Blooming Words® in Manitoba – Helping Young Children Learn to Talk

Blooming Words® is an early language program for children from birth to 5 years old. It helps children learn to talk, understand words, and get ready to read. The program is for all children — and it is especially helpful for those who may need extra support with language.

Smiling baby outdoors holding a cartoon-style slice of watermelon, wearing a white shirt with a yellow sun design and an illustrated orange headband added digitally.

Overview

Blooming Words® is an early language program for children from birth to 5 years old. It helps children learn to talk, understand words, and get ready to read. The program is for all children — and it is especially helpful for those who may need extra support with language.

In Manitoba, Blooming Words® is offered by the Children’s Therapy Network of Manitoba (CTNM) through the Rehabilitation Centre for Children (RCC). CTNM is a coordinated program of service providers and provincial government departments of Education and Early Childhood Learning, Families and Health, Seniors and Long Term Care.

All program materials are available in English and French. *With more languages to come!

How It Works

Blooming Words® is led by trained Facilitators. Facilitators are people who work with families or staff and are trained to teach the program.

There are two ways the program is shared:

  1. Community / Healthcare Model – Facilitators work with parents or caregivers.
  2. Education Model – Facilitators work with early childhood educators, school staff, or childcare staff.

Facilitators get help from a CTNM Supporting Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) when needed.

For Families

If you are a parent or caregiver, you will be connected to a Facilitator who will guide you through the course that fits your child’s stage of talking:

  • Before Words – For children (18 months to 3 years) who are not talking yet.
  • The Basics of Language – For children (2 to 4 years) starting to say or join words together.
  • Thoughts to Sentences – For children (3 to 5 years) speaking in sentences of 4 or more words.

For Community Organizations, Schools, and Childcare Centres

Blooming Words® offers free training for people who want to be Facilitators. Once trained, you can offer the program to parents, caregivers, or staff in your setting.

Training Details:

  • Community / Healthcare Facilitator Training – Two 3-hour online sessions.
  • Education Facilitator Training – One 3-hour online session.
  • Training is done through Microsoft Teams.

After training:

  • You start offering Blooming Words® within 1 month.
  • You send participant lists to our administrative assistant so accounts can be created.
  • You guide families or staff through the program.

What to Expect:

  • Weekly or every-other-week sessions, 1–1.25 hours each.
  • Small group or one-on-one learning.
  • Videos, handouts, ideas for home activities, and group discussions.
  • A personal login to the Blooming Words® website for 1 year.
  • An optional one-on-one video coaching session with your Facilitator.

Our administrative assistant will help you register, set up your online account, and send your completion certificate.

Why Blooming Words® Works

Blooming Words® was co-developed in Quebec by speech-language experts and a non-profit group called API-Enfance.

It has been tested and shown to help young children’s language grow. The program can be implemented quickly, has high service quality, as well as excellent satisfaction and commitment rates.

The program includes online access to videos, discussion questions, handouts, and guided activities that make learning fun and easy to use at home, in childcare, or at school.

The program is flexible and can be done in-person or online, in groups or individually.

Blooming Words® provides language development strategies that fit naturally into everyday life. There are strategies to help children at any stage of their development including vocabulary development and engaging in play.

By taking the training sessions, the adults in the child’s life learn strategies that lead to communicating in sentences and learning to read.

Resources to Learn More

Contact Information

To learn how to join Blooming Words® as a family or as an organization, contact:
📧 bloomingwords@rccinc.ca
📞 431-338-6210