CALEB NICKERSON
CAMPBELL’S BAY
Feb. 8, 2018
On Feb. 8, roughly 30 parents, caregivers and educators gathered at the RA Hall in Campbell’s Bay to discuss services available to local youth.
Organized by the Comité 0-5 ans de la Table de développement social du Pontiac, the event was designed to highlight many of the tools and specialists that parents of young children have access to in the Pontiac.
Coordinator Lise Lagacé explained that her organization’s mandate is to help local parents prepare their youngsters for school.

“We offer help with language, motor skills, we encourage families to get out and socialize,” she explained. “We work with all the partners in the communities, whether it’s directly with the parents and families, with the daycares, [plus] we work with the schools of course. We do our best to ensure the communication and the networking are there.”
“It’s a very large territory, so it’s not very easy,” she added.
The group promotes a wide range of projects, but Lagacé said this is the first workshop they’ve hosted to give a rundown on the services they coordinate with their partners.
Speakers were featured from many of the partner organizations and spoke about how and what parents could access from their respective groups.
Speech and Language Pathologist Annick Sigouin spoke about the various red flags that show a child isn’t progressing at the typical rate. For example, if a child isn’t speaking words by 15 months or doesn’t have a reaction to being called their name by 18 months, additional help could be required.
Parents were encouraged to ask questions about the programs and find out what services could work for them.
Lagacé said that the first five years are some of the most critical in a child’s life and her organization tries to ensure that every child had has an opportunity to succeed once they reach school age. She said she is looking forward to the spring when they will be hosting another workshop on what parents should expect when preparing their child for their first day of school.