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8 - Tise Canadiari Champion, Tuesday, February 6, 2001 lu q!imn 1o Y 'Learning disabled kids can get the help they need and deserve at Milton's Trilfliumn School By CARMIE BRUNET The Champion There's stili hope for learning disabled kids who have exhausted ail the services avail- able to them in their local school board. Demonstration schoots, such as TriIlium Scisool for the Learning Disahi cd on Ontario Street, hetp these kids gel an equat footing with their peers. Kids from ail over the province corne to Triliium, one of Ontaio's three Englisis-tanguage demonstration schoois. Demonstration schoots provide residential schooling for kids with severe leaming disahilities. They incorporate holistic leaming with counseLlting and one-on- one training. Fifteen-year-old Tyler Schneider, a student graduating f rom Tnillium, came tu Milton ail the way from Dryden. "At f irst 1 didn't want to cotie," he said, adding fihat leaving his friends behind to attend a residential school out of town didn't seem appealing t0 a pre-teen. However, he realized that hîs difficulties wîîh sehool would only gel worse as he entered secondary school, and decided t0 give Tri Ilium a shot. Whcn isc firsi an-ived at the school, Tyler thought ithe progrants were too restrictive. "I tisought this was no good, that il wasn't for me," he said. Howevcr his attitude quickly changed. "Here, they help you with everything. You stani 10 tftink 't can do this."' Reading level weII below average Generaiiy when kids arrive at Triftium, they're reading at a grade 1 tir 2 fevet. 'Academicaiiy, they are way betî;w what we expect them to be-," said principal Jit Little. A day at Triliium starts with 'direct instruction'. Mr. Littie described the remediai reading program as a highfy-scripted process, wherc teachers get ail their materiais directiy from a lent- book. "It's a progrant thlat has worked wei i for us," he said. Tise rest of the day foliows as would any ordinary high school day, except tise students are in classes with a student-teacher ratio of about one tu seven. Core classes such as English, math and science are mandatory. Otiser progrants such as shop classes are only availabie depending on the staff rosier. Different teachers are sent bo Triilium on a temporary hasis fron vaiious scisool hoards. "We have teacisers front Toronto, Hamnilton, Durham and York regions," Mr. Little said. Whiie uts fundamentai tu have the core classes, Mr. Little saîd he tries t hire teacher, who can olfer sonîething ncw to tise cur- riculuto. "Our lods are great at (shop) classes, the hands-on stuil," Mr. Little said. Fie added tisai tise varîety is inmportant, as sotie of tise core Photo by GRAHAM PAINE An elementary Trllium Scisool student uses a computer equipped with a pragramn to convert written text inta audio words. classes can be painfuily diff'tcuit for tise chi ldren. "Englisis a killer for our kids," Mr. Little said. Difftcuity reading is one of tise most prevalent sympionts of ieaming disabilities. But at Triiiium, advances in lechnoiogy iseip tise kids over this hurdie. Specialized computers iseip kids read. Scanning software inter- prets lent and the computer pisoneticaiiy pronounces words for tise kids. Oniy tise most severeiy ieaming disahted kîds are accepted into Trillium. "Our kids are seiected afier a strîngent application process," Mc. Litlte said. -We make sure tisai lhey have mun tise gamut of ser-vices tiffered ai their scisool." In order b hec eligîie for adnmissiomn, sîudents must he regis- tered with a local scisool board. Kids wiso are in private Iearning institutions need tus be brîtugsî back min a public education board. 'T'he subsidies are paid for in pari by tise Ministry nf Education and by tise child's local scisool board. Tise scisool is residentiai so citdren, lîke Tyler, come from ail over tise province. "We think that tise residential program is important in teons of consisteîscy," Mr. Little said. Chiidreîî starn at Triliium in grade 7 or 8, and conîplete ftur Semesters. In tise third semester, kîds are prepared for re-itîtegratitîn it tise education systent. "We tell tise board that ihey are cîîmiîîg back and prepare le have tise folis in place for lhem when they do." Thrusug tise process, students stant to huild seif-esteent anti make new friends. Tyler is a shinling example of hîîw Trillium can hoost a child's self-confidence. Completing isis fourtis term, ise was president of tise student counicil. Wiie demonstration scisools sucis as Trillium of fer hope to parents of cisildren witis iearning disabilities, there's stili a long trail t0 go, according to Heatiser Hoiden of tise Learning Disabilities Association of Halton. "Mie learning disabied are stili tise poor cousins of tise pisysical- ly disabled," sise said. Sise bas been hattling tise systent for years. Her 30-year-oid son was diagnosed wits a leamning disability and she fougist to have bit understusod by isis teachers ail tbrougisout bis secondary scbooi education. 'TMis society stili equates literacy with intelligence," she said. Learning disabled intelligent Most frustrating is tisai kids wîth ieamîng disabilities actually have average or abmve average intelligence. Tise inabiiity to read, or decode words, sisouidn'î be a mcasurc of' intellect, but railler tise abiiîy tii undersîand and cîsmprehend tex(, stressed Ms Holden. As a parent, il's vital 10 stand up for tise rigisîs iitise ieaming disabled cisild. "Parents wits good advtscacy skiiis produce aduits wiso can stand on tiseir own two feet," she said. For parents wiso have tise financiai resources lis doi so, a psy- cisologicai assessment by a prîfessîonal would provide tise means to establiss a leaming disabiliiy. On tise otiser hand, scisool boards do provide assessmenîs, but losng waiting lists mean kids aren't getîing tise help tisey need. "Parents need to know they have rîgisîs," Ms Holden saîd. 'And ofien scisoul boards dtîn't prîîvide ail tise services ihey shouid." She would like to sec mitre scisotls like Trîlliun tisait not only provide kids with a place lis Ieam, but teachers aiso. *'Ten pier cent tuf tise pospulation is iearning disabled," Ms Holden saîd. 'And we donit prepare teachers f'o ti tii scisool"- (K») ECc~ OGECO 14 Programming Schedule - February 6th, 2001 - February l2th, 2001 £111em i Sd i ktM smkuêeILWPB N - b .dW www.cogeco.ca ua I d . ué~~ Il m~Wa 9 NORTH HALTON STUDIO M.*C - 21 Main Street North, và uS d.~. Aclon. ON L7i 1V9 -F 519)853-4700 Featwe titis week: Road Watch:- AlterMNaie to Angor - Thursday, 6:3Oprn