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LDA program finds new home at CDC

The Williams Lake Learning Disabilities Association has a new home and a new teacher.
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Williams Lake Film Club representative Krista Liebe (left)

The Williams Lake Learning Disabilities Association has a new home and a new teacher.

The program has been moved to the Williams Lake and District Child Development Centre on Second Avenue and will be co-ordinated by Sydney Wolstenholme.

Wolstenholme grew up in Williams Lake and took her university training in Kamloops. She earned a bachelor of arts with a major in theatre and completed her teaching degree last April.

Wolstenholme is restructuring the tutorial program so that students attend one-hour sessions, four to five days a week for a four-week session between 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. on week days.

That way she says the things students work on will stay with them longer.

“When a student only takes a tutorial one day a week the teacher tends to end up teaching the same material over again to reinforce what they have forgotten, but an intense four weeks cements the learning and there is much less likelihood the student will lose the skills they have learned.”

To start, she says she will be holding sessions for children in grades 1 to 7 only.

The hope is to expand the program to secondary students next year.

She says students don’t have to be diagnosed with a learning disability to qualify for the program. They may just find themselves a bit behind in math and reading.

She says math and reading coupled with good study skills are the foundations for learning in other areas of study such as science and social studies.

Wolstenholme grew up in Williams Lake and became involved in theatre in high school at Columneetza Secondary School and with the Studio Theatre.

People may remember her as Nurse Kay Saddler in the Studio Theatre production of Whose Life is it Anyway and in the chorus of the musicals Fame and Antigone.

She says the LDA program is an opportunity for her to work in teaching and return home to be close to her family.

The LDA program will be operated in partnership with the CDC as a pilot project, says executive director Nancy Gale.

“The LDA had been at our Fourth Avenue location and is coming to the CDC now that the Women’s Contact Society has moved entirely into that space.”

Gale also welcomes the program as an opportunity to have all of the programs for children’s services under one umbrella.

She says the fee structure has also been set low to make sure the LDA program is as accessible as possible for all children who are struggling in school.

“We are very excited about this partnership,” Gale says. “If we can operate successfully for a year then we can apply for gaming funds.”

LDA chair Tihol Tiholov is also pleased with the move and the fact that the program will now have a stable base of operations.

“The move is very positive,” Tiholov says. “We really appreciate the partnership with the CDC because of their long record serving children, their very well-known location, and working with a professional teacher.”

Tiholov says they also welcome new LDA board members and volunteers to help with expanding the program.

The program is currently supported by donations, the primary contributors being the Telus employees group and the Williams Lake Film Club.