The Early Childhood Initiatives for Priority children and their families started in New Brunswick in 1992. The ECI is an integrated service delivery system for children aged 0-4. The system is coordinated across the province by a single entry point, the public health nurse. The Carleton Victoria Child Development Services program is a local example of this provincial initiative. Most of the children in the preschool program are aboriginal.
Anecdotal evidence suggest students are gaining in language and social skills.
There are general provincial guidelines and action documents available on the integration of services for children. All of these models suggest strategies and specific actions for young children entering school. Another service that needs to be part of a school's readiness plan is screening, a process to identify children at risk of not making a successful transition to school. Such screening or early identification programs are used to predict which students may have difficulty in regular classrooms. Screening is only a preliminary process for all children to identify potential problems.