Pediatrician welc

There are unique problems
facing children with learning
disabilities in the Northwest, ac-
cording to pediatrician Dr. K.O.
Asante, but the newly begun
Terrace Chapter of the Learning
Disabilities Association of B.C.
may be able to help by pro-
moting awareness and lobbying
the ministries of health and
education.

“FT come face to face with the
problems of children with learn-
ing disabilities but I’ve not
always been able to help them
myself,” says Asante. ‘‘And
neither have I been happy with
the results of the services and

shortages of personnel in the
school system and the means of
adequately diagnosing these
children so we can do something
to help them early in their school

years.”’

' According to Asante, even
when diagnosed,. learning dis-

abilities are not primarily a.
medical problem. ‘Most of the ,

necessities of treatment and
management are primarily
educational,’’? he says. But to
some extent, even today, when a
child is unable to learn, a search
begins for a medical problem
rather than a learning disability.

The reason for this, says

Two members leave
Family Court group

Terrace city council has
received two letters of resigna-
tion from members of the Fami-
ly Court and Youth Justice
Committee. Resigning are Dawn
Martin, the committee chairper-
son, and committee member
Campbell Stewart. Both have
been members of the committee
for over four years. Their talents
and knowledge will be missed by
the committee, but both are con-
fident it will continue to operate
as it has in the past.

Stewart says he has enjoyed
his involvement but added, “I
am confident that this commit-
tee can continue to serve a
valuable role in the betterment
of our community.”

In a letter to Mayor Jack
Talstra, Martin thanked the city

for the appointment, saying the

experience ‘‘has been rewarding
_ in many ways’’ and ‘I learned a
_ great deal.” She added, ‘The
support council has given. the
committee is commendable and
is an encouragement to the peo-

-ple to continue to commit ©

themselves.”
_. Martin added that she is proud
of what Terrace has to offer.
“There are weaknesses and
areas of concern but overall the
youth and families of Terrace
are able to get assistance from a
great number .of agencies and

I’m sure that the dedication o1
the community will continue and
thesé services will
accordingly.”’

In the 1987-88 fiscal report,
Martin said the committee has
had an active year. She says they
have monitored services present-
ly available and discussed others
that are not available for youth
and families in need of help. She
said they also played an active
role in supporting Legal Aid for
Terrace, the Terrace Youth Cen-
tre and the Victim Assistance
Program.

According to Martin, the
committee presented MLA Dave
Parker with a detailed brief ex-
pressing concern over the level

of services being affected |

through privatization. She said
the brief included presentations
by other groups such. as the
Ministry of Social Services and
Housing, Terrace Youth Centre,
probation services and Big
Brothers and Sisters.

Martin also said two commit-

tee members attended a one day

workshop in Terrace, the B.C.
Council for Family Conference,

and another two, with financial

assistance from the city, had at-
tended: the provincial Family
Court Youth Justice Committee
Conference in Vancouver,

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omes aid to learning

Asante, is historical, He says
that only two or three decades
ago, many learning disabled
children were thought to be
mentally handicapped and
unable to learn. Or they were
thought to have a behavioral dif-
ficulty related to a medical prob-
lem for which no solution could
be found.

’ However, in time, a segment
of the medical community, the
psychiatrists and psychologists,
did become interested in learn-
ing disabilities and most of the
work in this area has been done
by these professionals.

He explains that studies by
psychiatrists and psychologists
have shown that these children
have certain difficulties in inter-
preting what they see. “They
may see the letter ‘O’, but to
them it may look like an ‘E’ —
they are not receiving the right
or normal kinds of responses,”’
says Asante.

‘SA learning disabled child
does not have any recognizable
physical or medical abnor-
malities. They have no visual
problems in the sense of not be-
ing able to see. When we test
their vision, many of these chil-
dren have normal vision. The
problem lies between what the
eye sees, how it gets to the brain
and how the brain interprets it.’’

But, he points out, ‘Children
with learning disabilities are not

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SKEENA MALL
TERRACE

Terrace Review — Wednesday, Julvé. 1988 7

disabled

mentally retarded. On the con-
trary, these children are quite
bright — ‘they may score low on
their IQ testing because of their
disability — but they are not
mentally retarded and in fact
many have high [Q’s.”

Asante points out at the same
time that in some cases a medical
cause for behavioral or learning
problems can be found and it is
the physician’s job to either
identify or exclude such a
possibility. But on the average,
one out of every 10 children
beginning grade primary school
have a learning disability which
needs to be identified and
treated in the educational system
as early as possible.

But, says Asante, the educa-
tional system doesn’t provide
adequate diagnostic services. He
says that quite often teachers
with 25 to 30 children are ieft on
their own —and because they are
not trained in the field of learn-
ing disabilities, often sit them in
a corner as a ‘“‘bad child’’ or
make mistakes in identifying the
cause of the problem.

Asante says that these chil-
dren have to be identified, pro-
perly assessed by a neuropsy-
chologist or a physician who
works in the area of learning
disabilities, and given the educa-
tional help they need.

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*‘And this is an area that we
are very, very acutely short of
here,” says Asante. He says that
when he sees a child with an ap-
parent learning problem for
which he can find no medical
basis, he refers them to the Chil-
dren’s Hospital in Vancouver.
“The proper. testing of these
children is sophisticated. It’s
very time consuming and needs a
diagnostic team to do it proper-
ly.”

But to be done properly, the
diagnostic tools need to be in the
Northwest. It’s not only the cost
of travel and hotels, he explains.

By the time a child has travelled .

to Vancouver, he or she is tired
and disoriented and often. im-
possible to assess. ‘‘I think it’s a
good idea to see if we can’t get a
(diagnostic) service in Terrace —
or at least in the region.’”

Asante, who sees himself at
times as an ‘“‘ombudsman’’ for
children, says he fully supports
the local association and the
work that they are doing.
Because, ‘‘Where the child has
the potential and is not achiev-

ing potential, this is the kind of |

child that certainly needs to be
assessed, And this is the child
who I will do everything possible
to try and provide the kind of
diagnostic assistance to help
them to achieve their potential.”’

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