PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Speaker: Hon. Carolyn I. Bertram Published by Order of the Legislature Standing Committee on Education and Innovation DATE OF HEARING: 7 OCTOBER 2014 MEETING STATUS: Public LOCATION: POPE ROOM, COLES BUILDING, CHARLOTTETOWN SUBJECT: LEARNING DISABILITIES AND AUTISM COMMITTEE: Gerard Greenan, MLA Summerside-St. Eleanors James Aylward, MLA Stratford-Kinlock Kathleen Casey, MLA Charlottetown-Lewis Point Olive Crane, MLA Morell-Mermaid Charles McGeoghegan, MLA Belfast-Murray River Robert Mitchell, MLA Charlottetown-Sherwood Pat Murphy, MLA Alberton-Roseville COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT: Steven Myers, Leader of the Opposition MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE: Colin LaVie, MLA Souris-Elmira GUESTS: Prince Edward Island Learning Disabilities Association (Martin Dutton, Dr. Heather Keizer); Stars for Life Foundation (Carolyn Bateman, Rhea Vardy MacPhee); Parents from the Autism Society (Andy Arsenault, Maude Desjardins, April Ennis, Krista MacGillivray) STAFF: Emily Doiron, Committee Clerk Edited by Hansard Education and Innovation 7 October 2014 The Committee met at 9:30 a.m. husband’s family, and have been here since 2006. There you go. Because everybody has to have a pedigree in PEI so I got to get that Chair (Greenan): Okay, ladies and out of the way. gentlemen, committee members, we’ll bring this meeting to order. Chair: Thank you. I want to welcome all of you to today’s Martin Dutton: And I’m Martin Dutton and meeting on the Standing Committee of I’m from away. Education and Innovation. We have a number of presenters. Ms. Casey: Islander by choice. First of all, I would call for the adoption of Martin Dutton: By choice. the agenda. Dr. Heather Keizer: All right. Ms. Casey: So moved. Chair: Welcome to both of you. Chair: It’s been moved by – you got it? Kathleen. Dr. Heather Keizer: I entitled this Vision of Hope. I wanted to present to you the Ms. Casey: Thank you. issues around learning disabilities in Prince Edward Island. I reference a number of Chair: Our first presenters today are the studies that have been done on Canadian PEI Learning Disabilities Association and statistics in this presentation. You’ve got we have the newly appointed executive copies with you there. We have presented to director, Martin Dutton, and the president of various and sundry committees on education the association, Dr. Heather Keizer. I’m in the past, specifically 2005, 2007 and going to turn it immediately over to you 2011. Sadly, the situation for learning two. When you speak for the first time just disabled children in PEI hasn’t changed a announce who are for our people that are great deal and I’m hopeful that it shall in the recording, and we’re away. Welcome. near future. Dr. Heather Keizer: All right, thank you. First of all, who are we? We are a non-profit organization affiliated with the Learning My name is Dr. Heather Keizer. I wanted to Disabilities Association of Canada. extend my thanks to the standing committee Currently our board of directors includes and the Chair for inviting us to present people from a variety of professions. today. Before I get into my main Myself, I’m a psychiatrist. I diagnose presentation I think I need to sort of fulfill children with attention deficit disorder. I an Island tradition and tell you who I am. work in the emergency room. I’m in fact on call today so you’ll have to excuse me if I I am Dr. Heather Keizer, the wife of Dr. get buzzed. I work with adolescence and Sterling Keizer, eldest son of Mr. Lorne children as well as adults, and I’m well Keizer. My maiden name is Heather aware of the issues regarding mental health MacDougall. I grew up on Upper issues and justice issues. Hillsborough Street. I was the daughter of Teddy MacDougall of Upper Hillsborough Dr. George Mallia is on our board of Street. Graduated from Montague Regional directors. He is a psycho-education High School, graduated from UPEI twice, in consultant regularly assessing children with 1984 and 1990, trained at Dalhousie learning disabilities. Dr. David Wong is a University, graduated in 1994 in medicine pediatrician on our board. He is affiliated, as and then 1999 in psychiatry, went on to train I am, with Dalhousie University, trained subsequently at Harvard in post-traumatic students from Dal, and he works out of stress and finished a master’s there, and did Summerside and, again, is an advocate and some additional studying there, and worked works directly with children with attention as the director of psychiatry for Huron Perth deficit disorder and learning disabilities. County in Ontario, and subsequently came back to PEI because of family illness in my 136 Education and Innovation 7 October 2014 Mrs. Mary Lou Griffin-Jenkins is our former Despite my reading to him daily from birth president and she is a curriculum consultant and his completing the Reading Recovery with Holland College. Ms. Elizabeth Jeffery Program in West Kent Elementary School, is the president of the Early Childhood he was reading orally at a grade 1 level in Educators Association. Actually got an grade 4. He agonized to write one sentence award last year, I believe, for educator of the where his peers wrote three paragraphs year. Ms. Kira Salonius is a business though he could easily understand and management consultant. We have another explain the topic of conversation. So you member standing next this month from can see there’s an enormous gap between his (Indistinct) the board of the legal profession ability, his potential and his actual but I can’t include them because they’re not performance in reading and writing. voted on yet. And of course, Mr. Dutton is our newly hired executive director. One in five to one in six PEI students are performing below their potential. This is a We have a wide variety of people statistic given to me by Sandy MacDonald, represented. Some of the members of the our deputy minister. LD individuals have a board are also parents with children with great potential to achieve due to their learning disabilities or have learning intellectual abilities and gifts of average or disabilities themselves. superior IQs. They have great potential. Many perform at or just below class What is our vision? To advocate for learning averages and so they miss being identified disabled individuals and their families by the and are unhelped. provision of advice and services, and to act as a clearing house for information Currently we are not investing in this regarding learning disabilities for the population of students who could make community at large. significant contributions to our community in the future if identified and supported. What are learning disabilities? Learning These people have great potential given the disability is a very difficult label. It has been right teaching interventions because of their defined a number of ways, and in any of the high IQs, because of their creativity, but background literature you read you’ll they need to have appropriate identification discover this. For instance, in the United and intervention. Kingdom learning disabilities imply intellectual delay, so pervasive Learning disabilities are diverse, they span a developmental delay. In the olden days it wide variety of deficits, and are often was called mental retardation. Learning mistaken for slowness or willfulness. Sadly, disabilities, as defined in Canada and by our there are a number of sad cases of this, my association, is not that. It refers to people son being one, in the public system. When with normal or superior intellect who, he would struggle to write out his homework however, the high IQ have poor the teacher wouldn’t wait for him because performance in reading, writing, calculation, he was supposed to be – you’re going to processing or communication below what have to be prepared to go on into the next you would expect in an otherwise grade, you have to be fast, and he couldn’t intellectually capable individual: somebody physically do it. Very frustrating for him and who is obviously bright, is able to absorb very discouraging for him, and that’s just information, comprehend information, but one small example. can’t write a sentence or can’t read a book easily, or can’t read out loud or can’t do Children know that they are struggling and math. Yet you know that they obviously often hide their distress. Example, my son have a lot of abilities. knew that he did not read well in a family of prolific readers. He told me and admitted to Here’s an example. My son received a me that he typically chose easy picture psycho-educational assessment at the age of books in grade 3 so that the teacher wouldn’t nine. He had an IQ of 136. His perceptual suspect he couldn’t read them. He picked the reasoning skills were ranked in the 99th easy books so the teacher would never ask percentile, that is, he was more capable in him because they obviously looked easy. He this area than 99% of the population still couldn’t read them. internationally. 137 Education and Innovation 7 October 2014 I’m going to reference some research that’s of Canadian principles rank accommodating been done by Canadian researchers. There diverse needs important, but only 8% of was a pan-Canadian perspective on principals felt that current graduates are professional knowledge base for learning prepared to do this. There’s a big gap there. disabilities. I strongly recommend you pull this up. I was going to print it for you but What is the cost of learning disability being it’s 32 pages.