I have been really busy with my work with the Distributed Learning Community, SelfDesign. We have just processed some referrals for funding for learners who are fit our School District's High Incidence Category. High Incidence learners would be those with learning disabilities, speech and language problems and problems that have a higher occurence in the schools. This was a very exciting time for me because I actually participated in helping learners who need direct services get the money they need. This may sound obvious, but this is very different from my experience in the school system, where the money was stretched to accommodate as many kids as possible. There was no direct connection between a learner and money- not one that you could detect, anyway. The money was stretched so thin that lots of kids got a fraction of what they needed, which would not optimize their chances for success.
I have learners who just got money to go and get ed-psych testing done, and others will receive money for special reading instruction. It was very gratifying today to talk to happy parents who feel that someone understands their child's needs and stepped up to help. SelfDesign is a great learning community.
I think online education is only going to get bigger. One of the things that I am really excited about is that I will be working with a learner who is hundreds of kilometers away from me. I am going to conduct my first ever reading clinic over the internet! This will be a pilot- and if it works, it will provide opportunities for many more kids to get services in outlying and remote areas.
I will write about this once we are up and running. We are just waiting for the family to receive a large magnetic white board that we will use.
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Kathy,
I am fascinated! I have been contemplating online reading instruction for some time. I have not been able to settle problem in my mind of not having a one-on-one connection (face-to-face) with the students. I have blogged with several other tutors who do online tutoring but none has ever done reading (mostly math). Please keep me informed of how your pilot program runs - pros and cons. When will you be starting? Will you be doing group tutoring or one-on-one? I am so excited for you!
Also I am interested in your funding post you added here. How do you get money for these kids. Is it through private funding? Is it through Self Design?
I am heartbroken over the parents and their children who have severe reading problems but can't afford to get help for them. Where is the answer they are looking for?
Thanks for you post. I can't wait to learn more!
Hi Lynda,
I am going to be starting within the month. I am really excited too- there are many Northern communities here in Canada where services are hard to come by.
SelfDesign is a class one independent school in its own right- which means that our Ministry of Education in BC provides half its usual funding for each student enrolled. Children with special generate more funding than a regular learner. So, our low incidence kids (not as many) in a school setting would generate about 32000.00 each. When they enroll with us, we get 16,000.00 to use on their behalf. High Incidence kids (more of them) generate quite a bit less, but we still have a substantial budget for them. What is different, is that the money goes to direct services for each learner- instead of into a pot that gets stretched far too thin to make much difference to an individual learner.
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