Learning disabilities group closes local chapter

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This article was published 02/03/2024 (622 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Wheat City non-profit organization that assessed students and adults for learning disabilities has ceased operations.

After 43 years, it’s no longer possible for the Brandon chapter of the Learning Disabilities Association of Manitoba (LDAM) to make ends meet, said board chair Eric Dowsett.

“You never like to see an organization that was serving a purpose close, but in this day and age, you have to be efficient, you have to be able to pay the bills, you have to be able to do all those things. We’re not going to have a presence in Brandon and Westman anymore,” Dowsett said.

There were several other factors beside finances that led them to the ultimate decision to close their doors, including low attendance for their camps, rising costs and the COVID-19 pandemic, Dowsett added. Provincial government funding kept them going, “but we just ran out of time.”

The services LDAM offered at 129 12th St. included math tutoring, adult coaching and support, a children’s reading program, two camps — one held in the summer and one for computer coding — plus psychological assessments for those with learning disabilities.

The Brandon School Division provides psychological assessments for students at no cost. And both Assiniboine Community College and Brandon University have offices devoted to assisting students with disabilities.

LDAM was filling a gap for children and youth aged 18 and younger who hadn’t been assessed by their school division, to determine if they have a disability and what can be done to assist their studies.

Adults also had the option of having a private assessment.

In January 2023, LDAM hired a clinical psychologist who was contracted to perform disability assessments.

The rate — set by the Manitoba Psychological Society —for 12 hours of testing by the clinical psychologist is $200 per hour, totalling $2,400. With the association’s fees added on, the bill would be $3,000.

Dowsett said he understands it was a service not everyone could afford.

“The challenge is, if you don’t have insurance, or work for a company that’s going to provide that service, then it’s out of pocket. So, it’s an expensive undertaking to do,” Dowsett said.

“However, we found that for the adults that were able to use the service, it was really life affirming, and it opened some doors,” he added. “Those that are struggling, may not be working, or are marginalized, it could be because of a learning difficulty, and those assessments helped.”

LDAM turned to two downtown Brandon community organizations to provide two of the discontinued services for people who still need them.

New agreements are now in place with Huddle Brandon and Brandon Literacy Council, Inc. (BLC).

Huddle Brandon provides a space where youth can find comprehensive help without judgment. It will carry on with LDAM’s adult coaching and support program.

BLC has an adult learning centre and provides high school programming and other courses for adults. It will pick up the educational psychological assessments.

The psychologists are currently available until the end of March, said BLC executive director Debbie Stevens, who added that helping LDAM aligns with BLC’s goal of giving people hope and understanding that those who seek their services are “not just faces.”

“We realized that we want to help the kids and that’s what this program that we would be taking over would be — to help kids get assessments,” Stevens said.

“We also realize that the adults we see, a lot of their situation stems from when they were kids. So, why not start at that early level, early age, and see if we can just carry on with what LDAM started in whatever way we can?”

While LDAM has been able to hand off the educational psychological assessments and its adult support program, the tutoring program and two camps will no longer be available.

But during the first week of July, Dowsett said, there will be an opportunity for students to undergo educational psychological assessments with BLC.

“If we can get a concentrated number in that week, we can get it done,” Dowsett said. “It’s important to understand the school psychologist has many more responsibilities than just educational psych assessments. So, if it’s done in July, the assessment can get into the hands of the parents or the adults for September without all those other things that are constrained or demands that are on a school psychologist’s time.”

For more information about the educational psychological assessments, call BLC at 204-729-9964. For more information about the adult support program through Huddle, call 204-717-6565.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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