From Pre-Primer To 4th Grade Reading Level

Table of Contents | Davis Dyslexia Correction Methods | Experiences With Davis Methods

10 Year Old Girl, From pre-primer to 4th grade reading level

When my 10-year old daughter was in kindergarten, she was described by her teachers as a "friendly, kind-hearted, independant worker, with a few problems recoginizing number symbols". By third grade, she was still reading at pre-primer level and described as "unable to follow simple directions, frequently interacts inappropriately with peers, asks inappropriate questions, unable to sit still in the classroom, disruptive at times". She had become a real terror in the classroom. She frequently had headaches and stomach aches triggered by even the thought of going to school. School personnel suggested that she be put on drugs to control her behavior and placed in the learning disabilities classroom. The drugs I didn't buy into (thank goodness!) but I did allow her to be placed in the learning disablities classroom during literacy classes. There, she was expected to spend 45 minutes a day learning to "sound out" words from a list. Guess what...She made no progress...

In the mean time, a friend gave me the book The Gift of Dyslexia. As I read, I saw my daughter in page after page. I found a Davis provider here in Wisconsin, had my daughter evaluated, and took her for a week of intensive intervention.

My daughter walked out of that week able to comfortably read out of a 4th grade reader! She returned to the regular classroom able to read Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods with her class. Her behavior problems in the classroom disappeared. Her classroom teacher remarked, "It's like she's a totally different child!" She was able to pay attention, sit still, follow directions, ask appropriate questions, and was no longer disruptive. She had learned to control her perception, and thus could control the behavior.

The school, after much pressure and calls to the State Dept. of Education, LD division, provided an educational aide to work with her after school using the Davis techniques. At the end of the year, she was tested to see her progress. She tested out reading at 4th grade level, with 93% accuracy and 100% comprehension! That's a long way from the pre-primer level she started with.

-Mary Ellen Schutz, Sept. 22, 2000; Posted to: Davis Dyslexia Discussion Board

This child received the standard Davis Dyslexia Correction Program at New Hope Learning Centers, Inc., Milwaukee Wisconsin.