For 45 years, Foothills Academy Society has shone a light on the importance of accommodating students with Learning Disabilities (LD) and ADHD, first as a school in 1979 and then as a registered charity the following year. Since then, the Academy has grown to 300 students in grades 3 to 12 while the Society provides educational and psychological support networks to over 3,000 young people and their families. Over the past 10 years, executive co-directors of Foothills Academy Society Dr. Karen MacMillan and Simon Williams have worked to expand these services and programs, becoming LD/ADHD leaders in Western Canada.
“There’s such a big need for students with Learning Disabilities. It gives us a huge sense of responsibility and puts a fire in our bellies realizing that the need is getting bigger and, in turn, we need to keep growing and developing,” says Williams.
Foothills Academy gives students a typical school experience with additional targeted and individualized educational services for students diagnosed with Learning Disabilities like dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia. Small classes led by a teacher and aide employ evidence-based programming to deliver on the society’s motto: Find Understanding. Build Confidence. Maximize Potential. In many cases, students feel a sense of belonging and academic competence for the first time, and the dedicated team strives to perpetuate that confidence by providing services to the wider community as well.
It does this through four additional departments: Psychological Services & Programs, Amicus Camps & Recreation, Read/Write & Math Intervention and Professional Development & Community Education. This service network helps train psychologists, teachers and parents to better support those with LD/ADHD, delivers lower-cost psychoeducational student assessments and offers leadership programs, camps and recreational programs focused on social skill development for kids with Learning Disabilities and/or ADHD. It also offers specialized literacy and numeracy intervention for Foothills students and children in the greater community to set them up for success.
“One of the things that makes Foothills unique, beyond the fact that we have this continuum of community services, is that right from day one, we have been financially inclusive,” says Dr. MacMillan.
About 40 per cent of students are on some degree of bursary and services are largely subsidized to ensure the LD/ADHD community has access to academic, social and emotional supports. This takes significant funding so Foothills hosts a Calgary Marathon fundraiser in May and the Gordon Hoffman Golf tournament in the summer, along with other events to support its school and programs. The entire population participates in fundraising to keep these programs strong so Foothills can continue to meet the needs of an ever-increasing community. The organization is bursting at the seams, so finding a way to fund a much-needed expansion is at the forefront as well.
“We have an aspirational goal of growing our school and community services spots by 50 per cent for our 50th anniversary,” says Dr. MacMillan.
Such growth in the next five years would allow them to help even more LD/ADHD students, achieving Foothills Academy Society’s goal of empowering youth to reach their full potential in and prepare them for success in post-secondary or the workforce in the future.
745 37 Street NW Calgary, AB T2N 4T1
Phone: 403-270-9400 • Fax: 403-270-9438
info@foothillsacademy.org
www.foothillsacademy.org
