Newsletter March 2024
March 2024
Photo by Cole Marshall on Unsplash
March is quite an exciting month already… hail, rain, sun, snow, wind, chilly, sunny… but not to be deterred we started with our AGM meeting on March 2.
This my Chairman’s Report:
Looking back at February 2022, I can see it was the start of an expansion. We had just received funding for Laura’s administrative role. This year, 2023, we were SO grateful that the funding was renewed, and we were able to build on all the solid foundations she had put in place.
As programs were slow, with my move to the Island, there was no escape... it was grant writing time. We applied for many… and to my astonishment we had some success.
BC Campus granted us $93,500 to create an Early Childhood Educators’ Professional Development Pilot. We already had the Davis Learning Strategies for K-3 teachers, and Julie Brewer had been using the tools and strategies with her students, so we knew it would work for the 3-5 year olds. 60 ECEs expressed interest and 12 took the whole course. Stacey Smith, the DLS presenter, did a fantastic job Online and In Person. Julie added her experience and tips, we created before and after modules, assignments and an evaluation. A very new and exciting experience. We have been thrilled with the results and really hope it will be adopted by the Ministry of Education and Child Care in BC.
Telus StoryHive granted us $21,000 to create a documentary… another completely new experience. Thankfully, a wonderful film-maker appeared on cue, and we sent our ‘practice’ film to them in December. This year, 2024, it gets real. We have an incredibly experienced mentor from the National Screen Institute, who lives in Victoria! She has found us an experienced Director, and I am trying to learn how to be a Producer writing a ‘treatment’… totally beyond my pay grade! This whole process is a very fine example of how I think compared to how other people think… but we are in very good hands. The final documentary will be released at the end of the year on Telus Optik and we can send it to film festivals… and use it as a fundraiser…such a huge gift!
All this time, we needed more bursary funds, so Gisa asked the North Shore branch of 100 Women Who Care if they would help us. She made a compelling pitch and we gratefully received $9,600.00. So many of the generous women had grandchildren who were struggling at school and able to relate to our need.
With so much excitement, I feel we made all our deadlines by the skin of our teeth, with huge thanks to our dedicated Board… Laura, Julie, Sharon, Nadine, Paddy, Gisa, Tristan and … a new Director, Del Coburn. Del was introduced to us by Maureen O’Sullivan, a facilitator in Ontario. He is a social science University student in Calgary who has worked with non-profits and is very happy to research and write grants for us, he’s another total gift. The grants will be focused on autism funding to begin with, and we have plenty of other requests lined up for him!
We continue with the Newsletters, enriched by Laura’s art finds and Sharon’s articles which become the topic for our 1st of the month Come to the Dyslexic Table Live Chats, and then morph into a podcast. Laura works tirelessly on the social media postings, and Sharon adds to them regularly. We hope to start our Summer Camp weekends again this year.
This is a long report because it’s been such an incredible year, and we are beyond grateful to all those who have supported us. We have a lot to look forward to. The new Davis branding will be part of the excitement… and the documentary.. and… whatever we can do to ensure everyone has an opportunity to fulfill their potential.
After the AGM we had a General Meeting to brainstorm ideas for the rest of this year.
Gisa will be in contact with Big Sisters (maybe Big Brothers later) to see if we can help Big Sisters to help Little Sisters who have a study buddy.
Sue expressed a wish for a major sponsor, and our intrepid fundraiser, Del, is looking into this…Sue has some leads too.
Del is amassing research data to present to secondary educators/corporations/youth institutions… we are SO lucky!
Sue is tying up the ECE pilot and hoping to make best use of the momentum to have it operating widely next September.
She is very excited that the filming of the documentary will start in April. Our National Screen Institute mentor and our Director are suggesting it could go to Film Festivals. We could even have Film Premieres in University theatres, libraries… which would be excellent fundraising events.
As fast as Sharon writes her articles for the Newsletters, Sue creates the podcast and Tristan posts them.
Julie is happy with the bursary interviews and has allowed Sue to drag her to 2 Pro Ds already this year, with 2 Conference sessions to come.
Paddy is busy writing her PhD thesis, and Nadine is busy helping Davis with the marketing side of the re-branding!
Laura holds us together, and besides that she is now involved with Davis UK team and likes the idea of bridging our connection with them.
We wish you all a very exciting year too, your Board, Sue, Laura, Julie, Sharon, Nadine, Gisa, Paddy, Del and Tristan.
Would you notice not having $20 a month?
We sure would notice having $20 a month towards our bursary funds…
The children and adults we help would really notice,
thank you!
For every new monthly donation of $20 or more during
March, Canada Helps will add-on an extra $20. But
only until March 31st!
Visit our Canada Helps Donation Page at:
https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/14646 and select "monthly"
or our Giving Guide here:
https://www.thewds.org/donate
Thank you for Making it Monthly!
COME TO THE DYSLEXIC TABLE - Episode #11 - ‘ADD & ADHD, What do Dyslexia and ADHD have in common?’
JOIN US for our 11th Live Chat on April 1st at 4.30pm Pacific. We’ll be discussing ‘ADD & ADHD, What do Dyslexia and ADHD have in common?’.
You can read Sharon’s article HERE, please RSVP for your zoom link.
ADD & ADHD: What do dyslexia and ADHD have in common?
Quite a bit actually. They both can have information-processing challenges, working memory deficits, and motor skills challenges. However, the common root cause is disorientation, which will be familiar to those in the Davis world - a state of mind in which your thinking/perception and your reality, the true facts and conditions in the environment, do not agree.
Everyone disorients but with ADHD, according to Ronald D. Davis in his book, The Gift Of Learning, disorientation is spontaneous. It happens easily and is driven by emotion. Some of these emotions include fear, boredom, curiosity and confusion. This spontaneous disorientation is narrowed down by Davis to two types of emotion, avoidance and engagement.
Whatever the cause of the disorientation, it can affect our attention. This perceptual ability has many positive aspects to it. These include exceptionally creative personalities, good problem-solving skills, lots of energy and ability to hyper focus. On the flip side, being disoriented affects our visionary and auditory processing, balance, coordination and time.
Because these senses are affected, you can observe behaviors such as distractibility, poor organizational skills, chronic lateness, struggles to control emotions, keeping friends and underestimating the time it will take to complete tasks. In other words, it affects executive functioning skills, 'the management system of the brain.’ These skills enable us to set goals, plan and get things done. When people struggle with executive function, it impacts them at home, in school and in life.
Some obvious signs of ADD / ADHD include frequent interruption of others or talking over them, poor self-control, blurting out thoughts without thinking, acting recklessly or spontaneously without regard for consequences and behaving in socially inappropriate ways (such as not being able to sit still during a long meeting). Emotionally individuals with ADD/ADHD can be easily flustered and stressed out, possess short, often explosive tempers, have self-esteem issues, have trouble staying motivated and be hypersensitive to criticism. For a child, it may look like not knowing how to share toys, take turns, play well with others. They may have problems making or keeping friends and find it difficult to focus and stay still.
Both hyper and hypo activity can be involved in attention issues. Both are products of spontaneous disorientation, and every disorientation affects our perception of time. This is why for someone experiencing ADHD, an hour of time can feel as if it is going quickly or slowly. The faster the internal clock goes the slower the outside seems; one hour can seem like two. The senses of balance and motion are reversed when disoriented. Being still seems like moving so a person mimics the feeling and moves which results in a feeling of calmness. If you tell them to be still and stop fidgeting, not only will they not hear you, they might also feel motion sick because they want to move and yet they are attempting to keep still.
There are many arguments over the cause and treatment for ADHD/ADD. Conventional streams see it as a mental health issue that requires medication to increase dopamine levels. Others look for the cause of this lack of focusing, and attribute it to lifestyle factors such as video games, screen time, intolerances to foods such as sugar, colorings, additives, glyphosates. There is evidence that the frequency of screen and video time affects dopamine levels and circadian rhythms. Furthermore, adults are modeling inattention as they multi-task, rushing off to activities, not allowing for time spent time in nature or just being quiet. All likely contribute in some way ... many of these factors affect dopamine levels.
Davis® Attention Mastery provides effective tools to help adults and children age 8 and over to address attention, behavioral, or organizational difficulties. Adults and children gain abilities to recognize and clear up distorted perceptions. That allows them to detect and solve confusions, and then master and internalize concepts that will help them with social interactions and attention issues. These concepts include: self, change, consequence, before, after, cause, effect, time, sequence, and order vs. disorder. We practice using these concepts by applying them to real life situations. This allows one to develop personal insight into the barriers that prevent them from living to their potential.
Young children diagnosed with ADHD often have significant academic and learning barriers, particularly with reading skills and reading comprehension. The Davis tools for attention regulation are part of every Davis program. Since academic difficulties are often at the heart of behavior problems and the inability to sustain focus in a classroom setting, in some cases it is better for children to start with a Davis Dyslexia Correction program. Often, the behavior issues that gave rise to an ADHD diagnosis will dissolve when the child gains the ability to read and understand why much of the confusion that caused the disorientation occurred and how it can be resolved.
Sharon Roberts, Davis Facilitator, Ontario https://dyslexia.ca/
CALENDAR
Make it Monthly during March with Canada Helps
Making Tomorrow Count Early Childhood Conference – April 13 - Victoria
Decoda Conference – April 19 – Richmond
Come to the Dyslexic Table April 1 at 430PM Pacific
Save the Date – Fellowship of the Gift – Summer Camp June 2
WE’VE GONE INTERNATIONAL ! The Kakamega Project.
The WDS & The Kakamega Project team are on a mission ! To provide effective dyslexia education training to developing remedial tutors and supporting parents in Kakamega County, Kenya. We are very excited and honoured to be part of this initiative and look forward to telling you how it is unfolding. Visit our Campaign page HERE.
Nadine Schumont from Picture Perfect Learning Solutions in Stratford, Ontario is happy to announce the release of her “Neurodiversity" T-shirts and merchandise.
With every t-shirt sold, $5 will be donated to the Whole Dyslexic Society to use towards the many services offered. Click this LINK to see, and buy her exciting products.
Our Giving Guide:
NEW!! We have created some information pages on our website for Legacy Giving and Donor Advised Funds. These are ways in which you can support your favourite charity. You can read all about them on our Giving Page HERE.
Picture Perfect Learning Solutions Neurodiversity Shirts & Merchandise. Nadine Schumont has created a line of shirts and merchandise celebrating neurodiversity. You can view the range of styles and images through her store. For every shirt sold Nadine is donating $5.00 to The Whole Dyslexic Society. Check out her shop page HERE.
Purchase our Gifted with Dyslexia Pins. Purchase our Pins Here
TruEarth Eco-Friendly Laundry Soap and Products. 20% of all sales go to our Society. Please follow the link to our Tru-Earth product page to purchase. Tru-Earth Eco-Friendly Products Here
Donate a Car Canada. Looking for simple and free car removal? Donate a Car Canada accepts Vehicle Donations for The Whole Dyslexic Society. When you donate your car, truck, RV, boat, or motorcycle to The Whole Dyslexic Society through Donate A Car Canada, it will either be recycled or sold at auction (depending on its condition, age and location). Read more about Donate a Car Canada…….
See how donations can result in tax credits by reading the article below. Read More…Tax Benefits of Charitable Donations
Partial proceeds go to The WDS from sales and rentals of Ed Roman’s highly acclaimed “Red Omen” video. For more information on renting or buying Red Omen click here
We gratefully accept donations through our Canada helps charity page. We have a variety of donor options. Thank you !
Canada Helps - General Fund
Canada Helps - Bursary Fund
Canada Helps Tribute - Donate in honour of or in memory of a loved one.
Canada Helps Securities - A donation of securities or mutual funds is the most efficient way to give charitably. Since capital gains taxes don't apply, our charity receives the full fair market value when the security is sold, and you get a tax receipt which reflects your larger contribution. This allows you to give more and get more. TO READ MORE ABOUT DONATING SECURITIES OR MUTUAL FUNDS CLICK HERE
We are a registered charity with the PayPal Giving Fund. You can donate to our organization using your PayPal account with no fees. Thank you ! PayPal Giving Fund