Accessible Resource Centre - BC Link​

Accessible Resource Centre - British Columbia

Providing BC Educators with Alternate Format Materials for their Students with Perceptual Disabilities

The Accessible Resource Centre – British Columbia is a BC Ministry of Education funded response to the increasing demand for digital or alternate format alternatives to print in BC classrooms. The goal of ARC-BC is to provide BC students with perceptual disabilities and the educators supporting them with high quality digital alternate format materials based on the BC K-12 curriculum.

ARC-BC is managed by PRCVI (Provincial Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired) and works in consultation and partnership with BC school districts, other alternate format producers, and publishers to provide recommended and requested materials in a timely manner.

ARC-BC Training

Please note there are numerous online training sessions offered to new and returning ARC-BC users! New users are required to complete a training session before downloading digital alternate format files for students. Check out the Training​ tab on the ARC BC website and click on the View Calendar link to see upcoming training sessions.

Feel free to contact arc@prcvi.org should you experience any difficulties.

Provincial Outreach Program for Deaf & Hard of Hearing 

The program mission is to collaborate with school districts in meeting the needs of all Deaf and Hard of Hearing learners. Through collaborative consultation POPDHH supports educational teams in addressing the unique communication and learning styles of individual Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. To reach every student's potential POPDHH promotes goals of language development, literacy, numeracy, cognitive development, self-advocacy, and self-confidence in becoming responsible, global citizens.

The Provincial Outreach Program: Deaf and Hard and Hearing supports students and educational teams in the form of:

• Observational and Standardized Assessments
• IEP Development and Implementation
• Program Development
• Inclusion Support
• Transition Support
• Student Leadership 
• Student Events
• Mentorship 
• Professional Development​
• Provincial Resource Lending Library
• Provincial Education Review Committee for the Deaf (PERCD)

POPDHH encourages students to become contributing members of both the Deaf and Hearing communities.

Program Mandate

Upon request from School Districts, Independent Schools and First Nations programs, the Provincial Outreach Program provides educational consultation, programming and support for students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing all over British Columbia.

School Teams interested in working with POPDHH, please contact
Director of Instruction, Learning Support Services

Nursing Support Services (NSS)​ is a program with the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) through BC Children’s Hospital (BCCH).

Nursing Support Services assists parents and caregivers to help children with special health care needs lead active, healthy lives in their communities, while providing safe, consistent care and appropriate health supports.

Services include assessment, planning and monitoring of care and may involve:

• Information about the care of children and youth with special health care needs.
• Consultation about community-based care and resources.
• Direct nursing care: Coordination of planned, intermittent periods of respite, by a registered or licensed practical nurse, for complex supports such as home dialysis, tracheostomy, ventilator and end-of-life care.
• Delegated nursing care: Training and monitoring of non-nurse caregivers to provide special aspects of a child’s care, such as gastrostomy tube meals, blood glucose monitoring, clean intermittent catheterization and oral suctioning.
• Eligibility assessment for the At Home Program, which provides medical and respite benefits.
• Collaboration with families and other community service providers, such as social workers, physiotherapists and teachers.
• Nursing Support Services provides direct nursing care in home, school and childcare settings. In most circumstances, delegated nursing care is provided only in schools or childcare settings.

Eligibility
Nursing Support Services is intended for children with severe disabilities or complex health needs. 

School Teams interested in working with Nursing Support Services, please contact
Director of Instruction, Learning Support Services

Provincial Inclusion Outreach Program (PIOP)

​Inclusion Outreach is an outreach service mandated to assist schools throughout British Columbia, in meeting the educational needs of students with multiple severe physical and cognitive disabilities.

A team, consisting of a teacher, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, and speech-language pathologist provide support through a variety of services.

PHILOSOPHY

All children, even those challenged by very severe disabilities, are learners and our challenge as educators is to help them grow to their potential. In order to facilitate that growth, we need a clear vision of their future and concrete goals that work towards that vision. This can best be done by a team of people which may include parents, classroom teacher, teaching assistant, principal, school special education teachers, district support teachers and therapists. Fitting the student goals into the activities of the regular classroom allows the student with multiple severe disabilities to learn along with his/her peers.

FOCUS

The focus of this program is two-fold:

1. Provision of information and strategies specific to the student with multiple severe disabilities to maximize his/her learning.
   

2. Provision of information, inservice and teaching strategies to support the classroom teacher and support team to meet the educational needs of the student with multiple severe disabilities.

REFERRAL PROCEDURE

Initial Referrals

• ​​Referral Criteria​​

• Referral Form - Inclusion Outreach

• ​​Access to Fillable Referral form​ ​under the "Referrals" drop down (Fill in the form online, then print and sign) 

Follow-up Visits

• Referral Update Form - Inclusion Outreach

• Access to Fillable Referral Update Form under the "Referrals" drop down  (Fill in the form online, then print and sign) 

The referral package should be completed by the school case manager, then submitted to your District Partner for final signature.

SERVICES

Several services are available depending on the needs of the student and his/her school: Inclusion Outreach works with the student's team in their home school district. Goal setting, teaching strategies, and classroom planning are all a part of this service.

a) Initial Visit: The purpose of this two/three day visit is to observe the student in his/her daily routines; collaborate with the student's team around the strengths, needs and long range planning of the student and his/her team (MAPS); explore strategies and develop action plans for the next several months.

b) Subsequent Visits: Case Managers with Inclusion Outreach continue to work with the student's team in their school district. Goal setting, teaching strategies and classroom planning are all a part of this service. Feeding, switch access and vision assessments are offered as part of the consultation service when requested.

c) Inservices: Inservices are available in conjunction with student visits.​

POPARD: Provincial Outreach Program for Autism and Related Disorders​

POPARD provides consultation, training and support services to all public and independent schools across the province of British Columbia with a primary focus on increasing the capacity of school district staff to support students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). 

The POPARD team will provide leadership in collaboration with educators who request support for children and youth with ASD. Collaboration will promote meaningful consultation with parents and community teams. POPARD will promote a wide range of evidence-based practice approaches that will facilitate inclusive educational programs in the least restrictive environment.

The purpose of our website is to provide teachers, para-professionals, and parents with information about ASD. You can find information on resources, training, elearning modules, and POPARD services and is an excellent resource for school teams.

​School teams can request support and services from POPARD through the Rocky Mountain School District Learning Services Department and District Partner. 

School Teams interested in working with POPARD please contact

District Vice Principal, Learning Support Services
and
District Partner, Kari Mason at 250-342-9243 ext 4412

​​The Provincial Outreach Program for Early Years (POPEY) is a British Columbia Ministry of Education Provincial Resource Program with an outreach focus.

Mandate 

The Provincial Outreach Program for Early Years (POPEY) is a British Columbia Ministry of Education Provincial Resource Program (PRP) with an outreach focus. The mandate of the program is to increase educators’ capacity to support all learners, particularly diverse and struggling learners.

Outcomes 

1. Build and sustain the capacity of all educators throughout the province for effective instruction/early intervention.
2. Provide all educators with support, knowledge and Professional Learning opportunities in the area of primary literacy instruction, and to provide early intervention strategies for struggling learners.
3. Research, evaluate and share evidence-based practice and resources for educating struggling learners, including those with learning disabilities.
4. Liaise with District Partners, the Advisory Committee, post-secondary institutions and professional associations.
5. Provide educators with online access to information, eLearning videos, resources and Professional Learning opportunities.
6. Facilitate the sharing and transferring of knowledge and practice among educators across the province.

Service Delivery

POPEY provides services to BC public school districts and Group l and II independent schools. The focus of the services is to build capacity within districts and schools through in-services, networking, resources and eLearning opportunities. The POPEY team is comprised of Teacher Consultants, Technical Analyst and Administrative Assistance. POPEY is hosted by Richmond School District. Additionally on the POPEY team are: Richmond School District Site and Supervising Administrators, District Partners and a Multi-Region Advisory Committee. 

School teams can request support and services from POPEY through Rocky Mountain Learning Services Department and the POPEY District Partner.

Please contact
District Vice Principal, Learning Support Services

The Provincial Outreach Program for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (POPFASD) is funded by the British Columbia Ministry of Education and has been in existence since 2006. The POPFASD Team is located in Prince George, British Columbia and hosted by School District No. 57. A multi-district Steering Committee offers advice, direction and feedback. The mandate of our program is to increase educators’ capacity to meet the learning needs of students with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. We share current research, ideas, strategies, training and resources in order to build capacity in school districts for students with FASD and their teachers. We also liaise with designated POPFASD District Partners from each district; this allows us to communicate through one key individual from each district regarding in-service and support need. We are a team of 2.8 teachers, a 1.0 Technical Analyst, and a 0.5 Office Assistant.

• Our Team

• Steering Committee & Geo-Clusters

• District Partners

​What are the goals of the Provincial Outreach Program for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder?

Program goals

• Provide support and training for educators of students living with FASD.
• Build district capacity to serve students in their home school districts by working with a District Partner.
• Provide online access to information, eLearning videos, resources and training.
• Synthesize and share current research and successful practices to support students with FASD.
• Share knowledge and practice.
• Liaise with school districts, the Ministry of Children and Family Development, the Ministry of Health, and our multi-district Steering Committee.

​The POPFASD Team

• Provides access to resources via the website
• Delivers online eLearning video modules
• Facilitates and presents workshops as requested
• Facilitates and presents online FASD training
• Provides supports and resources for District Partners
• Liaises with other Ministries
• Maintains a website community via the BLOG
• Synthesizes and shares current FASD research
• Provides consultation and support to teachers
• Consults and liaises with the experts in the field of FASD
• Facilitates information sharing

September 9th is International FASD Day and we'd like to remind you all of the importance of sharing the prevention message: Alcohol and pregnancy: no safe time, no safe amount.

For more information about the specific dates and times of online FASD training, please visit www.fasdoutreach.ca/training​.

Mission

To enhance student opportunities for success by providing access to curriculum through the use of appropriate educational and communication technologies.

Mandate

SET-BC is a Ministry of Education Provincial Resource Program established to assist school districts in educating students whose access to the curriculum is restricted primarily due to the following disabilities:

• physical disabilities or chronic health impairments
• visual impairments
• dependent handicaps
• deafblindness
• autism spectrum disorders
• moderate to profound intellectual disabilities

A) to lend assistive technologies (reading, writing, and communication tools) where required to ensure students' access to educational programs, and

B) to assist school districts in providing the necessary training for students and educators in the use of these technologies 
 

Procedures

SET-BC services are coordinated in each district by SET-BC District Partners. School team members who have any questions about the SET-BC process should contact their District Partner for information and support. 

School Teams interested in working with SET-BC, please contact
Director of Instruction, Learning Support Services