Dr. Selamenesh Tsige Legas describes results of her interviews with parents of children with a variety of disabilities, with comments from Dr. Benjamin Klein, co-author of the Functional Abilities Classification Tool, on how to understand function in the context of childhood disability.

In this next episode, guest host Rhea D’Costa interviews Dr. Yona Lunsky, director of the Azrieli Adult Neurodevelopmental Center at CAMH, Toronto, about the importance of prioritizing vaccination of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their essential caregivers. See key resources mentioned in this podcast on our website: https://ponda.ca/podcasts/ 

The conversation continues in this next podcast about how the COVID pandemic is impacting children with NDD and exceptional learning needs.  Dr. Ripudaman Minhas, Developmental Paediatrician shares his observations from his work with the Inner City Health Program at St. Michael's Hospital and emphasizes just how essential the school environment is for children's development.  

Join me as I chat with Dr. Olaf Kraus de Camargo & Dr. Kinga Pozniak about the findings from their cross-Canada, mixed methods survey, of the Caregiver experience during the early months of the COVID pandemic.  Families & caregivers identified many gaps in essential services including access to therapies, respite support and online education - issues that continue to impact individuals with NDD several months later. 

Join me as I talk with a mother of two sons with NDD about their experience during the first few months of the COVID pandemic.  She speaks about the distress of having one son contract the virus, online schooling and the need for more supports to help families. 

Join me as I chat with Dr. Olaf Kraus de Camargo and Dr. Mohammad Zubairi, two Developmental Pediatricians from Hamilton, Ontario and the Ron Joyce Children's Health Centre about the role of physicians in supporting families as they make decisions about accessing services for children with ASD.  

Listen as Dr. Jacqueline Ogilvie chats with Dr. William Cowie, head of the Every Canadian Counts Coalition (ECCC), to learn about the efforts of the ECCC and how a national disability insurance program might work here in Canada. 

Listen as Dr. Jacqueline Ogilvie chats with Dr. Bruce Bonyhady, Professor of Economics and one of the key architects of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia, about how the Australians developed a novel, needs-based program to fund disability services. 

Listen to Dr. Nicky Jones-Stokreef (Developmental Paediatrician) and Mr. Chris Samis (School board Superintendent of Program and Special Education, Simcoe County) discuss identifying children with learning difficulties, working with the education system and how to use the LD toolkit.  

Welcome to PONDA Podcast! We are excited to announce the release of our first podcast, featuring the Advocacy Toolkit for Literacy based Learning Disabilities.