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Toronto
Catholic District School Board
Press Release |
March 6, 2001
Toronto Catholic District School Board is the only Board in
Ontario to offer the Arrowsmith Program
The Toronto Catholic District School Board is the first school
board in the province to pilot the Arrowsmith program. The program,
developed by Barbara Arrowsmith Young, is an alternative program
geared to the needs of children and adults with learning disabilities.
It focuses on repetitive exercises geared to strengthening specific
areas of the brain. The pilot program has received rave reviews
from the parents of participants and from the students themselves.
"We are amazed at the wonderful changes that we see in
our daughter in a very short time," says Grace Zuniga, whose
daughter was first enrolled in the program in February 2000. "We
see improvement in many areas of her life, including her ability
to read and to retain information, the organization of her time,
her willingness to accept more responsibility and most importantly
the way she feels about herself and her ability to learn.
"We take great pride in being the groundbreaker for the
introduction of this program in Ontario school boards," says
Michael Del Grande, Chair of TCDSB. "We remain committed
to seeking out, and promoting, innovative programs that best
meet the individual needs of our students"
Parental support for the program has
been very strong, he adds, and the pilot project launched at
one elementary and one secondary school site during the 1999-2000
school year, has been expanded to three other elementary schools
this year. The demand for the program continues to grow. "The Board is fully supportive
of this initiative as the parents, teachers and students report
positive results," says Del Grande.
"Based on the parental testimony that we have received,
we are confident that we have been successful in providing a
unique enhanced learning opportunity for the participants," he
adds. "We will continue to monitor the progress of the students
in this program, and we have every hope that they will continue
to benefit from this type of intense and individualized learning
opportunity."
Media Contact: Mary Jo Deighan - Senior Manager of Communications,
Toronto Catholic District School Board |
