Formerly known as SMILE Therapy for Kids Calgary
5970 Centre St S, Unit 100 Calgary, AB, T2H0C2
FSCD Service Provider
What is FSCD (Family Supports for Children with Disabilities)
FSCD (Family Supports for Children with Disabilities) is a government-funded program that allows Alberta parents of children with delays and disabilities to access various supports. Such supports include, but are not limited to:
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funding for therapy (PT, OT, SLP, Psych, Aides)
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funding for medical expenses (prescriptions)
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funding for specialized clothing (ie. Billy shoes)
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funding for vehicle expenses (ie. hospital parking, mileage)
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funding for respite
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and more
In order to apply for FSCD, a family requires that they have documentation regarding their child's delay or disability (a formal diagnosis is not required). If a family would like to apply for FSCD, but does not posess such documentation, then this is something that we can assist with. Please reach out to learn how we can help.
How the Canadian Centre for Development supports families with FSCD Funding
There's a multitude of ways in which we can support families with FSCD funding. Some of the key ways are:
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We come on as a private provider for families' Behaviour Developmental Supports (BDS) contract.
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We come on as a private provider for families' Specialized Services contract.
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We assist families with qualifying for FSCD funding through providing of a support letter to the family.
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We assist families with advocating for greater supports (ie. transitioning from BDS to Specialized Services) via correspondence with FSCD and providing of support letters.
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Coordinating and scheduling all of families' FSCD-funded services.
Behaviour Developmental Supports (BDS) and Specialized Services are two categories of FSCD funding that support therapy services.
Behaviour Developmental Supports (BDS)
BDS covers 6 months of services, and includes 26 direct and indirect hours with a licensed therapist, as well as aide services (various hourly allotment). BDS allows for the 26 funded hours to be split between up to two licensed therapists (ex. a PT and OT). Often, if a family hasn't had therapy funding before, FSCD will start that family off with approving them for BDS (a much smaller contract than a 'Specialized Services' contract). Once a family has gone through at least one BDS contract, they are entitled to request to be considered for approval for a Specialized Services contract.
Specialized Services
Specialized Services is a category of funding that supports children that need to access services from three or more licensed therapists (ex. PT, OT, and SLP). Once approved, families have access to 12 months of funding, and it is common, that families are provided with enough funding to see each practitioner anywhere from 2 to 4 times per month.
At CCD, we can assist families with optimizing their Specialized Services schedule by stacking their appointment in a manner that minimizes their visits to the centre, while still enabling children to get all the supports that they need.
FSCD Rates & Family Expenses
Being that FSCD coverage isn't indexed to the actual current cost of therapy services, the funding that is provided doesn't cover the total cost of therapy. This leads to there being a sharing of cost between FSCD and the family or the family's insurance provider.
FSCD provides funding for therapy services at the following rates:
Pediatric Physiotherapy - $82.66/hr
Occupational Therapy - $94.76/hr
Speech-Language Pathology - $100.68/hr
Therapy Aide - $26.34/hr
Other types of providers are also funded by FSCD, but the above services are the only ones that are available at the Canadian Centre for Development at this time.
We're happy to provide the convenient service of direct-billing FSCD for their portion of the cost of the covered services, and, if the family has insurance, direct-billing the insurance provider for the remainder. If, after both of these funding options have been exhausted, there's still a balance outstanding, such a balance is expected to be covered by the family.
Therapy Aide Services
Our highly trained Therapy Assistants are happy to provide Therapy Aide services to children that see our licensed therapists for other services. The aides will collaborate closely with the therapists to ensure that all the activities that they do with the children are closely aligned with the therapists' goals for the child. All aide services are Centre-based.
Modalities used as part of our delivery of FSCD Behaviour Developmental Supports or Specialized Services contracts include, but are not limited to:
Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES or 'Muscle Stim'), Trexo Robot, TheraTogs, Universal Exercise Unit ('Spider Cage'), LiteGait, HyperVibe, Cuevas Medek Exercise (CME), Dynamic Movement Intervention (DMI), and others.