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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1984-10-31, Page 33Page 113—Crossroads —Oct. 31, 1984 This is a repeat of my first column. I have asked for it to be re -run, due to the number of requests I have received from concerned parents. 0-0-0 Here is a list of learning - disability warning signals compiled by the Canadian Association for Children and Adults with Learning Dis- abilities. The association points out: "All children exhibit some of the following behavior at times. The pre- sence of one or two of these signs may not be significant, but a cluster of these rea quires furtherassessment." IN INFANCY —Trouble nursing, sucking or digesting; —Resistance to cuddling and body contact; —Lack of or excessive response to sounds or other stimuli; —Trouble following move- ments with eyes; —Unusual sleep patterns; —Delays in sitting, stand- ing or walking; —Absence of creeping and crawling; —Little or no vocalization or baby sounds; —Irritability. IN PRESCHOOL YEARS • —Delayed language and immature speech patterns; • —Difficulty dressing; Is Deflation Coming? Now that inflation seems to be diminishing as a threat to the economy, deflation is looming as another problem. Deflation is inflation upside down. It is falling airline fares, farmland prices, house prices, lover prices for gasoline and oil, various industrial metals, semi -con- ductors, and computers. These symptoms of de- flation are not widespread, but are selective. Neverthe- less,' some suggest that we are suffering a period of deflation, rather like the 1930s -when falling prices and wages were succeeded by a collapse. So far, average prices in both Canada and the United States are .not declining in fact, they are, rising at about a 4 percent rate, which, incidentailly, is the rate at which President Nixon became so alarmed that he imposeg price and' wage controls. Even so, the convergence of the falling prices appears to be unusual, at least for the past several The Warning Signs — Difficulty following in- structions; — Excessive repetitions in questioning, speaking; -Cannot skip, has trouble bouncing and catching a ba • Does not become ab- orbed in play or in any one activity; — Does not respond to dis- cipline; — Fear of swings and slides; —Impulsive, cannot con- trol behavior; —Exaggerated response to excitement or frustration; —Tendency to trip or bump into things; —Fearless, accident prone. IN SCHOOL YEARS —Very poor printing and - or writing with work poorly situated on page; — Difficulty cutting with scissors, coloring and print- ing inside lines; —Cannot tie laces, button clothes or hold a pencil well; — -Does not know the differ- ence between "up" and "down," "top" and. "bot- tom," "in" and "out," "in front of" and "behind" —Problems discriminat- ing between letters, sounds and numbers; --Good verbal ability, but has trouble reading or put - Fred G re ting thoughts or ides onto paper; —Reads but does not comprehend; —Poorspelling ; —Difficulty playing with more than one child at a time, may prefer to play alone; —Has trouble catching a ball, copying from the black- board; —Difficulty expressing ideas and relating events in sequence; —Emotional lability, gets upset over changes in rou- tine, easily frustrated; —Seems unable to judge the consequences of actions; —Difficulty remembering the names of things, the sea- sons, months, streets, etc. —Confused sense of time and -or distance, trouble learning to tell time; —Abnormal level of activ- ity; either excessive pur- poseless activity or is "slow as molasses"; —Short attention span, seems to be a "poor lis- tener," forgets or misunder- stands verbal instructions; —Very uneven results in areas of performance on testing with unusual highs and lows. Parents and teachers should remember that these children may not pick up information from day-to-day Canada's Business by Bruce Whitestone. years. If deflation were indeed to take hold, those with fixed incomes or'little debt would benefit, but almost everyone else would suffer. Farmers would find that the price of their crops would shrink, and along with that the value of their, farmland would diminish. The monthly pay- ments on their characteris- tically heavy loans' would be more burdensome. Interest rates may retreat under these circumstances, but with less income from their crops and less collateral behind their' loans, farmers. would find themselves in a, deflationary vice. At first glance, it would seem that, for instance, grocers or fuel oil dealers would not be affected by the sinking prices of .crops or oil, because they would merely pay less for theproducts they sell . for less. In the real world, however, businesses usually accumulate inven- tories, both to assure a regular supply for their I SAW IT ADVERTISED ON TELEVISION BUT I DON'T RECALL THE • PRICE OR SIZE OR COLORS OR EVEN WHERE IT WAS QN SALE • On the other hand. Newspaper Advertising leaves a LASTING IMPRESSION! customers and to protect themselves against rising prices. If the prices of the crops and oil fall while these merchants have large inven- tories on hand, they would find themselves selling their goods for less than they paid for them. Too, deflation usually -means that a downward spiral is underway. People stop accumulating inven- tories as prices are going down; consumers are re- luctant to make unnecessary purchases as they are in- clined to' wait for a further drop in prices, and house purchases are postponed for the same reason. What appears to be de- flation in America, however, is deceptive. The U.S. dollar is nominally appreciating, because of tight money and high . interest rates which attract money from abroad. Therefore, things denom- inated in U.S. dollars, such as oil and gold, appear to be declining in price. The rising real exchange rate has been the source of price moderation: it suppresses temporarily the rise in prices. . • In long run, the U.S. dollar cannot go on rising. The monetary base, from which money supply ultimately derives, has been rising year by year at a post 1979 growth rate high of 8.7 per cent. This eventually will be translated into more money supply, more inflation, and, conse- quently, a dollar which will fall in value. Then articles priced ii terms of U.S. dollars will rise in price, but all of this does not happen immediately. 'One other factor must be considered. Even if deflation were to gather momentum now, the U.S. budget deficit would rise astronomically. In the 1930s, the U.S. budget was approximately 9 per cent of GNP, but now it is about 4 times that percent- age; in Canada our budget represents ' an even larger share of our GNP. Hence, if prices were to fall, govern- ment revenues would shrink and deficits would rise dis- proportionately. If •the U.S. budget deficit ,were to rise to say, undoubtedly fuel horrendous inflation. • While an accident -is always possible, one must conclude that deflation is highly improbable. Inflation still must be considered more likely. living as others do. These children have had all the opportunities to learn at home that other children have enjoyed but need more time, and need to be taught Parents can do a great deal to ease the way for such a child, such as tying his laces for him (or buying loafers) without comment and being ever -sensitive t.o materials and tasks that he can man- age. IN ADOLESCENCE In adolescence, many of the symptoms, though likely still present and causing difficulties, will not be se readily observed. Matura- tion, peer pressure, emo- tional overlays, es well as survival and compensation techniques Vinay militate for, or against, the young persofi. If the disability has not been recognized, years of frustration and bitterness alongside a reduced level of academic progress peoduce the overall appearance of an "unmotivated and slow learner," and possibly a dis- ruptive "behavior problem." Characteristics may appear as: —Poor and laborious handwriting and -or bizarre spelling mistakes; —Disorganized, books in a mess, notes in no order, loses thine —Does not plan ahead; —Poor judgment, does not learn from experience; —Poor social skills, few friends or boc, iahzes Kith a -: -'grgeopI ,- _ - —Lacks insight into his own ,future, strengths and weaknesses; — Lacks logic, sometimes draws poor conclusions due to poor reasoning ability; — Frequently good or bet- ter in one-person sports, i.e., skiing, swimming; - - Difficulty persisting with to i s, especially if diffi- cult; —Average or above aver- age in some academic areas, poor in others; —Tendency to be very literal, humorless and gulli- ble; — Rarely relates past events or experiences in sequence or detail; —Vulnerable to peer pres- sure, often the scapegoat in situations. 0 0 0 Letters requesting further or more specific information should be mailed to "The Warning Signs", c -o Wing - ham Advance -Times, P.O. 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