As part of the knowledge transfer scholarship organized by Cirris, Béatrice Ouellet, a doctoral student in Dr. Emmanuelle Careau’ team, presents her research project.

In Quebec, one-third of children in a situation of socio-economic vulnerability have a vulnerability in at least one area of their development at the beginning of kindergarten.

Rehabilitation services and supportive interventions for parents can help reduce the effects of socio-economic status on a child’s development. However, different barriers reduce the access of families in a situation of socio-economic vulnerability to these services and one of the most important is the presentation of a low level of literacy.

This barrier can be reduced through the use of strategies that promote accessible, effective and family-centred communication. However, these strategies are often unknown to rehabilitation professionals, such as occupational therapists, although communication is identified as a key skill in their competency framework.

This webinar aims to:

1) Improve the knowledge of paediatric occupational therapists on strategies to facilitate oral and written communication with families;

2) Present an innovative tool to support parents in ESVS in the development of their young child, which has been designed following these strategies in order to be adapted to the needs of people with low literacy.