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Questions and Answers about Davis Dyslexia methods
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Questions and Answers about Davis Dyslexia methods |
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Q. How much will reading improve after the one-week Davis Dyslexia Correction program? [September 14, 1998] Davis literature asserts a 97% success rate. What is the definition of success? What kinds of improvement? Over what time periods? How much improvement in reading is typically noticed immediately upon completion of the Davis program? At what rate does reading improvement typically occur thereafter?
R.C. [E-mail]
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A. The Davis methods do not lend themselves very well to quantifiable studies, because we provide an individualized program to clients with varied backgrounds and levels of difficulty. Our success rate is largely based on the Results Assessment interview done at the end of the program and anecdotal reports. Many of the most significant changes experienced by our clients are impossible to measure, especially their increased or renewed self-confidence. Because of the individualized nature of our program, the results vary dramatically from person to person. Some people come to us with coordination difficulties, some with speech deficits, some with dyscalculia or dysgraphia, some with attention focus problems. We've worked with adults who can't read at all who come up to a fifth grade level or more within a week. There have been fifth graders who are reading in a struggling fashion who start at about 2-3 grade level and come up to about 5th grade. There have been both adults and children who cannot catch a ball who do so by the end of the week. Some people experience improvement in handwriting immediately, some within 6 months. Some who cannot hear or pronounce speech sounds suddenly are able to - some need to continue speech therapy but with increased rate of improvement. Some clients with no depth perception suddenly develop it. A lifetime of nausea is often alleviated for some. Petit mal epilepsy seizures have stopped. Amblyopia has been corrected. Myopia and astigmatism in young people have been changed. Some have increased scores on IQ tests, some don't. The long term results of our program with regard to reading largely depend on how much follow-through the client does mastering the small words. This can take up to about a year. How much they improve really depends on where they were when they started and how motivated they are to continue to improve. Certified Davis Facilitators include in their programs follow-up visits and phone consultations in order to help with this process after the intensive 5-day program. The 3% that we could not help were for various reasons. These include prior psychological conditions such as schizophrenia, manic depression and drug dependency. A hostile unsupportive environment filled with emotional, physical or verbal abuse can sometimes be a factor. There have been cases where we have accepted clients who had no motivation to improve - it was largely a parent's idea that they do the program - we failed - in which case we refunded the fee. Today, we screen carefully to maintain our high success rate. One could not expect this type of success rate in a school or mandated environment where the candidates are not selected by motivation to improve. The Davis methods do not work when forced. In 1982, we did obtain permission from McGraw-Hill to use their achievement tests untimed with our clients. A brief summary of the results: A study to measure the effectiveness of the Davis procedures was conducted by the Reading Research Council between 1982 and 1984, utilizing the McGraw-Hill Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills. The study group consisted of 110 cases, 24 female and 86 males ages 6 to 61. Untimed testing was done before and after 30-40 hours of individualized counseling and instruction. We believe these results were largely due to what the client already knew but could not demonstrate previously because of disorientation and confusions. Continued progress and improvement in reading would depend on the client's follow through with Davis Symbol Mastery.
Alice Davis, DDAI
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Q. Will Davis methods help with Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)? [September 21, 1998] My child has been diagnosed with Central Auditory Processing Disorder. What is the difference between C.A.P.D. and dyslexia, and will Davis methods help with this problem?
(Frequently Asked Question)
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A. The 'diagnosis' of C.A.P.D. is becoming more common for children and adults who seem to have problems with listening , either because they do not seem to be able to readily distinguish sounds in language, or have difficulty understanding what has been said to them. These individuals do not have any physical problem affecting their hearing, but seem to have difficulty in interpreting the words that they hear. Unfortunately, many people do not realize that 'Central Auditory Processing Disorder' is merely a label being attached to a set of symptoms. Those who use this diagnostic label admit that they do not know what C.A.P.D. is, what causes it, or what to do about it. Symptoms of C.A.P.D. include:
All of these are recognized symptoms of dyslexia, as well. While it is sometimes useful to distinguish between patterns of symptoms, it is a mistake to assume that this particular set of symptoms stems from different causes than dyslexia. We can readily see how the two major facets of dyslexia, disorientation and inability to think with words can lead to any or all of the symptoms of C.A.P.D. More important, our experience has been that clients age 7 and over with symptoms of C.A.P.D., or "auditory dyslexia" do well with Davis methods. There is one important distinction, however. To the extent that 'dyslexia' is defined as a problem with reading, it can rarely be reliably diagnosed in children under the age of 6; many young children simply are not ready for reading. Symptoms of C.A.P.D. are sometimes manifested much earlier, in children as young as 3. If a pre-school age child shows significant delays in learning to speak or understand language, the parents should seek evaluation by a qualified Speech & Language therapist, as well as obtaining examination from a physician or audiologist to assess the child's hearing.
Abigail Marshall, DDAI
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What is dyspraxia and what can be done about it? (October 12, 1998) My child has recently been diagnosed with dyspraxia. What does this mean, and what can be done about it?
Frequently asked question.
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A. Dyspraxia is sometimes called 'clumsy child syndrome.' The child (or adult) with dyspraxia may be chronically clumsy or accident-prone. The dyspraxic individual also has poor motor skills. For example, a child may have great difficulty holding a pencil and struggle tremendously with writing. Because of poor motor co-ordination, the child may also find it virtually impossible to learn to ride a bike, or to catch a ball. We have found Davis Orientation, as described in The Gift of Dyslexia , to be very helpful with dyspraxia. The 'koosh ball' excercise that accompanies Fine Tuning is particularly helpful to the individual with problems with large motor skills, balance, or hand/eye coordination. Orientation resolves the perceptual problems which underly many symptoms of dyspraxia. Many individuals report after doing Orientation that it is the first time in their lives they have felt 'in balance' rather than somehow being off-center. More information about using Davis Orientation for dypraxia is in Chapter 11 (Clumsiness) and Chapter 30 (Coordination) of the revised edition of The Gift of Dyslexia .
Abigail Marshall, DDAI
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How do you help a child who reads well, but has problems with writing? (January 18, 1999) My son can read beautifully. He is 8 years old and reads at or above 3rd grade level. But writing, however, is like pulling teeth! He will write a little as possible. When required to write sentences for assignments, he shuts down and refuses - even will get vehemently angry when we insist he do it. He has never been good at fine motor skills - as a preschooler I tore my hair out trying to get him to pick up a crayon. His spelling is poor, and math facts are difficult. We had him to a psychologist who was going to test him for dyslexia, but told us "he can decode words so there's no dyslexia!" What can we do?
Janet, via email.
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A. Let's get rid of the word 'dyslexia' for a minute. Instead, we are going to talk about visual-spatial thinkers, people who think well with pictures, but have difficulty with some aspect of symbolic thinking, such as working with words and numbers. We can give these problems another name - 'dysgraphia' for the writing problem, 'dyscalculia' for the math problem. Some people would prefer to label each problem differently and simply treat the symptoms, through tutoring or occupational therapy. The Davis approach is different: we look at the underlying learning style, and focus on getting rid of the barriers. And we find that some of the underlying barriers are the same for kids who can read well but have problems with writing as they are for kids who can't read at all. When we look at the underlying thought process, we can understand how a child can be 'dyslexic' but also be a good reader. Being able to recognize written words in a book is a different matter than being able to produce them on your own, and people who think in pictures can have a very hard time putting their thoughts into words. The basic question is: does your son have a picture-thinker's learning style? If so, Davis methods are going to work well for him. They will give him words to connect to all the pictures in his mind, and Orientation will help tremendously with perceptual/motor skills related to writing.
Abigail Marshall, DDAI
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Will Davis methods help a child who is taking Ritalin for ADHD? (October 19, 1998) My son is eight years old and diagnosed as ADHD - he takes ritalin which has improved his life drastically. However, his reading is very poor and has just recently gotten to first grade reading level - he is in 3rd grade. His inability to read is starting to hurt him in other areas and we are not seeing a lot of improvement. Where should we go from here?
J.C., posted on
Dyslexia Discussion Board.
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A. Davis Facilitators are happy to consult with families whose children are on medication, but they usually will not provide the Davis Dyslexia Correction program to a child while on Ritalin or similar medications. Stimulant medications such as Ritalin will tend to interfere with the student's ability to learn the control of their mind's eye, and techniques such as dial-setting, which are a significant element of Davis methods. Sometimes parents do elect to bring their children to Facilitators during school breaks when they can also take a Ritalin "vacation." However, the decision to interrupt medication can only be made by the parent along with the treating physician. Many parents have children who are diagnosed as ADD or ADHD and are now doing well without medications after receiving the Davis program. For example, one parent posted the following comment on our bulletin board: "My son (age 14) was on Ritalin for years, since the first grade. He was so hyperactive that he was disruptive to the class. He initially did ok on the ritalin. The past two years he's wanted me to let him go off the medication because he didn't like the way he felt on it. Every time we tried school without the Ritalin, everything went down hill, so he went back on it. Getting into Davis Orientation counseling this summer was an attempt to let him get off it for good. Wow! His grades are better than they ever have been, and his LD teachers can't believe the difference in his reading, writing, and organization. All these areas still need help, but I'm convinced that with more work in Davis methods (which we're doing from the book without a facilitator) things will continue to get better." [Posted by Rose, October 17, 1998.]
Abigail Marshall, DDAI
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FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions.
