Grant: Planning Grants - PA: Integrated health services, Developmental Origins of hlth

The Inclusive Early Childhood Services Systems planning meeting objective is to identify the effects of early childhood service integration on children with disabilities. The province of Ontario is undergoing significant systems level change in early childhood social policy with the intent of improving access and integration of kindergarten, child care, and early intervention and other social services, but it is unclear how these policy changes will affect developmental, health and education experiences and outcomes for children with disabilities. Disablement is often the result of an interaction between individual characteristics (such as genetic and environmental factors), social experiences (such as poverty and racialization), and community social capital (such as health services, child care, and culturally relevant supports). We will bring together partners to examine this experience in the public policy context of Ontario. The Inclusive Early Childhood Services Systems research partners include municipal community leaders who have the capacity to bring together public health, child care, family support, early intervention and aboriginal early childhood policy planners, along with research experts in qualitative and quantitative methodologies. A two-day planning meeting and follow up teleconference meetings will allow the research team and invited participants to: 1) Collaboratively develop the research questions; 2) Identify of existing data and appropriate methodologies to answer the research questions; and 3) Establish parameters for ongoing collaboration and team development for the purpose of conducting a longitudinal study of experiences of families accessing specialized services.