GUELPH – The Learning Disabilities Association of Wellington County received an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant of $166,000 over three years and that has enabled the organization to reach more children with learning disabilities.
The grant wraps up next June, but executive director Renná Bruce Paonne said the funding was used to develop a licensed program, to train tutors and for learning materials for their Reading Rocks program.
“It’s one-on-one tutoring to make sure (students) are getting direct support,” Bruce Paonne said.
“Not only are they learning to read, they are developing confidence – two skills that are so important for their future.”
With school closed, and then online learning, and then a hybrid of learning strategies, Bruce Paonne said the past two years have been incredibly challenging for students with learning disabilities.
“Parents have been seriously concerned about it,” she said, adding demand for their program has increased dramatically.
“This grant has allowed families to get the language and literacy support they needed and allowed us to serve our community on a much larger scale.”
The Reading Rocks program develops hands-on activities and games to teach the essential literacy concepts of phonics, sight words, and fluency, while building children’s motivation and fostering self-regulation.
The Learning Disabilities Association of Wellington County offers programs for children, youth and adults with learning disabilities as well as supports and workshops for their families.
Visit ldawc.ca for more.
