions. A child may work on communication while asking a friend to play. They may practice fine-motor skills while creating art, develop gross-motor abilities during outdoor play, or use a regulation strategy during an actual classroom transition

Our team works collaboratively so that therapeutic and educational strategies can be incorporated into the child's natural learning environment whenever appropriate. This allows children to practice skills repeatedly and meaningfully throughout their day.

Inclusion Means Belonging

Inclusion means more than having a child physically present in a classroom. We want children to be able to participate, communicate, develop friendships, contribute to their classroom community, learn, and experience success. Different children may need different supports to achieve those things.

Our goal isn't to make every child learn or communicate in the same way. It is to understand the individual child and provide the support they need to participate as fully and independently as possible.

we believe every child deserves the opportunity to be understood, included, and supported to reach their potential.

Why A Heart for Children?

Our specialized programming brings together:

  • Alberta Education-approved ECS programming
  • Alberta-certified teachers
  • Program Unit Funding (PUF) support for eligible children
  • Mild/Moderate supports for eligible children
  • Individualized Program Plans (IPPs)
  • Meaningful parent input into goals
  • Three scheduled IPP meetings with families each year
  • Speech-Language Pathologists
  • Occupational Therapists
  • Physical Therapists
  • Behaviour Specialists
  • Individualized strategies and programming
  • Collaborative, multidisciplinary support
  • Inclusive early learning environments

Families at the Heart of the Team

At A Heart for Children, we believe the strongest programs are created when families, educators, and specialized professionals work together.