Children in grades 1-3 learn to read, but for the remainder of their school days they need to be able to read to learn.  Except for 3-5% of the population, reading never ‘just happens’.  Steve Pinker wrote:  “Children are wired for sound, but print is an optional accessory that must be painstakingly bolted on.”   This can be challenging work for many parents and teachers, particularly for those whose children are struggling with this process.
 
September, 2014 will mark the eighth anniversary of a tremendous resource for these children in our community:   The Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation Learning Centres for Children – Halifax.  This Centre provides remedial tutoring, free of charge, is provided to children who have been diagnosed with dyslexia.
 
Dyslexia is a neurologically based, often inherited, disorder which interferes with the acquisition and processing of language.  It varies in degree of severity among individuals and is present to some degree in 15% of our population.  It is not curable but can be overcome through appropriate remediation.
 
We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Charitable Foundation.  This arm of the Scottish Rite Freemasons was created with the goal of working toward finding the causes of, and cures for, what they termed "puzzles of the mind".  Fund raising for Alzheimer's research was a big focus for the Foundation when it began - and it is still an area of concern- but the vision expanded over the years to include a wide variety of research projects and initiatives, in hospitals and universities, relating to these "puzzles of the mind". In 2004, following a similar model used by the Scottish Rite in parts of the United States, the Foundation decided, as a pilot project, to establish a Learning Centre for Children in London, Ontario.  This Centre would provide free, remedial tutoring to children identified with dyslexia. The rest, as they say, is history!
 
It did not take long for word of the success of this first Centre to spread. Windsor, Ontario, quickly followed suit and a group of Scottish Rite Members from the Valley of Halifax committed to the establishment of a Centre here.  It is an enormous undertaking!  While the Foundation provides a grant to support start up costs, each Centre is individually incorporated and responsible for managing ongoing operations - and that means finding the money to make it happen!  This golf tournament is one of the ways we make it happen. 
 
 
Tutoring at the Learning Centres for Children - Halifax is being delivered by volunteers who have been trained in the Orton-Gillingham method of remediation, a structured, sequential, phonemic, directly taught and multi-sensory approach.  This ‘training’ is a 45 hour course with 100 supervised practical hours.
 
The effectiveness of this approach has been overwhelming!  Parents speak of growing confidence and increased self esteem in their children; reluctant, clock-watching readers have become ones who will ask to read “just one more chapter” and children come bearing books and telling of their reading adventures! 
 
For more information, refer to the Centre website:  www.dyslexiacentrehalifax.com
or find us on Facebook:   www.facebook.com/LearningCentreHalifax