A Message from the Queen’s Assessment and Resource Center (RARC):
“We would like to share with you a new, free workshop series that we are running for the parents or guardians of students in Grades 7 or 8 with learning disabilities or ADHD.
“If you don’t know much about us, we are the Regional Assessment and Resource Centre (RARC). We are funded by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities to help students with neurodevelopmental disabilities to access post-secondary education. We are located in Kingston, Ontario, however we work with students across Ontario. We provide support in a few different ways, one of which is offering transition programming. We have transition programs available for students in Grade 12 (check out our website for more information) and we also have programming for students in Grades 7 and 8. The earlier we can support students with neurodevelopmental disabilities – the more likely they are to be able to attend college and university.”
“We have been running the STEPS (Successful Transitions from Elementary to Post-Secondary) program in Kingston for over 10 years, offering workshops to students (and their parents) in Grades 7 and 8 with learning disabilities and ADHD. Because of the nature of the programming, it has been restricted to in-person programming offered in Kingston, Ontario. Over the past few years we have been working to expand our programming across Ontario. For the STEPS program, we have done that in two ways. We have created an 8-session curriculum that schools can use to run student programming in their own school (contact us for more information about this), as well as offering parent programming as a stand-alone workshop series, run through 4 virtual, evening sessions.”
The parent programming is open to parents of students in Grades 7 or 8 in Ontario with learning disabilities or ADHD. There is no cost to the program, however parents must commit to attend all 4 sessions. Registration is now closed for the 2026 cohort. Please visit the STEPS home page for more information about available programs and applications here.
You can find more information, as well as a poster for families and our registration forms, on our website: Queen’s STEPS program. .
