The Eastern Shore Family Resource Association (ESFRA) promotes early language, literacy and cognitive development in children through positive parent-child interactive programs and quality child development programs throughout our communities.
 

ESFRA has been partnering with Dalhousie University School of Communication Sciences and Disorders to have Speech – Language Pathology & Audiology students & faculty provide early childhood screenings.

Children attending ESFRA programs will be given the opportunity to be screened for speech, language, hearing and school readiness skills, including numbers and letters. In addition, we open up the screening opportunity to those Eastern Shore families and their children in the larger community who are of age (must be 2 years on or before screening date and no older than 7). If you are interested, please select to register from our Upcoming Events to make an appointment from https://www.esfamily.org. Once you have a “ticket”, please complete the online “Screening Registration” within 3 days click here. (Registration without a “ticket” does not secure your child’s participation.)
 

The screenings are being held on Thursday April 25th Friday and April 26th, 2024 by appointment at the Good Shepherd Church in Lawrencetown.
 

The screening process is designed to be fun! It will involve a series of play stations using speech-language and pre-literacy (PLS-5 Screening Test, K-SEALS) screening tools. In addition, Audiology students will perform a hearing screening for each child. Parents will receive notice from ESFRA Centre staff within a few weeks IF the screening indicates that a full speech-language and/or hearing assessment is warranted. Referral forms will be available to send a referral to Nova Scotia Hearing and Speech Centres for those children requiring further assessment. ESFRA Family Centre staff can complete the referral form. Each screening will take approximately 2-hours per child to complete, and will take place at the Good Shepherd Church in Lawrencetown (3621 Lawrencetown Rd. – Hwy. 207, Lawrencetown). Appointments will be set up throughout each day, beginning at 9am and ending at 11:15am (latest appointment time). We ask that parents bring their children 15 minutes prior to their screening appointment to allow for a little playtime beforehand. We will have a Playroom set up for parents and siblings to play in while the screenings take place. Only coffee, tea and water will be provided, however, families are welcome to bring a peanut free snack on that day to enjoy while waiting. Please note: Participation is voluntary.

Eastern Shore Family Resource Association Event protocols:

• Upon arrival, you and your child will be directed to an area for parents to complete any consent documents prior to starting the screening process. These may include:

  • PLS-5/K-SEALS Permission Form

  • Audio/Video/Photograph Release Form (as the event will be documented for promotional purposes).

• Masks are optional.

• All stations will include hand sanitizer and stations will be regularly disinfected.

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