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News and Events

As a leader in the field of learning disabilities in Minnesota, LDA Minnesota is committed to keeping our clients, partners, funders, and the community updated on how we are fulfilling our mission and responding to current community needs.

Learn • Dream • Achieve Capital Campaign

In late 2008, LDA realized its 40-year-long dream of purchasing its own permanent home. After modifications to adapt the building to best accommodate our clients, LDA moved in at 6100 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley, MN, on March 1. Although we’ve been in our new site only a few weeks, we’ve settled right in and are confident our new building will be as popular with clients as it is with LDA staff.

In February, LDA launched the Learn • Dream • Achieve Capital Campaign to pay off the mortgage, which will allow us to allocate more funding for services. We’re seeking $1.7 million, which covers the costs of the building, renovations, and moving, as well as campaign expenses.

The capital campaign is off to a great start! Already we’ve received over $200,000 from our dedicated supporters, including The Otto Bremer Foundation, The Fred G. and Katherine C. Andersen Foundation, and Thrivent for Lutherans Foundation. Thank you!

If you’d like to help with the capital campaign, please contact Susan Freivalds, LDA Resource Development Director, sf@ldaminnesota.org; 952-582-6007.

New Free Service
Is Your Child Struggling in School?
¿Su hijo tiene dificultades en la escuela?

Applications are closed at this time. Please check back this fall to see if your student qualifies.

LDA Minnesota can provide FREE In-home tutoring in reading, math, or both!

How it works

• LDA provides in-home tutoring, or we can arrange sessions at alternative locations convenient for you (e.g. after-school care).
• Students receive two sessions per week; one hour per session.
• Students can receive up to 34 sessions before the end of the school year!
• Parents receive updated student progress reports after every 4th session.

To Qualify

• Student eligible for free or reduced price lunch and attends an eligible school.
• A responsible adult (min age, 21 yrs.) must be present during home tutoring sessions.

Get started today!

LDA Minnesota cuenta con un servicio de clases particulares a domicilio de lectura, matemática o ambas, totalmente gratis.

Cómo funciona

• LDA ofrece servicios de clases particulares a domicilio, con la posibilidad tomar las clases en otro lugar, como en centros de atención fuera del horario escolar.
• Clases de una hora, dos veces por semana.
• Los alumnos pueden tomar hasta 34 clases antes de la finalización del período lectivo.
• Informes sobre el progreso de los alumnos destinados a los padres cada cuatro clases.

Requisitos

• Para participar, los alumnos deben cumplir con las condiciones para acceder al beneficio de almuerzo escolar gratis o a mitad de precio y asistir a una escuela participante.
• Se requiere la presencia de un adulto a cargo (edad mínima de 21 años) durante las clases a domicilio.

Acceda a este servicio hoy mismo.

Email: info@ldaminnesota.org or call 952-582-6034

Weekly Daytime Support Group for Adults
Adults with ADHD face challenges that friends and family might not understand. This new discussion group provides an open and confidential opportunity to meet others with ADHD and share strategies to manage the challenges of ADHD. This group is for adults who would benefit from weekly support. If you have questions or plan to attend, please contact Susan Hallam at 952-582-6009; sh@ldaminnesota.org

Dates/Time: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm (every Thursday)
Location: LDA Minnesota
Who Can Attend: Open to any adult in the community
Cost: $15 per session. First class is FREE!
Facilitator: Comfort Belbas, MSW
If you have questions or need additional information, please contact Susan Hallam, 952-582-6009

Diagnostic Assessments for ADHD in Adults Now Offered at LDA
LDA's Diagnostic Assessment is an evaluation of a person's current life situation and mental health status, utilizing a diagnostic interview and psychological testing. It can confirm or rule out a mental health condition such as ADHD, recommend interventions, and provide a written summary of the diagnostic assessment and psychological testing. The cost of a diagnostic assessment will vary with required services. Read more.

Parents as Partners
Thanks to grants from The McKnight Foundation and The Beim Foundation, LDA's Parents as Partners program will help at least 1,500 parents in 2006-07 learn to support their child's school success. Activities include Family Nights at school, parent phone consults, workshops for parents, parent support groups, and parent mentors. For more information, contact Project Manager Susan Hallam.

Early Intervention in Twin Cities Schools
LDA's Learning Connections program provides early intervention in 22 low-income Twin Cities elementary schools for students who lag behind in reading and math. The Cargill Foundation provides major support for Learning Connections. New for 2006-07, four Learning Connections schools will receive intensified interventions to test if these new services can further accelerate student progress to close the achievement gap. United Way provided major support for these intensified efforts. For more information, contact Liz Rey.

Responsiveness to Intervention
New federal law allows an alternative process for identifying students for special education eligibility. Instead of waiting for a two-year discrepancy to develop between a child's ability and his academic performance, Responsiveness to Intervention (RTI) allows for more expeditious identification of students in need of special education services through use of a variety of interventions with children who are falling behind. If students do not respond to research-based interventions in the regular classroom, then they can be referred for special ed assessment before the development of a two-year lag.

LDA is partnering for the next three years with the Robbinsdale Public Schools to develop a model of RTI that can be replicated throughout that district and beyond. The RTI project will identify the research-based interventions and strategies to use with lower-achieving students, provide professional development for classroom teachers who are piloting the RTI model, and offer intensive interventions for students (small-group instruction). For more information about RTI, contact Liz Rey .

Adult Literacy
LDA Minnesota has been given a grant by Adult Basic Education (ABE), Minnesota Department of Education, to provide the following supplemental services during 2009-10: professional development activities and literacy coaching for ABE teachers and tutors; learning disability, reading, and ADHD assessments for ABE learners; and research and development into a computer-based GED vocabulary activity. For more information, contact Assessment Manager, Allen Stock.

LDA Minnesota gratefully acknowledges those who have shared their resources with us.
The following are LDA's most recent contributors in 2006-2007:
The Cargill Foundation
The McKnight Foundation
United Way
Deluxe Foundation
The Carolyn Foundation
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
HSBC
Yackel Family Foundation
The Bayport Foundation
Allianz Life
Ameriprise Financial Advisors
The Beim Foundation
Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation
Hugh J. Andersen Foundation
Margaret Rivers Fund
Xcel Energy Foundation
RBC Dain Rauscher Foundation
Wayzata Family Services
June Stern Foundation
Jostens Foundation
Securian Foundation
Burdick-Craddick Foundation
Rosemont
Kopp Family Foundation
Malt-O-Meal

LDA Newsletter

If you are interested in receiving LDA's newsletter please fill out our online form.

Or, download a PDF of our newsletters below!

Understanding Dyslexia: Determination Testing
Learning Times Vol. 8 No. 2

ADHD Coach or Counselor?
Learning Times Vol. 8 No. 1

Tutoring
Learning Times Vol. 7 No. 3

Blast Off for Success
Learning Times Vol. 7 No. 2

Assessments
Learning Times Vol. 7 No. 1

Learning Connections
Learning Times Vol. 6 No. 3

Early Literacy
Learning Times Vol. 6 No. 2

Response to Intervention
Learning Times Vol. 6 No. 1

Writing Disabilities and Focus on Attention
Learning Times Vol. 5 No. 1

Attention Deficits
Learning Times Vol. 4 No. 2

Information Processing
Learning Times Vol. 4 No. 1

Learning to Read
Learning Times Vol. 3 No. 3

School-to-Work Transition
Learning Times Vol. 3 No. 2

Toxic Chemicals and Child Development
Learning Times Vol. 3 No. 1

Dyslexia: A Reading Disability
Learning Times Vol. 2 No. 2

Learning Disabilities in Adults
Learning Times Vol. 2 No. 1

Motivation and Academic Success
Learning Times Vol. 1 No. 2

Teenagers and Stress
Learning Times Vol. 1 No. 1