Training for Adults to Best Support Children and Youth with Learning Disabilities and ADHD

The Cause

Foothills Academy Society was founded in 1979, by a small group of caring visionaries who knew that children and youth with Learning Disabilities and/or ADHD have great potential. However, without support, that potential may never be realized. Today, Foothills Academy Society is the trusted central resource for these children, youth and their families across the Calgary Region and beyond.

While we currently serve over 3700 children, youth, families and professionals annually, we have a vision that would allow for even more children and youth to be supported beyond the four walls of our location in Parkdale, Calgary.

Our current programs include;
Read/Write & Math - Remediated Intervention.
Psychological Services - Assessment, Counselling and group programs.
Amicus - low ratio Recreation and Camp Programs.
Professional Development & Community Education - for professionals and families.
The Calgary Region Learning Disabilities & ADHD Network - a cross-agency work group to support the needs and navigation of those with LD’s and ADHD.
School Program - grade 3-12 for children with Diagnosed Learning Disabilities.

Our Professional Development & Community Education department supports 2000 parents and professionals annually. These parents and professionals support over 30,000 children and youth across our province. At home, in schools, on a sports team, at guides or scouts, in community recreation or in other youth-centered programs.

There are just over 1 million children in Alberta, and with diagnostic rates of 15% for LD and 5-10% for ADHD, there are up to 200,000 children in Alberta with the specified needs we serve. This means up to 180,000 children and youth with challenges are not appropriately supported annually.

We would like to make a large and long-lasting change in this area by providing free professional development, speaker series and panel Q & A’s in October of 2024 (Learning Disabilities and ADHD Awareness Month), to reach as many adults supporting these children as possible. In particular, we will target those in their final years of post-secondary education and new to the workforce, as well as families, parents and caregivers.

As upstream thinkers, our target audience for these free training will be those will currently work or volunteer with children and youth, and those who are in education programs to be in careers that will work with children and youth.

Who Will it Benefit?

The beneficiaries of this program will be broad. The groups we will be impacted directly are;

Children and Youth with Learning Disabilities and ADHD.
Post-secondary students in programs related to working with Children and Youth.
Recent graduates of programs related to working with Children and Youth.
Families, parents and caregivers of children and youth with Learning Disabilities and/or ADHD.

This program will also be open to any parents and professionals who support our children, however, we will target the groups above.

Children and Youth with Learning Disabilities, and ADHD, and their families, will be the main group supported by this initiative. By supporting professionals and families to increase their skills and strategies, we are impacting these children and youth immensely. Taking an upstream approach to support their challenges beyond just the programs we provide at our organization's physical space, we can equip adults to have the skills needed across Calgary and the province. This can create both a wide and long-lasting impact.

Post-secondary students in programs related to working with Children and Youth.

This will be students in their final 2 years of their education programs, and could be in programs such as; Early Childhood Education, Disability Services Programs, Education, Social Work, Psychology, Nursing, Recreation, Kinesiology and similar.

This group will be directly impacted by the free online certification programs, presenters and panels that we will offer for the month, and allow them to increase their skills and strategies to support the children and youth they will work with upon graduation.

Recent graduates of programs related to working with Children and Youth.

This will be new workforce employees (within their first 5 years), who studied programs such as; Early Childhood Education, Disability Services Programs, Education, Social Work, Psychology, Nursing, Recreation, Kinesiology and similar. OR are currently working with children and youth (i.e., Educational Assistants, Recreation Program Instructors, etc.)