|
Program: Literacy in Kids, Lynn Dempsey Speech Pathologist Professor Brock
The meeting was opened by President Tom Arkell. Grace offered my Liz Palmieri, Toast to the Queen and O Canada started by Don Shaw.
The head table was introduced by President Tom, Mike Pihura to introduce our guest speaker Lynn Dempsey,Sgt Bill Campbell.
Introduction of Guests by Foster Zanutto. Our only guest of Roger Segalin, was Alexis de Wolfe.
President Tom thanked Rick Merritt for covering last week’s meeting.
Valentine’s Day Meeting will be a regular meeting. There will be an additional Friday evening social from 7:00 to 9:00 Rodman Hall, please see Peter Kudreikis for tickets $20 each.
Orine DeRosa of the Literacy Committee, which is currently working with Connaught and Lincoln Memorial Schools in their reading program, volunteers read every week, more volunteers are required from March to June.
Peter Lumsden – February 3rd
Happy Dollars was hosted by Jinnie Gordon.
Peter Lumsden offered a story about a dog, a monkey and a cow. This eventually led to a parody of man’s life on earth.
Rick Klassen got lucky twice at the Super Bowl, including the privilege of hosting next years’ bash.
Ken Taylor recently returned from Cuba where he delivered over 100 pounds of medicine. This year they have distributed in excess of 18,000 pounds of medicine to sixty eight countries an approximate value of two million dollars.
John Crossingham thanked Dr. George Park for his singing last week. A plug for St. George’s Day, corgi tossing and chicken chucking.
Rick Vanderkuip moved out his last child.
Chris and Anne Bangham are off to South America.
Peggy Davidson presented a flag from a club she visited in Great Britain and also reported finding Twenty B’s wine in a shop there.
Graham Kennedy reports his truck rental days are over as the kids are gone.
Art Weaver’s son and daughter in law were both selected for the power lifting team for the Special Olympics.
Larry Eagleton, Major Grants Meeting next Thursday at 11:00 a.m.
Tom Pekar, although busy recording the minutes, wanted to mention that they had been in Nashville for a special Smiles for Life event. Eleven hundred dentists and their family and associates had a private concert with Garth Brooks at the Grand Old Opry. This was to celebrate having raised $24 million dollars in ten years by tooth whitening for charity.
Aurora Tancock, FLMI, ACS, Financial Security Advisor, Aurora Tancock Financial Services Inc.
Aurora started her career in the financial services industry at Prudential Insurance. At Prudential she held the position of administrative manager and when in 1996 Prudential sold its Canadian operations to London Life she kept the same position. In June 1999 she made the major decision of resigning from the administrative side of the business and became a financial security advisor. Since then she has received many career accolades for her achievements.
In her first full year as an advisor she qualified for the million dollar round table, which is an organization that recognizes top performers in the financial industry across the world and has continued to qualify every year since. She has attained a national quality award which recognizes financial advisors who provide quality service to the Canadian consumers of life insurance.
She attributes her success by striving to provide clients, along her marketing associates, with a level of service beyond their expectations and obtaining their trust by not only doing things right, but by doing the right things. In 2004 she incorporated her business and is now the president and owner of Aurora Tancock Financial Services Inc. She is a member of Toastmasters International, she is also a member of Business Network International and currently holds the title of Education Co ordinator.
She is currently the Million Dollar Round Table Chair for the Niagara Region. She has been married to Dave for 25 years and has two sons, Chris age 22 and Steven age 19.
Mike Pihura started with his own brand of literacy humour.
“To write with a broken pencil is pointless.”
“A backward poet writes in verse.”
Mike introduced Lynn Dempsey, speech and language pathologist and professor at Brock University. Lynn is active in both research and teaching applied linguistics since her arrival at Brock two and a half years ago.
Lynn started by explaining that speech pathology is a regulated profession which included communication and swallowing disorders. They handle diverse clients , slow to talk, difficulty understanding or not being understood, inability to follow simple directions. This may also include stuttering, voice disorders, hearing loss, stroke or brain injuries. The connection of speech to literacy is quite direct. Knowledge of early language skills is prerequisite for literacy skills. In Niagara forty two percent of the population lacks basic literacy skills, one fifth suffers from reading failure, seventy three percent have overall language problems.
One can expect later problems if language fluency is not achieved by approximately Grade 4.
How can one promote and prevent? Something simple as joint book reading can have a profound effect on later success. One discovers content, language, images, Dr. Seuss is not only engaging but fun with language. Learned print and logo have meanings, such as: Stop signs, Exit signs, cereal boxes and even the golden arches. There are conventions of print, for example, reading left to right and top to bottom. Writing for many reasons: groceries lists, cheques, recipes, Christmas cards, Valentines are examples of thoughts taking form which can later be recognized by someone else. Be aware of sounds, how words rhyme, for example: Anna Banana, Fat Hat, its fun and it draws attention. Reading stories starts with an opening, characters, conflicts, dialogue, familiar events, birthdays, bath times and endings. Don’t be surprised when you are asked to read a favourite story for the twenty fifth time, only to have yourself corrected if you miss a single word. There are many risk factors for the young child, for example: limited reading and writing experience in the home from a family history, difficulties in recognizing the first letters in words or rhymes, access to the vocabulary, verbal memory difficulties, inability to tell a story.
Lynn spoke of her research work with two to five year old children. One way of measuring comprehension skills might be to ask questions, another may be to ask to have the story retold. Can children detect errors when a story has been retold? The researcher will be attentive to both verbal and non verbal responses. They try to determine if very young people have difficulty in communication and determine before literacy follows at around age seven with written stories. The field is vast, the test for words, grammar, memory, ability to create the big picture and so much more.
Our speaker was thanked by Janet Johnson and President Tom presented Lynn with a dictionary that will be donated in her name to a local school.
|
Lynn Dempsey & Tom Arkell |
|
