Thoughts from Canada: starting school -- emotional considerations.

This article discusses the emotional considerations of the children with disabilities starting school in Canada. The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) is a nonprofit national agency with provincial divisions, supported by private donations and bequests, the United Way, and some federal and provincial funding. No fees are charged to clients. Services are early intervention, orientation and mobility instruction for preschoolers and preschool staff, and consultation with the parents; Braille programmes for parents so they can assist their blind children; and transportation allowances for needy parents to attend services outside their area. The British Columbia (BC) Ministry of Social Services and Housing funds the Infant Development Programmes which provide professional home visitation services for families with handicapped children up to the age of 3 years. The Ministry provides special funding in cases where a child care worker or special attendant is needed for preschool children and partial or complete subsidies for special-needs preschools and day care. The BC Children's Hospital Visually Impaired Programme provides multidisciplinary assessment and follow-up services in cooperation with all involved agencies. Our major need is for mandated government infant and preschool services and for increased funding for more intensive early intervention services by the CNIB.