March 6, 2001

Toronto Catholic District School Board is the only Board in Ontario to offer the Arrowsmith Program

The Toronto Catholic District School Board is the first school board in the province to pilot the Arrowsmith program. The program, developed by Barbara Arrowsmith Young, is an alternative program geared to the needs of children and adults with learning disabilities. It focuses on repetitive exercises geared to strengthening specific areas of the brain. The pilot program has received rave reviews from the parents of participants and from the students themselves.

"We are amazed at the wonderful changes that we see in our daughter in a very short time," says Grace Zuniga, whose daughter was first enrolled in the program in February 2000. "We see improvement in many areas of her life, including her ability to read and to retain information, the organization of her time, her willingness to accept more responsibility and most importantly
the way she feels about herself and her ability to learn."

"We take great pride in being the groundbreaker for the introduction of this program in Ontario school boards," says Michael Del Grande, Chair of TCDSB. "We remain committed to seeking out, and promoting, innovative programs that best meet the individual needs of our students"

Parental support for the program has been very strong, he adds, and the pilot project launched at one elementary and one secondary school site during the 1999-2000 school year, has been expanded to three other elementary schools this year. The demand for the program continues to grow. "The Board is fully supportive of this initiative as the parents, teachers and students report positive results," says Del Grande.

"Based on the parental testimony that we have received, we are confident that we have been successful in providing a unique enhanced learning opportunity for the participants," he adds. "We will continue to monitor the progress of the students in this program, and we have every hope that they will continue to benefit from this type of intense and individualized learning opportunity."