WHAT IS SO CONFUSING ABOUT LEARNING DISABILITIES?

REFLEXIONS
ldanb●taanb
spring /summer 2013
printemps/été
Learning Disabilities Association of New Brunswick
Troubles d’apprentissage — association du Nouveau-Brunswick
WHAT IS SO CONFUSING
ABOUT LEARNING
DISABILITIES?
It appears that not only in New Brunswick is there
confusion about the term ‘learning disability’. A
recent article in the Telegraph Journal by Shawn
Berry referred once again to ‘learning disabilities’
as an intellectual handicap.
So why is this
occurring?
The US National Center for Learning Disabilities
undertook a survey this past
year which revealed about
their population much the
same that can be found in our
Canadian population.
It
revealed that those surveyed
lacked a basic understanding
of LD (other than dyslexia) as
well as the causes.
The survey underscored the
need for accurate and up to
date information as even
parents reported needing more information. It also
found the following:
55% of those surveyed wrongly believe that
corrective eyewear can treat certain
learning disabilities.
43% incorrectly think that learning disabilities
are correlated with the IQ.
22% incorrectly believe learning disabilities can
The right
to learn,
the power
to achieve
Le droit d’apprendre,
le possibilité de
réussir
POURQUOI LA CONFUSION ENTOURANT LES TROUBLES
D’APPRENTISSAGE?
Il semble que la confusion avec le terme «troubles
d'apprentissage» n’est pas limité au NouveauBrunswick. Récemment paru dans le Telegraph Journal,
un article par Shawn Berry faisait une fois de plus et à
tort le lien entre un «troubles d'apprentissage» et un
handicap intellectuel. Alors qu’est-ce qui se passe?
Le US National Center for Learning Disabilities a mené
une enquête cette année qui a révélé chez les
Américains, sensiblement le même problème que l'on
retrouve dans la population canadienne soit, que les
Américains ne dispose pas les connaissances de base au
sujet des troubles d’apprentissage (autre que la
dyslexie) et leurs causes.
L'enquête a souligné la nécessité d'une information
précise et à jour, et ce, car même les parents
indiquent avoir besoin de plus d'informations. Cette
étude a également constaté que:
55% des personnes interrogées pensent à tort
que des lunettes peuvent traiter certains
troubles d'apprentissage.
43% pensent à tort que les troubles
d'apprentissage sont en corrélation avec le
Quotient Intellectuel (QI).
22% croient à tort que trop de temps devant la
télévision peut être la cause de troubles
d'apprentissage.
LET’S TALK ABOUT
IT ......
Inside this issue: / Dans cette édition:
Confusion regarding LD/Confusion envers les TAs
2
LDANB Opens AT doors/TAANB ouvre les portes de T d’A
2
Awareness session
3
ED message/Un mot du DG
3
DSM-V : Diagnostic Changes
4
Warning:
Government of New
Brunswick continues to warn
pregnant women and young
children: “Eating fish caught
in New Brunswick's lakes or
rivers could increase the
level of mercury in your
body” p 40 FISH 2013
be caused by too much screen time;
31%believe a cause is poor diet; 24% believe a
cause is childhood vaccinations.
Specific learning disabilities like dysgraphia
(difficulty with handwriting), dyscalculia
(difficulty with math) and dyspraxia
(difficulty with motor skill development)
were most often confused as an autism
spectrum disorder, difficulty with
emotional connections, and an anxiety
disorder, respectively.
30% admitted to making casual jokes about
having a learning disability when someone
makes a reading, writing or mathematical
mistake.
Source: NCLD Learning Disabilities: New survey finds Americans
confused about causes, treatments and rights, 2012
LDANB opens AT doors
31% pensent que la cause des TA est une mauvaise
alimentation et 24% croient que cela est associé
à la vaccination des enfants.
Les troubles d'apprentissage spécifiques comme la
dysgraphie (difficulté avec l'écriture), la
dyscalculie (difficulté avec les mathématiques)
et la dyspraxie (difficulté avec le
développement des habiletés motrices) étaient
souvent perçues à tord comme un trouble du
spectre autistique, de la difficulté avec des
liens affectifs et un trouble d’anxiété.
30% ont admis faire des blagues offensantes ou
dérogatoires au sujet des TA lorsque quelqu'un
éprouve des difficultés en lecture, en écriture
ou en mathématique.
Source: NCLD Learning Disabilities: New survey finds Americans confused
about causes, treatments and rights, 2012
TAANB ouvre les portes
de T d’A
LDANB has been doing some exciting work with PETL
to help apprentices with learning disabilities in their
training. They will now have access through LDANB to
additional assistive technology to bring down the barriers.
TAANB en collaboration avec Éducation postsecondaire,
Formation et Travail a mis sur pied une initiative de service
pour aider les apprentis ayant des troubles d'apprentissage
durant leur formation. Les apprentis ont maintenant accès,
grâce à l'association, à une technologie d'assistance supplémentaire pour enlever les obstacles.
PETL Minister, Hon. Danny Soucy, announced that the
provincial government has invested $10,000 to support
LDANB’s work of raising awareness about overcoming
the challenges that student apprentices with learning
disabilities may face during training. LDANB will bring its
expertise to provide training and
support to students and staff. The
PETL Apprenticeship Program in
New Brunswick has more than
4,000 students registered per year
in 54 trades.
Le ministre de EPFT, l’hon. Danny Soucy, a annoncée que
le gouvernement provincial a investi 10 000 $ pour aider
TAANB à faire de la sensibilisation sur les défis que doivent
relever les étudiants apprentis ayant des troubles d'apprentissage au cours de leur formation. Utilisant
son expertise, TAANB fournira une formation et un soutien aux étudiants et au personnel. Chaque année, plus de 4000 étudiants s'inscrivent au programme d'apprentissage du Nouveau-Brunswick dans 54
métiers.
"We are pleased to be partnering
with the provincial government on
this initiative," said André
Deschênes, executive director of the
association. "Our approach is to
customize the assistance for the
individual, finding the right match
between the technological tool, the challenge and the
implementation strategy."
« Nous sommes heureux de nous associer
au gouvernement provincial pour cette initiative », a affirmé le directeur général de
l'association, André Deschênes. « Notre
approche vise à personnaliser l'aide pour la
personne, en trouvant ce qui fonctionne
entre l'outil technologique, le défi et la stratégie de mise en œuvre. »
Funding for this partnership is made possible through
the Canada-New Brunswick Labour Market Agreement
More information is available by calling the nearest provincial employment office or by visiting the Department
of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour web-
Page 2
Le financement de ce partenariat est possible grâce à l'Entente Canada-Nouveau-Brunswick sur le marché du travail.
De plus amples renseignements sont disponibles auprès du
bureau d'emploi provincial le plus près ou sur le site Web du
ministère de l'Éducation postsecondaire, de la Formation et
du Travail.
Awareness Session
As part of the New Brunswick Disability Executives’
Network, LDANB-TAANB members took part in a
awareness raising event at the WU Centre this past
(May).
The turnout, consisting of employees and
members from the disabilities community was very good.
Each attendant was given the opportunity to visit and
learn important information regarding the services of
other disability groups as well as exploring resolution of
issues confronting workers in the field.
Representing LDANB-TAANB were: (front row) Mary
Jones, Fabienne McKay, Nila Christensen , Kaihla Winter
(back row) Shelley Clayton, Adrienne O’Pray , André
Deschênes.
ED’s Message
Un mot du DG
My decision to come to work for LDANB, an organization
with high education and service objectives, was certainly
a good one. Being in my first year with the Association,
the focus was on education and creating partnerships. In
this respect, I believe we were very successful. From the
creation of ALDEN (Atlantic Learning Disabilities Executives’ Network), meeting with LDA EDs from across Canada and partnerships with Postsecondary Education,
Training and Labour and the Department of Education
and Early Childhood Development, LDANB is creating
positive working relationships with significant stakeholders and plan to build on this in the coming year. In addition, LDANB was busy on the education side with its
LINKS program, the delivery of its Screening for Success
sessions and numerous LD training sessions, all delivered in both English and French. Looking ahead, the fall
of 2013 looks even busier with already more than 16 LD
education sessions booked and a bilingual Atlantic Learning Disabilities Symposium scheduled for November 1st at
the Wu Conference Centre in Fredericton. Although the
schedule is not yet official, registrations are already coming in and the symposium program looks excellent. I hope
to see you there.
La décision d’œuvrer au service de TA-ANB, avec ses
objectifs de service élevés, a certainement été pour moi
une décision éclairée. Étant à ma première année avec
l’Association, le conseil d’administration a décidé de
mettre l’emphase sur l'éducation et la création de
partenariats. À cet égard, je crois que nous avons
réussie. De la création du Réseau atlantique des cadres
des
associations
provinciales
des
troubles
d'apprentissage, à la rencontre des cadres des
associations des troubles d'apprentissage de partout
à travers le Canada, aux partenariats avec Éducation
Postsecondaire, Formation et Travail et Éducation et
Développement de la Petite Enfance, TA-ANB a
certainement réussit à
établir une excellente
collaboration de travail avec nos partenariats clés. En
outre, TA-ANB a vécue tout autant de succès avec ses
initiatives du côté éducation. Du succès du programme
LINKS, aux formations intensives « Dépister pour le
succès », aux nombreuses sessions de formation sur les
troubles d’apprentissages, tous livré en anglais et en
français, j’ose croire que TA-ANB a encore une fois
atteint son objectif. Pour ce qui est à venir, l'automne
2013 s'annonce tout aussi intéressant et encore plus
chargé : la demande pour plus de 16 sessions de
formation, et un Symposium atlantique sur les troubles
d’apprentissage qui aura lieu le vendredi 1er novembre
au Centre de conférence Wu à Fredericton. Les
inscriptions arrivent déjà et le tout s’annonce de
première classe. Au plaisir de vous y retrouver.
André Deschênes
Executive Director, LDANB-TAANB
André Deschênes
Directeur général, LDANB-TAANB
Ldanb-taanb
Page 3
LDANB / TAANB
LDANB /TAANB
Atlantic Learning Disabilities Symposium
Symposium atlantique des troubles
d’apprentissage
Education and
Learning Disabilities: Focus on
Solutions
L’éducation et les
troubles d’apprentissage: miser
sur les solutions
WU CONFERENCE CENTER
(UNB) Fredericton, NB
Friday, November 1st, 2013
WU CONFERENCE CENTER
vendredi, 1e novembre 2013
Pour plus d 'information et pour vous en
registrer contacter
TAANB
403 rue Regent, Suite 203
Fredericton, N-B E3B 3X6
au: [email protected]
459-7852
For more information and to
register contact:
LDANB
403 Regent Street, Suite 203
Fredericton, NB E3B 3X6
[email protected]
459-7852
DSM-V: DIAGNOSTIC CHANGES
Important changes are coming to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. We bring you the following
advance observations by Dr. Elizabeth J. Hall, L.Psych.,
During their annual convention May 18-22, 2013 the American
Psychiatric Association is scheduled to release DSM-V
(Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), the
newest edition of the handbook traditionally used by physicians and psychologists in diagnosing cognitive and psychiatric disorders. Proposed DSM-V revisions to current diagnostic
categories and criteria have been widely debated. In particular, there have been questions raised about the basis for
some of these changes as well as concerns about their broader socio-economic impact and whether they may alter accessibility to support services.
With respect to learning disorders the most significant change
is anticipated to be a move away from individual diagnostic
labels based on the nature of the academic skill weakness
(e.g., Mathematics Disorder; Disorder of Written Expression,
Reading Disorder) towards a more general diagnostic label
FIND US ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER.
(Specific Learning Disorder) which will subsume difficulties
associated with the various individual learning disorders as
currently identified in DSM-IV. This new diagnostic label
will also include other areas of weakness (e.g., oral language) that can interfere with academic skills. Furthermore,
it is anticipated that in making this diagnosis there will be
less emphasis placed on the degree of discrepancy observed between intellectual and academic skills and that
academic skills will have to be below Average. Only minor
changes are expected to the criteria used to diagnose
ADHD but there will be a significant change in the way in
which autism related disorders have been diagnosed.
In completing this article the writer referred to information available on the web, most notably the American Psychiatric Association DSM-5 web page (www. dsm5.org) as well as comments from Michelle Garcia Winner (www.socialthinking.com/
what-is-social-thinking/michelles-blog/559-dsm-5-my-thoughts)
and
Dr.
Larry
Silver
(www.ldanatl.org/legislative/
pubs/120820_DSM-5_Q-A_with -Larry-Silver.pdf).
Learning Disabilities Association of New Brunswick Inc./
Troubles d'apprentissage-association Nouveau-Brunswick Inc.
203-403 REGENT
Fredericton, NB E3B 3X6
506-459-7852
FAX 506-455-9300
 [email protected]
www.ldanb-taanb.ca