Many West Island kids do not make the grade

BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

Though West Island children are not proportionately significantly more vulnerable to challenges posed by grade school than others in the Montreal area, a high number of them here may face serious problems due to lack of academic maturity, according to a recent study by the Montreal Public Health Department.

"It's not that surprising, as this is a population that we've been working with for 10 years," said Ruth Bresnan, director of Child, Youth and Family Services at the West Island HSSC.

The study looked at just over 10,000 children around six years of age across the Island of Montreal attending public kindergarten. Surveys filled out by their teachers examined five areas: physical and mental health, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills development, and communications and general knowledge.

"Generally, it's in the pockets of poverty (in the West Island) that these issues arise," said Bresnan, but there have been some exceptions too, she noted. In the West Island area, about 31.5 per cent of interrogated children were deemed vulnerable, which is 10 per cent lower than the region with the highest amount of vulnerable kids in Montreal, Bordeaux-Cartierville-St. Laurent. In terms of sheer numbers, however, the West Island has the highest amount with 656 children.

One area that West Island children performed particularly poorly in is the development of language and cognitive skills. "A large part of it is due to immigration," said Bresnan, adding the West Island saw an influx of immigrants recently. With a lack of exposure to French or English due to not attending daycare, children whose parents speak a third language at home are likely to be more vulnerable, she said.

"That could certainly have an effect on how a child performs in the area of language," agreed Joanne Simoneau-Polenz, assistant-director of student services at the Lester B. Pearson School Board and the board's representative at health and social boards.

Simoneau-Polenz said the school board did not yet have the chance to sit down and look at the study in great detail yet, but will be doing so in the near future.

Meanwhile, Pearson board chairman Marcus Tabachnik suggested part of the solution lies in greater emphasis on the four-year preschool program. "It's standard in Ontario, and 42 out of 50 states in the U.S.A. have them," he said.

"Two years can make a difference," Bresnan agreed. Both said past studies have shown that children who begin schooling earlier have a better chance to develop the necessary tools for a successful academic life.

Youth, Child and Family Services also tries other ways of reaching vulnerable children, said Bresnan. Specially trained educators, called psycho educators, are deployed to a particular child as soon as he or she is identified as vulnerable by a supervising community organization or daycare centre. However, it is difficult to find these children in need if they are not tipped off, said Bresnan.

Another initiative undertaken by Services is to meet with each new parent on the West Island. "There are approximately 2,000 babies born in the West Island in a year," Bresnan said. Services meets with the parents of as many of them as possible to introduce themselves to the family as well as understand if the child may or may not be prone to vulnerability based on factors such as the parents' income, age, or degree of education.

Bresnan remained cautious but optimistic overall. "We're a relatively low percentage (of vulnerable kids in total)," she said, admitting however that the percentage may be diluted to the area's population of 218,000.

"The community has to continue to work together," she said, calling for strong cooperation between HSSCs, school boards, and community organizations.

According to the study, Montreal children performed better than counterparts in Vancouver on average, and outperformed Toronto in the areas of physical and mental health, and communications and general knowledge.