David Holmes wants the general public to remember one important issue about the special needs of education.
"Raising children is not meant to be an easy thing," the executive director of the Lee Pesky Learning Center said. "If you have a child who needs extra help, we're all in it, in our families.
The Boise-based Lee Pesky Learning Center will offer a presentation 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 3, called "The New World of Learning Disabilities: A Primer for Parents and Teachers." It will be given by Holmes at the Community Library in Ketchum.
Learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, Asperger's and ADHD touch millions of individuals. Holmes will discuss important developments that are helping families and teachers support children confronting learning challenges as well as recent developments in Blaine County, including the opening of a Lee Pesky Learning Center clinic in Hailey and a future one in Ketchum.
"There has been phenomenal growth and research in the last 10 to 15 years through brain research, learning conditions and understanding the impact of various of developments," Holmes said. "A lot more is known. There continues to be a growing general awareness of the fact that there are children with learning deficits. It's more in the common parlance. And there is significantly less stigma associated for those with a learning deficit."
Holmes said he would also address how the field has come to think about learning responses to intervention.
"That's an important piece," he said. "The educational opportunity for children in Blaine County is a wonderful example. Having a Pesky Center Clinic in Hailey and a facility to be in the new YMCA (in Ketchum) exemplifies for the community that there are many more opportunities for families to address the needs for their children. Especially since scholarships are available as needed.
"We live in a culture since World War II that is about meritocracy. Doing well in school is a big deal and we keep score with all the testing," Homes said. "Millions of children get a certain kind of message from the testing culture that they're not very smart. That's tragic. Among the children who don't do well, they may have a learning deficit or disability that is no fault of their own."
Holmes estimates that as many as 20 percent of the general population has a learning deficit.
He will also point out the certain signals a student might be giving at home that it's time to see a teacher, counselor or someone at the Pesky Center.
For more information on the Pesky Center, visit lplearningcenter.org.
David Holmes
