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Celebrating Over 50 Years Of Serving Central Okanagan Communities
The impact of Starbright Children’s Development Centre is best understood through personal stories from families. Located in Kelowna, British Columbia, the centre has been bringing to life such stories for more than 50 years.
When A Child Needs Help
“Our family needed guidance when our young daughter Sara struggled with speaking and making certain sounds. She would become frustrated as others could not understand her. We wanted experts who were experienced and knew what steps to take,” said Kevin.
The family found Starbright, and the centre’s team of professionals went to work.
Starbright operates on a multi-disciplinary team basis. Staff members are highly trained and experienced in pediatric services and see 1,000 children each year. With expertise in children’s speech difficulties, Diane Gretzinger, who is one of Starbright’s Speech-Language Pathologists, assessed Sara, designed an approach with the Starbright team, and delivered the program to the family.
Working Directly with Families
Kevin found Starbright’s family-centred approach to be just what his family needed.
“Starbright supports us as parents with non-judgmental help and ideas. They worked closely with me so I could be a part of my daughter’s development. I can remember becoming emotional in the early sessions, so proud of the progress being made. Diane would focus on different sounds, one at a time, and my daughter would progress quickly using the strategies,” said Kevin.
“Diane told me parental involvement can make a huge difference in outcomes. She gave us take-home activities that I would do with Sara on a daily basis. My daughter loved going to Starbright and showing Diane the progress she was making.”
Starbright Executive Director Dr. Rhonda Nelson said the focus on family support is key, and it’s done by design.
Leveraging A Team Approach
“We work as a team collaborating with families to help their little ones. This approach has earned our centre an excellent reputation with parents in the local community and with our peers,” she said.
Kevin noted that families using Starbright’s services are incredibly thankful and have become advocates for the centre.
“Starbright is essential to our community. Starbright’s services are accessible and available at no cost to families. You should hear my daughter speak now. She’s easy to understand, outgoing, vibrant, and ready for kindergarten,” he said happily.
Generating Positive Outcomes for the Community
Starbright embraces its history of helping families like Kevin’s.
Nelson said, “We love to see positive outcomes for the children we work with. It’s what drives our staff and what we’re so passionate about. Starbright is truly a place where miracles do happen.”
The centre provides a range of programs to children from birth to school-age entry, including infant development, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, physical therapy, inclusive childcare, and counselling.
A child can be referred to Starbright by anyone with the family’s consent, including a family member, pediatrician or family doctor, a public health nurse, or a childcare provider.
Learn more at starbrightokanagan.ca
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Starbright Children’s Development Centre is a charitable non-profit organization providing therapy and program services to a variety of families with children age 0 to school age eligibility throughout the central Okanagan. With generous assistance from the community, the province and many sponsors we have continued to provide quality services for families since 1966.
