Health Promotion Services

Our First Words Health Promotion Team supports parents, early years educators, child care providers, and health professionals by offering custom workshops virtually, on site, or at your location.

Finding the right workshop for your need

Our workshops focus on topics such as speech and language milestones, effective communication strategies, and creating language-rich environments to foster children's communication development. Choose your sector and explore the available workshops.

Parents, Early Years & Care Providers

First Words recognizes the value of ongoing education to parents and early learning and care professionals. 


We provide training during large event program activities or professional development opportunities for parents, staff or agencies.


For large educational events (more than 50 people), we can tailor a presentation to meet your needs.


If you are hosting a conference or looking for a guest speaker for a large-event community meeting, remember to invite First Words!



Request Health Promotion Services

The following workshops are available:

First Words 101

Join us to learn about First Words, the services offered and how to support families who have concerns about their children. Topics discussed include: speech and language milestones, bringing up your concerns with parents, strategies and more!

Please note virtual presentations will be prioritized.

The "Chat Room" Program

The Chat Room Program is a low-ratio, community-based program developed in partnership between the First Words Preschool Speech and Language Program of Ottawa and the Ontario Early Years Centre – Ottawa West-Nepean.


This manual provides information and daily strategies to create language-rich early learning and care environments to support the preschool child’s communication development.

The Chat Room Program does not provide clinical speech-language services in any way. It does not take the place of clinical speech-language therapy performed by a certified Speech-Language Pathologist. 


**Please Note: Although First Words does not run The Chat Room for families, we would be happy to help you get started or to support you in adding the language rich activities and incorporate the strategies detailed in the manual. 


For more information or for access to the manual, please reach out to Roxane at r.belanger@pqchc.com

Additional Resources

  • Visit CCPRN for more workshops and training opportunities.
  • You can direct interested parents to the Parent Resource Centre to find free workshops in the community!

Health Professionals

First Words offers a variety of workshops for Ottawa region healthcare providers. 


Invite First Words to arrange an information session about speech and language development for your team. 


Contact Roxane Bélanger for any request, using the button below



Request Health Promotion Services

The following workshops are available:

First Words: Who we are. What we do. Why we want to partner with you.

An informal in-service about Ottawa First Words: its target population, referral process; access to services including our community screening clinics. Resources will be provided. Community partnership will be discussed.

1 hour workshop

Question Period with First Words



Over lunch or in an informal meeting, this workshop will provide opportunities for staff to ask questions about specific areas of speech and language development or delay, address current trends or topic of interests (bilingualism, strategies). This workshop is tailored to your centre’s specific areas of interest and time available.

Talk By 2: Early identification and intervention of speech

and language delays.




This presentation concerns recent pediatric research on early identification and intervention for children under the age of 2 years. Concrete tools will help with assessment and referral of young infants based on 6 risk indicators. The important role of the healthcare professional in early identification of children at risk will be highlighted. Referral and access to services will be discussed.

2 hour workshop/ or adapted

Growing Up with Many Languages in Canada: Supporting language development in the context of first language use and bilingualism.

Over lunch or in an informal meeting, this workshop will provide opportunities for staff to ask questions about specific areas of speech and language development or delay, address current trends or topic of interests (bilingualism, strategies). This workshop is tailored to your centre’s specific areas of interest and time available.

Unplug to Connect, Talk and Read to Children: Promoting the health and development of young children in a digital world.

Primary Care Professionals are in a unique position to affect change through screen time education at every wellness visit from birth to 5-year-old. This workshop will address risks and benefits associate to screen time and will look at ways PCP can discuss openly screen time with families. 


Children under 5 years old are spending more time in front of screens and at younger ages. New research on screen time shows the effects on a child’s development, with many relating to communication problems (especially expressive language), decreased empathy, and difficulties with attention span (Radesky, J.S., et al. 2014). Children who spent more time using handheld devices were more likely to have delays in expressive language (Meta van den Heval & Ma, J. 2018). 


Technoference, or the time spend on a device by caregivers instead of interacting and talking with children, has a direct link for increased risk of language delays and other behavioral issues. Children who are “connected on a screen” miss out on crucial developmental, language, social interaction, and play skills. Strong communication skills are built through parent-child interaction right from birth. Timely parent-child interventions improve overall child development and communication outcomes (e.g. MacDonald, 1989; Wilcox 1992, Barnett and Escobar, 1990).

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