The number of disabled students, or students with adaptation or learning difficulties, has increased by 11% in five years in Quebec, forcing parents and schools to look for resources that match their capabilities. to help you.
• Also read: Learning difficulty: support services in high demand
The economic situation has severely affected parents’ ability to pay for private or semi-private homework help services for their children.
For example, the educational support center La bonne note, which offers semi-private tutoring, saw a decline in the number of courses offered by around 20% in two years, due to the increase in the cost of living.
However, for those who invest, the benefits are numerous.
In an interview with TVA Nouvelles, a father confided that this service saves him valuable time while making the time he spends on homework more efficient.
“An hour and a half of homework, I could spend the whole weekend doing that,” says Louis-Paul Roy. Now I come here. It’s 2 hours, 2 hours really well spent.”
Same story for a mother.
“We see a difference in the grades,” shares Ève Hudon. It’s not even a question. Teachers also benefit from this. It gives them a break.”
For its part, Collège Charles-Lemoyne decided to take matters into its own hands and open its own school clinic, “DéCCLic”, in 2017 to help its students and those who live in its neighborhood.
“Almost 40% of our students have been diagnosed with a learning disability and have intervention plans in place,” explains the school’s general manager, David Bowles.
With the pandemic, the need for psychological help has also increased.
“Whether it’s anxiety, eating disorders, suicidal thoughts or organization in general,” shares the deputy director of educational services at Collège Charles-Lemoyne, Véronique Leblanc. We see more and more students seeking help from our TES.”
For the Association of Orthopedic Surgeons of Quebec, a reconsideration of the organization of support services in schools is necessary.
“We are seeing what we call a dispersion of services,” says CEO Mathieu Labine-Daigneault. So we say to ourselves, ‘OK,’ we have a special teacher, but the special teacher is going to be working with sixth-year students at the same school.”
“At a certain point there is a certain limit to what she can do,” he adds.
School staff recommend asking for help quickly when children are struggling to prevent delays from occurring.
For the full report, watch the video above