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SEEKING PARTICIPANTS FOR... ONLINE LITERACY STUDY FOR INDIGENOUS CHILDREN

 

Is your child struggling to read and spell? 

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KC Dyslexic Learning Centre is offering online tutoring to Indigenous children between the ages of 8 and 16 to participate in our online pilot project.

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If your child struggles to read and spell past grade three, has 3 or more of the following warning signs they may be eligible to participate. 

 

                                                         

  •  delayed speech                                                          

  •  mixing up the sounds and syllables in long words 

  •  chronic ear infections                                                  

  •  severe reactions to childhood illnesses 

  •  constant confusion of left versus right

  • late establishing a dominant hand                           

  • trouble memorizing their address, phone number, or the alphabet          

  • difficulty learning to tie shoes                                   

  •  can’t create words that rhyme

  •  a close relative with dyslexia

 

IN PRESCHOOL

IN HIGH SCHOOL

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All of the previous symptoms plus:

  • limited vocabulary 

  • extremely poor written expression

  • large discrepancy between verbal skills and written compositions

  • unable to master a foreign language 

  • difficulty reading printed music 

  • poor grades in many classes 

  • may drop out of high school

IN ELEMENTARY
                                                            

  •  dysgraphia (slow, non-automatic handwriting that is difficult to read)

  •  letter or number reversals continuing past the end of first grade 

  • extreme difficulty learning cursive                 

  • slow, choppy, inaccurate reading:                   

    • guesses based on shape or context 

    • skips or misreads prepositions (at, to, of)       

    • ignores suffixes

  •  can’t sound out unknown words                     

  • terrible spelling

  • often can’t remember sight words (they, were, does) or homonyms (their, they’re, and there)

  • difficulty telling time with a clock with hands

  • trouble with math

    • memorizing multiplication tables

    • memorizing sequencing of steps

    • directionality

  • when speaking, difficulty finding the correct word lots of “whatyamacallits” and “thingies”

  • common sayings come out slightly twisted

  • extremely messy bedroom, backpack, and desk

  • dreads going to school

    • complains of stomach aches or headaches

    • may have nightmares about school

SOURCES

Bright Solutions for Dyslexia

International Dyslexia Association

LITERACY PILOT PROJECT

KC Dyslexic Learning Centre has and continues to work in our community to create literacy gains for our dyslexic people. In September 2020, we planned on launching a Pilot Project - Indigenous Literacy Gains in Manitoba for Specific Learning Disorder with Impairment in Reading, AKA Dyslexia.  

 

With schools being closed and our Indigenous population now at a higher risk of falling further behind in the education system.  We feel it is necessary to launch our pilot project immediately.  We have the opportunity to help our Indigenous children by selecting eligible participants for our online pilot project and give them the chance to gain literacy skills even though schools are currently closed.

 

We’ve done our research by meeting with schools, the education department, organizations that educate within prisons and advocates for our homeless community. We’ve gathered information regarding literacy within our province and listened to concerns from our families.  The lack of opportunity for our people with regard to moving forward in our current educational environment is an epidemic and now with school closures they need us more than ever.

 

Our research has revealed:

  • Manitoba has the highest Indigenous population.

  • Statistics Canada reports approximately 75% of Manitoba inmates are Indigenous, even though we have met with groups that state the Indigenous population in federal men’s prison and provincial women’s prisons in Manitoba are significantly higher (92% men and 94% women).

  • It’s been confirmed that our homeless community is overpopulated with 78% of Indigenous people, based on the study: Winnipeg Street Census in 2018. 

  • The ability to read and spell is not required by our province to pass each grade or graduate high school.

  • Post-secondary education facilities state that many students who have graduated from high school cannot pass the basic literacy and math entrance requirements.  Everyone has seen the news articles that show Manitoba at the lowest for education in Canada.

  • Schools in northern communities have a 74-99% failure rate. 

  • Dyslexia affects 20% of the general population; based on a study in Alaska, Dyslexia affected 43% of their Indigenous population.  

 

Literacy is a basic human right; all Indigenous Manitobans MUST have access to programs that meet the specific requirements needed by each individual and concretely measures literacy gains.  

 

KC Dyslexic Learning Centre opened in 2007 and has served 455+ families, we are 100% Indigenous owned, and 53% of our employees are Indigenous.  We have been successful with students that we serve. Upon completion of our program, students are reading and spelling between grade 7 and grade 13 regardless of their age.

 

Dyslexia creates an impairment that substantially limits several major life activities, including reading, writing, learning, and listening. This is why we can no longer wait to launch our pilot project; we need to start gaining literacy skills in our children today.

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