We have recently started publishing a newsletter for educators in our area and in this issue, we shared one of our success stories with a Chinese girl who is from an ESL-speaking background.  This girl is quite severely learning disabled and yet within a year, she has made some tremendous progress. Most encouraging of all is the fact that her attitude towards learning has improved as did her social-emotional well being!

The message we want to get across is simply this: LD children do not necessarily have to be in a special school where all the students have LD. With proper support, they can do very well in a regular school setting. The school-based team, working together with an intermediary special education service such as us, can produce some very encouraging results.

Summer is a good time to jump-start LD intervention. Teachers should encourage parents to take advantage of this time to help their children move ahead!

We are having Tea & Talk @ Hycroft for Chinese-speaking parents on May 26^th, 2010. Chinese-speaking parents who find it hard to access special education services due to language barriers should make it a priority to attend this event!

Email us @: events@Learn2ManageLD.com to RSVP.

Over the years, I have come across many cases where Chinese-speaking parents do not know how to access special educations for their learning disabled children. As a result, precious time for learning is lost and the children often suffer from all kinds of emotional issues, and amongst them is low self-esteem. This really saddens me. In fact, this bothers me so much that I will do something about it!

Dr. Winnifred Tang & Associates Learning Management Inc. is organizing a talk for Chinese-speaking parents which will take place on Wednesday, May 26^th, 2010, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Hycroft, home of The University Womens’ Club of Vancouver. There will be a tea reception afterwards so parents will have a chance to chat with all of us from the office of Dr. Winnifred Tang.

Tea & Talk @ Hycroft for Chinese-Speaking parents is intended to be a cozy and leisurely event. We want parents to feel comfortable talking to us about their children’s learning problems. The beautiful setting at Hycroft, hopefully, will help us to achieve this purpose!

Interested parents should contact us as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. All the information is on the flyer.

We have opened an account at HSBC specifically for Tea & Talk @ Hycroft. Parents can go to HSBC directly and make a payment for their tickets. Before they do so, they should email us at events@Learn2ManageLD.com to ensure that the seats are still available. We will send out the HSBC account information upon confirming seat availability.

The registration procedures were designed to reduce unnecessary paper work and communication. We hope you will find this method of registering simple and convenient.

See you at Tea & Talk @ Hycroft on May 26^th at 7:00 p.m.!

In a previous blog, I mentioned that I was really impressed with the professionalism and “professional conscience” of a certain educational psychologist who I like to send clients to. Since I don’t want to embarrass this kindly and modest gentleman, I will not mention his name. To be sure, anybody who has been around in the public school system would know who I am talking about because this gentleman has worked for the B.C. Ministry of education as an auditor of School District Special Education Services.

Given such an impressive bio, one would expect “big fees” for his services. I was pleasantly surprised! The fee was half of what most providers of psycho-educational assessments would charge. The reason for charging less was simply: why make the children “antsy” and the parents pay more when the job can be done within three hours of testing!

I thought, now here is a person who makes sense.

For my clients with LD children, getting the educational psychologist’s assessment is more a formality than a necessity. As someone with academic credentials at the Ph.D. level, specializing in learning disabilities, I am qualified to diagnose a child for learning disabilities.  When I send a client’s child to the educational psychologist, I have done the diagnosis already and know exactly what to expect. In fact, for my Ph.D. dissertation, I was diagnosing LD children using the low achievement approach to identifying learning disabilities. Unfortunately, in British Columbia, as in many places around the world, there is still a great deal of entrenched thinking regarding the definition of LD: an outdated IQ-achievement discrepancy formula is still widely used.  When the assessment has an IQ component, we must have an educational psychologist to do the IQ testing.

As my Ph.D. supervisor, Dr. Linda Siegel, used to say, excessive testing for children is not good for them: do only what is necessary and leave it at that! Thus, I try to satisfy the school’s requirement for a psycho-educational assessment through exposing the child to the least testing possible while getting the job done.

So, it was. By chance, while having a conversation with my Italian hairstylist at her salon, the topic of psycho-educational assessments came up and she told me of a client that she has who seems to fit the profile of the psychologist I have been so impressed with. At an instant, both our eyes met, and we blurted out in unison the same name. “By George, it is Dr. ____!”

I guess birds of a feather do flock together!

What prompted me to write this blog is the autistic and ADHD son of my friend.

I have long put out a disclaimer that I don’t want to deal with autism or certain cases of ADHD. Why? It is because I was trained to teach college level English for academic purpose to students who are English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. There is big difference between teaching academic track students and vocational track students. I enjoy teaching the academic tract students more; that is just my personal preference.  When I think about autism and ADHD, I tend to think about the enormous amount of energy spent on “babysitting” and dealing with what I consider to be “lower level” matters such as behavioral problems. I just prefer to spend time teaching academic English to ESL or EFL students. I love teaching dyslexics who are often extremely bright and fun to be with.

It wasn’t until recently that I came to realize that a language-based problem such as dyslexia, a reading disability, is often overlooked in those who have profound behavioral issues. The attention is mostly on the annoying and distracting behaviors; the parents, the teachers, and the other professionals working with the child is literally “putting out fires” trying to contain the behavior problems that the learning issues are left unsolved until too late. That is, for most of the child’s school-life, time and energy is devoted to constraining the troublesome behaviors and not much teaching/learning actually happened.

In the case of my friend’s 19 yr. old son, he has been causing trouble for the teachers since elementary school. He is known by his misbehavior more than his ability to learn, which is unfortunate.

As I got to know my friend’s autistic son, something dawned on me: this boy also has a reading disability— dyslexia— but the attention has been mostly focused on his annoying behaviors! Since this boy is already out of the public school system and is in vocational training, his mother had to pay for a tutor to give him extra help.

The tutor I selected for him is a licensed personal trainer as well as a professional writer. In other words, this tutor is not going to be intimidated by the lad’s inappropriate behavior and, at the same time, he is also good in English and able to teach reading, at least, in the initial stages. In a few months time, the autistic and ADHD boy showed marked improvements in his social behavior. His tutor has been very kind to him and he took the behavior-challenged lad under his wings like a younger brother; sometimes, he would even bring him along to go on outings with his buddies!

As the inappropriate behaviors subsided through the work of the male tutor who was often like a big brother, I launched the next stage of our intervention. This time, I have arranged for a tutor who is trained specifically in teaching those with language-based learning disabilities. This time the tutor is a female and I had to make sure that the autistic lad has made enough progress in his behavior before I introduced the new tutor!

One thing we, that is, the mother, myself, and the tutors, have all noticed is that the behavior and language ability of this autistic and ADHD lad improved at about the same rate. It was as if one was feeding into the other.

I have some theories about why this is happening but I will save that for another blog. The lesson that I want to pass on here is this: we must not neglect the language domain when an autistic and/or ADHD child is “kicking up dust and spewing steam” in his/her bad behavior. Often, when the problems in the language domain are addressed— and autism being a communication disorder—the behavior also improves.

Learning disabilities (LD) such as dyslexia and dyscalculia often have an accompanying comorbidity such as ADHD or ADD. These complications will make intervention delivery more challenging.

Our experience has been that given we have a competent tutor with the right personal qualities — for example, a vibrant sense of humor with ample of patience — even the most difficult students will often settle down to learn out of a respect for the tutor and a genuine liking of him or her. The learning will increase and the annoying behaviors from the student will decrease. That is why I always say that an effective tutor has to be many steps ahead of the student at all times or else he or she will not be able to inspire the student and to motivate change for the better.

Of course, not all cases are that simple. I am a special education expert and, generally, I prefer to solve learning problems through adapting instructional content and teaching strategies. However, in the extreme ADD cases, medication prescribed by a psychiatrist is necessary to control the situation so that a child can focus his/her attention and be able to learn. While I do not get involve in the medical side of things, I do work together with the medical professionals such as psychiatrist and family doctors to ensure there is continuity and coherence in the intervention delivery. The idea here is that, as professionals, we cooperate together to complement the work of one another. The team at our office will try to enhance the effectiveness of the intervention by cooperating with related professionals.

For example, we also work extremely well with the schools by collaborating with the classroom teachers and special education teachers. We try to create a “seamless” service delivery system to increase effectiveness; saving resources for the school and the parents who pay us privately for our services is our primary goal.

The answer to the question of whether we take ADHD or ADD cases is this: we have had a great deal of success with LD cases with a comorbidity; but we do reserve the rights to decide on each case on an individual basis. Considerations such as client-specialist compatibility and the severity of the ADHD or ADD will be the deciding factors.

Our clients are often pleasantly surprised by how quickly their children begin to experience the sweet taste of success once we begin working with them. Our secret? We take an “uncluttered” approach to our work and we keep things simple and direct. And that can only be done if one truly knows what he or she is doing!

I like to tell clients that we prefer not to have them spend unnecessary time and money if we can help it. For example, most psycho-educational assessments take six to eight hours and that is very stressful for the children, especially for the younger ones. With us, we can have a high quality psycho-educational assessment done by an experienced and respected psychologist for much less time and cost. And here, I am talking about an assessment that can stand up to the scrutiny of scientists working in the forefront of research in our field.

How do we do that? Well, we make it a priority to establish a professional network of excellence. We have a good working relationship with professionals in related fields who share our philosophy of simplicity and directness. These professionals will not sell unnecessary services. They are happy to help you when you need them, but only if you really need them. Why? Because they have better things to do with their lives than trying to waste your time and theirs!

Working with quality individuals is our secret to success.

Before the Christmas holidays, our organization ⎯ Dr. Winnifred Tang & Associates Learning Management Inc. ⎯ was invited to be included in the Community Healthcare and Resource Directory (CHARD) in 2010.

The creation of CHARD is indeed a step forward by the British Columbia Medical Association, the Ministry of Health Services and HealthLink BC. For the longest time, one of the major challenges facing GPs and other health providers in the province has been a lack of information when it comes to referring patients to the right professionals to get timely and appropriate intervention for children with learning disabilities. Learning disabilities are learning problems related to academic learning; the most common ones are reading disability (dyslexia) and arithmetic disability (dyscalculia).

Many times, I have sighed and shaken my head at the fragmented service delivery for those with learning disabilities. For example, we have clients coming into our office with assessments from medical professionals such as pediatricians or psychiatrists; when we look at the date of these reports, we cannot help wondering why there is such a big time lapse from the time the client was suspected to have learning issues to the time they finally found their way to our office on their own. There is no intermediary service linking the diagnosis to appropriate special educational services. Medical professionals and special education professionals must work more closely to bridge the gaps in service delivery so client’s interests are best served.

Hopefully, with CHARD, gone are the days of parents having to rely on the “grapevine” for information when it comes to finding appropriate special education services for their children with learning disabilities! Sometimes it just takes too long for clients to find their way to our office and precious time is lost.

And so I say, “Bravo to BCMA, Ministry of Health Services and HealthLink BC!!!” It is high time medical professionals and special education professionals join together to serve patients more effectively. There has to be a way for parents to access evidence-based interventions for their children that are founded on sound scientific research.

Let’s drink to the CHARD initiative which is enabling the formation of this very desirable and productive union between the medical profession and the special education profession!

Happy New Year!!!

I have an unsettling feeling that more and more of these “maxed-out” kids with “gung-ho” moms will show up in our Vancouver school system. With the influx of Asian immigration in Greater Vancouver, it is not uncommon to find Asian parents with exceedingly high expectations for their children.

A few months ago, one of these “gung-ho” moms came to my office for help. Over the years, she has channeled a great deal of financial resources and time investment into her only son, a grade 6 boy who speaks Mandarin as his first language. The problem: the investment does not match the return.

Apparently, this boy has a language-based learning disability and is already “maxed-out” in terms of his efforts. He is already doing his best and is getting a “C” grade in school. This, unfortunately, is not good enough for his “gung-ho” mom. To her credit, she suspected something was wrong with her son and she came to us. We told her the truth: her son has a language-based learning disability and unless he has appropriate intervention, he will continue to stay up until 1a.m. each day to do his homework and still get a “C”.

Then guess what? The “gung-ho” mom exhibited a classic denial response. “No, my son is only lazy. “ was the defensive remark made. Now don’t forget this mother came to us suspecting something was amiss, and she wanted us to find her the answer!

Both my associate and I shook our heads as we said a little silent prayer for the “gung-ho” mom and son duo as they left our office. The boy will have a difficult time ahead of him. He is already showing signs of rebellion and emotional distress.

To our dear colleagues in the school system, we support you and empathize with you. Remember to take a deep breath and put on a smile as you hear out these “gung-ho” moms at your next Teacher-Parent Meeting.

September and October are my favorite months of the year. The intense summer heat is gone and the air is nice and crisp in the mornings. Everyday when I go to work, I drive through the University of British Columbia and see all those young and eager smiling faces. It sure brings back memories of my UBC days as an eager undergrad there.

I spent a great deal of time in the library when I was studying Art history at UBC for my B.A. degree. Reading was and is still one of my favorite past times. It is hard to imagine what life would be like without books and reading. Yet, as one who specializes in dyslexia and language-based learning disabilities, I am very much aware that there are some students who cannot read and each day in school is like torture to them.

Young children with reading difficulties are known to have tummy aches and all kinds of “ailments” when confronted by reading tasks. I can sympathize with these children because I also have similar problems when feeling overly stressed. For children who cannot read, much of their frustration comes from the fact that they are unable to articulate their reading problem to adults. Frankly speaking, many adults don’t even know what dyslexia is!

In my next blog, I will share an interesting case that I had encountered just before school was out for the summer. Let me just call it “The Story of a Maxed-Out Kid with a Gung-Ho Mom.”

Until next time…

“So, you are not an Educational Psychologist?” Many times, I have been confronted with this question and found myself at a loss for words. After all, when I was at UBC as a Ph.D. student, everybody seemed to understand what I was doing.  Who cared as long as the research question was interesting and I was OK with the statistical analyses!

Out here in the “real” world, “end users” such as parents and educators are concerned about “funding” and “labeling.” If there is a name for the problem, there is the possibility for accessing “funding” and getting additional educational support for the child. I can’t blame them for being practical and so, I’ve decided to try and make myself useful by doing a little “Adult Education” here.

Here is a simple “memory aid” for all you confused folks: ☺

1. Educational Psychologists are supposed to be “experts” in testing. They know what tests screen what. They test everything from “depression” to “dyslexia”.
2. Dr. Winnifred Tang, yours truly, has a Ph.D. from UBC in Special Education dealing with learning disabilities. Her doctoral research examined the cognitive profiles of learning disabled children from an ESL (English as a Second Language) background. These are the children with reading disability (dyslexia) and arithmetic disability (dyscalculia).

(more…)