Caregiver Mediated Early Years Services

By invitation only

With these programs, children learn play-based home strategies that promote your child’s development. Caregiver-mediated early years programs help young children learn new skills and meet individual goals. All programs are play-based, child-led and developmentally appropriate. 

To find out if you qualify for these programs, please inquire through AccessOAP or through the Ontario Autism Program.

In partnership, John McGivney Children’s Centre, Connections Early Years Family Centre, and Children First deliver caregiver-mediated early years programs in Windsor-Essex.

The PLAY Project – delivered by John McGivney Children’s Centre

Age range: from 48 months up to their 4th birthday
Type of program: Individual
Location: Virtual or in-person

The PLAY Project is an evidence-based, playful, practical, parent-implemented program that supports the development of social interaction, communication, play, and pre-academic skills in children.  This program is appropriate for children who are communicating at different levels, from no words up to, and including, sentences.

For more information about the PLAY Project program, please visit The PLAY Project website. 

The PLAY Project is available for purchase for families who don’t quality for Caregiver Mediated Early Years services. Please contact us to learn more.

If you have questions or wish to register for the PLAY Project please email autism@jmccentre.ca  or call 519-252-7281 extension 233.

Social ABCs

Provider: Connections Early Years Family Centre
Age range: 12 to 42 months at the start of the program
Type of program:  Individual parent coaching sessions
Location: Virtual or in-person

About:
Social ABCs is an evidence-based, caregiver-mediated intervention for toddlers who have social communication difficulties. It is based on a combination of developmental and behavioural principles and focuses on improving a toddler’s use of vocalizations to communicate and sharing positive emotions with others. Opportunities for teaching and learning come from the toddler’s natural interests during playtime and day-to-day caregiving routines. Parents or other primary caregivers work with a trained Social ABCs coach to learn the intervention strategies in their child’s natural environment, using play-based activities and daily routines that their child finds most motivating.  For more information about this program, visit the Social ABCs early intervention program website.

If you have questions or wish to register for Social ABCs, please visit Connections Early Years Family Centre website.

Project ImPACT

Provider: Children First
Age range: Earliest age of diagnosis up to 48 months
Type of program: Individual and group coaching
Location: Virtual or in-person in the home or clinic

About:
The Project ImPACT (Improving Parents as Communication Teachers) program is aimed at parents and their young children with a diagnosis of autism, to increase social communication, imitation and play skills throughout daily routines. Parents are experts on their child and are coached by highly qualified professionals. Together, parents and the trainer develop priority goals and activities to support the child’s learning throughout the day. Project ImPACT uses a combination of developmental and behavioural strategies to increase social-communication skills in four main areas: social engagement, language, social imitation, and play. For more information, visit the Project ImPACT website.

If you have questions or wish to register for Project ImPACT please visit the Children First website. 

PRT (Pivotal Response Treatment)

Provider: TVCC
Age range: 12 – 48 months
Type of program: individual
Location: Virtual or in-person

About:
Pivotal response treatment (PRT) targets pivotal areas of a child’s development and focuses on increasing a young child’s motivation to learn, play, communicate and engage in social interactions. PRT is implemented in a child’s natural setting with the caregiver to teach skills using Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) strategies. PRT coaches will provide instructions, model these strategies and then allow the caregiver to practice the skills with their child.   The program targets many skills, including communicating using first words, expanding from single words to multiple words, eye contact, turn taking, play skills and other skills to increase social interactions.
If you have questions or wish to register for PRT, please visit the TVCC website.
 

Joint Attention, Symbolic Play, Engagement and Regulation (JASPER) 

Provider: TVCC
Age range: 12 to 48 months at the start of intervention
Type of program:  Individual parent coaching sessions
Location: Virtual or in-person

About:
Joint attention, symbolic play, engagement and regulation (JASPER) targets core early developmental skills for young children with autism to improve age-appropriate play skills, engagement with others and communication development. Through JASPER, you will help your child develop targeted skills, including:

• gestures for joint attention and requesting (such as pointing, coordinated looks between objects and people, and showing)
• play diversity and complexity (such as using objects to represent something else in play)
• social engagement (such as improving the child's engagement with others)
• behaviour regulation (such as using strategies to handle behaviours that interfere with learning and engagement)
• verbal communication (such as building on the child’s existing language, while also teaching them new words)
• The program will show you how to use strategies at home with your child. The program is tailored to the abilities, motivations and needs of each child and caregiver.

If you have questions or wish to register for JASPER, please visit the TVCC website.