Parents Advisory

Learning disabilities are considered the cause of the problem when the teachers or parents are alerted because of a learner’s weak academic performance and/or behaviours that reflect lack of regulation and emotional maturity that are not grade or age appropriate.  Learning disabilities are diagnosed ...

Giftedness is considered when parents and teachers are alerted that a young person is showing potential well above age and grade performances in language or motor abilities or by early mastery of academic skills such as reading, writing, spelling, use of language, or mathematics.  Giftedness is diagnosed ...

Giftedness and Learning Disabilities appear together when both strong potential in some areas of test performance are present along with weak skills in others or when emotional regulation is immature.  Giftedness with Learning Disabilities is diagnosed ...

Developmental (intellectual) disabilities and syndromes like Autism and Asperger’s, are considered when the learner’s performance in the ordinary skills of childhood in academic, cognitive, or emotional domains have not appeared at grade appropriate levels.  Developmental disabilities are diagnosed ...

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on the education and learning mastery of children, youth and young adults. Scientists and educators are raising the alarm that for some learners the deficit in skills and knowledge that occurred during the COVID-19 in-class disruption of education could become a life-lasting problem.

Language, the ability to speak and communicate, is the carrier of intellectual development in all learning, and most particularly in academic learning.

There are many causes of language delay. Hearing impairment, even if it is mild, and a whole variety of disorders like cleft palate or even simple blockages in the eustachian tubes in the ears, affect language learning.

Children with behaviour disorders and emotional distress are often unsuccessful in the classroom. They demonstrate their unhappiness in a variety of ways.  Children with ADHD are often unhappy going to school.  

1. Their best subject is recess or P.E. and their best day at school is the last day before summer holidays.
2. They act out in class, or act the clown to avoid showing they cannot do the task, or they are restless and cannot sit in their seats. They do not appear able to pay attention or focus for an appropriate time period. They are sometimes diagnosed by teachers or other school personnel as having Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). These children are hard to handle in a class of 20 to 30 children and the teacher may request a visit to the doctor with the view to providing medication to solve their problem, or a visit to the school psychologist to confirm this diagnosis. This is a serious issue in that it fails to address the real cause of the problem. Moreover, taking medication to control their behaviour or to help focus attention may lead young people to believe that they need drugs to function effectively in society. This can have life-lasting effects and may lead to other problems as they become adolescents, particularly if they continue to have problems succeeding in school.
3. They are challenged by the tasks of learning to read (decode) and understand what they have read (comprehension), to spell, to write, to compose their thoughts in written format (written expression) and to calculate (math).

When disease, or the effects of chemotherapy/radiation, or head injury due to sports injury or to automobile or accident occurs, the learning journey is interrupted, sometimes in devastating ways. At the Vancouver Learning Centre, intensive and comprehensive programs have helped children, adolescents and adults achieve “personal best” outcomes. We are here for the long term and have achieved some remarkable outcomes well beyond expectations.

Home schooled students can benefit in a variety of ways from a partnership between the professional teachers at the Vancouver learning Centre, their primary home teacher, and the students themselves. There are many reasons why students need to be schooled at home and outside the public or private school system even in a large metropolitan area like Metro Vancouver, which is well served by public and private schools.

There is a huge difference in the learning approaches and learning environment between Grade 12 and the first year in a post-secondary institution. Students move from a highly structured and prescribed learning environment in high school to one that has few rules or boundaries. The classes are large, absence from class is not always noted, and time frames for handing in projects seem much more flexible. In such learning environments some students flourish while others falter.