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Jan Burke-Gaffney

Associate Member

An older woman with glasses and short hair smiles slightly while standing outdoors on a sunny day.

Biography

Jan has been a passionate advocate for people with disabilities for 26 years. She is a founder of the Hamilton Family Network, a parent-to-parent support group that seeks to implement innovative strategies to support and strengthen families to thrive in their local communities. Jan is also the Past President of the Family Alliance Ontario, a provincial advocacy organization. She has also held the position of Vice-Chair of the Special Education Advisory Committee for the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board. Jan has been involved with numerous projects and articles at CanChild including the KIT, Youth KIT and Family-Centred Service Sheets. She holds a Professional Associate Appointment with the School of Rehabilitation Science, McMaster. Jan and her husband have four wonderful children who have provided them with the inspiration that guides their work to support the self-determination and inclusion of people with disabilities.

Resources

Focus on Function

The Focus on Function Study will compare two treatment approaches (“child-focused” and “context-focused”) that are currently being used for children with cerebral palsy and other developmental and motor delays.
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Youth KIT

The purpose of this study is to obtain the ideas, perspectives, and needs of youth with disabilities, parents, and service providers for the content and design of the Youth version of the KIT (Keeping It Together), and to test the utility of the Youth KIT for youth with multiple exceptionalities.
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Family Centred Service Sheets

Family-centred service is an approach to providing services to children with special needs. As suggested by the name of this approach, the family is considered to be at the centre of the services. This makes family centred approaches different than…
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