We also wanted to know if the screening/assessment tools that are being used had been developed in-house. The findings suggest that most were, as 14% of the respondents (19%) who reported using a screening/assessment tool indicated it was developed in-house.

We asked practitioners if they would be interested in developing an in-house screening/assessment tool.

• 79% of respondents showed interest for developing such a tool

The percentage of practitioners that showed interest in developing an in-house screening/assessment tool (79%) corresponds well with the 81% of practitioners that stated they did not currently use one. Only one program that does not currently use a tool is also not interested in using one.

Practitioners were asked if they would like outside assistance to develop a screening/assessment tool.

• 84% indicated they would

The remaining 16% is consistent with the proportion of practitioners (19%) that reported their program currently had a screening/assessment tool in use.

It is interesting to note that although 14% of practitioners currently use an in-house screening tool, 97% of practitioners indicate they would also like to have a checklist that identify students at risk of having a learning disability.

Practitioners were asked if a diagnostic screening/assessment service is needed in the Province of Manitoba. The response was virtually unanimous, as 100% of those who responded reported such a need with only one practitioner not responding to the question.

The degree that responses complement each other across various questions in this section validates practitioner responses. The other possible responses such as “don‘t know”, “not applicable” or “no response” were so low for all the questions in this section, other than those specified, that they were not significant.

We also wanted to determine how many programs have referred students to other services for screening/assessments. The findings show that only 40% of programs have. The high percentage of programs that do not refer students to other services (60%) may be indicative of the limited services available within the province. It is important to recognize that screening/assessments tend to be costly within the private practice sector ($600-$1200) and wait times for screening/assessment using regional hospital psychological services are lengthy. When asked if learners have gone on their own for screening/assessment, only 31% of practitioners indicated they had (69% had not).

We also asked practitioners if they would make referrals to a diagnostic service outside of their program if one were available to them. Practitioners were positive about potentially making use of such a service, as 94% indicated they would make referrals for this purpose.