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The Hanen Centre™ is a not-for-profit, charitable organization that is dedicated to supporting professionals, parents, caregivers and educators so they have the skills to promote the best possible language, social and literacy skills in young children. This includes children who have language delays/disorders, autistic children, and children who are developing typically.

Founded in 1977, The Hanen Centre™ specializes in developing evidence-based programs and resources for the important people in young children’s lives – their parents and caregivers – to help them gain the knowledge and skills to build children’s social, language and literacy skills. To maximize our reach, we focus on training and supporting speech-language pathologists around the world so they can provide personalized support to the families they work with using Hanen programs and resources. We also provide training to early intervention professionals, who use the Hanen approach in their work with families of young children.  

Read our mission

 

We believe in:


The power of parents and caregivers in early intervention

We recognize the family as the most important element in a child’s life. Our programs are grounded in extensive research showing the tremendous impact parents can have when they are supported to play a leading role in their child’s intervention.   

The critical role of early childhood educators

These professionals have the power to connect and interact with children in ways that benefit children for the rest of their lives – building their confidence and well-being, while helping to lay the foundation for social, language and literacy success. 

A naturalistic approach

Research shows that children learn to communicate not by being “taught”, but by participating in enjoyable everyday conversations and activities with their parents and other important adults. This means that early intervention becomes  an ongoing, more impactful process because it becomes part of a child’s everyday life.  

Child-led, strengths-based interventions

Hanen Programs support parents and caregivers to understand their child better, and to use their child’s individual strengths and interests as a basis for helping them learn. 

The importance of starting early

We know that the earlier a child receives the support they need, the greater the impact it will have. 

Best practice, evidence-based approaches

Hanen Programs are based on extensive research and current best practice in early language intervention.

Who We Help

Parents

If you’re concerned about your child’s communication or social skills, or if you’re just looking for ways to give them the best possible start, we have research-based programs and resources to help.

Professionals

We offer professional development workshops, e-Learning sessions and resources to speech-language pathologists, professionals who work with young children and their families, and early childhood educators.

Students and Faculty

We offer a free Student Community membership to SLP students, subsidies toward a Hanen workshop, and complimentary university presentations around the world.

How We Work

A multi-level approach

Helping a child means providing support on many levels. In order to make our programs and resources widely available to parents and early childhood educators, we train professionals like speech-language pathologists to offer Hanen Programs and use Hanen resources so they can best support the families and educators they work with. This multi-level approach allows our programs and resources to help as many children and families as possible around the world.

Not for Profit Organization

The Hanen Centre is a registered Canadian not-for-profit charitable organization (#11895 2357 RR0001). Operating as a social enterprise, we fund our research, program development and operations through revenue generated from workshops and the sale of Hanen resources. Free from the need to seek donations, we can fully allocate our resources to the development and promotion of the trainings, programs, resources and member supports that fulfill our mission.  

Government Support and Funding

Around the world, governments, public institutions and school boards have chosen to support and incorporate The Hanen Centre’s evidence-based programs and trainings into their early childhood initiatives. We gratefully acknowledge funding from: 

  • The Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, which funds The Hanen Centre to:
    • Provide speech and language services for children and families in The South Geographic Service Area of Toronto's Preschool Speech and Language Program. 
    • Provide subsidized training and support for speech-language pathologists and supportive personnel in Ontario’s Preschool Speech and Language Program.
  • The City of Toronto, Children’s Services Division, which funds Hanen training and support for Early Childhood Educators in Toronto. 

Our Members

Hanen members are at the heart of everything we do. They are the committed professionals who attend a Hanen workshop, become certified to lead a Hanen Program, and use the approach to make a difference for the children and families in their communities. Hanen focuses on developing and continually updating the trainings, programs and resources that support our members in their everyday clinical work. To date, we’ve trained over 25,000 members in over 80 countries.  

If you’re a speech-language pathologist or early childhood education consultant, or if you’re an SLP student planning to work with young children, explore the links below to see how a Hanen membership can enrich your career:

Speech-Language Pathologists
Early Childhood Education Consultants
Speech-Language Pathology Students

Leadership and Governance

Thought Leaders
Board of Directors