On the Legislative Front

In April, 1999, the co-chairs of the Early Years Study, Margaret McCain and Fraser Mustard, delivered their report to the Premier of the Province and to the Minister Responsible for Children. In the covering letter they indicated that they "examined the evidence from the neurosciences, developmental psychology, social sciences, anthropology, epidemiology and other disciplines about the relationship among early brain and child development and learning, behaviour and health throughout all stages of life." They also stated that the evidence showed that "the period of early child development is equal to or, in some cases, greater in importance for the quality of the next generation than the periods children and youth spend in education or post secondary education."

It is not surprising that the report is sub-titled "Reversing the Real Brain Drain."

The McCain-Mustard Report focuses on all children starting from the time of birth. Its recommendations focus on the goal of improved outcomes for all young children and therefore, by extension the whole population of Ontario. These goals can best be achieved by increasing the funding available to families with young children, through enhanced parent education and support programs, the implementation of better and more equitable services, supports and programs for all young children and their families and by an increased emphasis on universal access.

While the report identifies that there are some excellent and effective programs in place in some parts of Ontario, it condemns the patchwork of current programming, the mismatch between opportunity and investment and the lack of consistency and accountability for the ways in which existing programs are evaluated and tracked. Compared to the programs that are available in many other developed countries, Ontario lags way behind in meeting the needs of young children and their families. As a result, Ontario's children are not doing as well as children in other countries or even in some of Canada's other provinces. Not doing well is defined in this context as experiencing a learning or behavioural difficulty. This is due, at least in part, to the fact that Ontario is apparently not a place where children are valued and nurtured.

Although most of the report is focused on the whole child population, there are certain comments and recommendations that single out children with special needs. There are numerous observations and data that reinforce the importance of early identification and intervention for children at risk. Although the term "learning disabilities" does not actually appear in the report to describe a specific target group of children, some of the findings, especially in the section on Neuroscience and Early Child Development, can be extrapolated to include children with learning disabilities. For example:

"Children whose cognitive and behavioural characteristics are poorly developed in their early years have difficulty succeeding in the school system, which can lead to higher levels of anti-social behaviour, delinquency and crime as teenagers and young adults. Studies have found that boys who...tended to exhibit anti-social behaviour in kindergarten and disruptive behaviour later in school classrooms...were more likely to drop out of school early. A study that followed boys through adolescence found about 28 per cent of them who demonstrated anti-social behaviour in kindergarten were delinquent by age 13." (Page 36)

The report shows that the critical periods for certain key aspects of brain development and function, including learning emotional control, social skills, language, symbols and other cognitive skills all begin before age 4 and most before age 2. Further, the key periods for learning these skills end before age 6. The report comments:

"Once the critical periods for brain development have passed, it is possible for some functions, through special measures, to develop the brain's capacity to compensate for poor development in the early period, but it may be difficult to achieve the brain's full potential. If there has been extreme neglect through the critical periods - a child who is rarely touched or talked to or soothed - it may be very difficult to make up for the effects of severe deprivation later on. In the case of vision, once the critical period has passed, it is not possible, at present, to establish normal vision."

So what is happening for children with identified learning disabilities or who are at risk for the condition?

There is a great deal of research in Ontario focusing on at- risk infants, including those with very low birth weight, who are very premature, who are born with fetal alcohol syndrome, with HIV and other similar conditions. Such babies now usually survive, due to recent perinatal technological advances. Many of these babies show the early symptoms of or are expected to develop one or more neurologically-based problems, including autism, cerebral palsy and learning disabilities. However, most professionals in the field would be reluctant to identify these very young children as having or being at risk for developing learning disabilities. Further, there are very few programs such as infant stimulation or early language development initiatives for this population.

The majority of children with learning disabilities have congenital learning disabilities, with a smaller number acquiring the condition as a result of illness, accidents or exposure to toxins. In many cases, the early signs of learning disabilities are noticeable in delayed speech, problems with central auditory processing and problems with meeting the traditionally expected milestones for learning and behaviour. In spite of this, the condition is not usually identified in very young children, unless the child also has some other more visible or obvious disabilities. Many children, in fact, are not referred for any kind of help or support until they have failed in school in the late primary or junior years. Often this is too late, especially when the difficulties impact several areas of the child's brain function and have already resulted in some secondary and tertiary problems. The programming provided then deals with the behavioural and emotional problems resulting from unidentified and untreated learning disabilities.

Would the programs and services recommended in the McCain- Mustard Report benefit children with learning disabilities?

Since children with learning disabilities are children first, there is no question that the recommended interventions and supports would benefit them, just like they would benefit all children. It may sound cynical, but it seems to me that we should only introduce such innovative and much needed programs and services, if we are collectively committed to evaluating them and holding program developers and deliverers accountable for them. As an Association, we are well aware that appropriate legislation, suitable policies and funding do not automatically assure compliance. We only have to look at the early identification projects and special education programs and services of school boards and how they are meeting the needs of students with learning disabilities.

This does not negate the value and critical importance of the McCain-Mustard Report. What is needed, however, is a real commitment on the part of the Government to take the necessary action. This is not the first time that the Government of the day had received such a report and such recommendations. Ranging from the results of early work by Maria Montessori and Jean Piaget, the results of the Ontario Child Health Study and the follow-up work of Dr. Dan Offord, the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Learning and many others, we have often heard that we need to do things differently. This report contains recommendations as well as performance measures for implementing those recommendations. So perhaps this time we can count on something actually happening as a result of such a report.

Two recommendations that are of particular interest to us are:

• Targeting measures to support children and families who are at risk or having difficulties is necessary, but it works best within a system available to everyone.

• Resources for early years should not be increased at the expense of services that are helping older children and youth overcome disabilities and disadvantage.

But the key recommendation that we very much hope will be adopted at the earliest possible opportunity by the Premier and Government of Ontario is committing to "making early child development a high public priority." The children of Ontario, including those who have learning disabilities, do deserve that from us as we move into the next millennium.

Eva Nichols is LDAO Legislation and Government Liaison Consultant.

LDAO. phone: (416) 929-4311
365 Bloor Street East fax: (416) 929-3908
Box 39, Suite 1004 Website: www.ldao.ca
Toronto, Ontario
M4W 3L4