Archive for the ‘Die Burger’ Category

Jan 26

Die Burger – 26 January 2008

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What do they have in common?

There is hope for people with dyslexia, writes René Engelbrecht*, following the story about the dyslexic twins from Somerset West who last year passed matric with merit in spite of a reading ability of eight-year-olds.
What do May and Katie de Clercq from Somerset West, the twins about whom Die Burger reported on 22 January, and Pablo Picasso have in common?
The most obvious answer would be their artistic skills. But then there is also something else – their dyslexia. They share this with Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Walt Disney, Tom Cruise, Keira Knightley, Sir Richard Branson and Agatha Christie, to mention but a few famous people who reached fame and fortune in life.
Dyslexia does not indicate a lack of talent or intelligence. Only an inability to read. Yet in the world of today we depend on the written word to a large extent.
Although various methods are applied to help with dyslexia, they simply do not all work for everyone. This I experienced as remedial teacher. I eventually started searching on the internet to try and find out whether somewhere in the world perhaps there was something that worked, and in this way I came upon the Ron Davis website. And discovered: hope!
Above all it does not mean a struggle of months and even years.
Davis’s viewpoint immediately attracted my attention. He regards dyslexia as an innate gift that becomes a burden in the two-dimensional world of the written word. This gift goes hand in hand with imagination and creativity, with problem solving by looking at the bigger picture, rather than an analytical step-by-step process. According to him dyslectic individuals mainly think in pictures and not in words. Such as the De Clercq twins who think in “shapes”.
It is this way of thinking that caused Einstein problems at school, but also made him a brilliant mathematician.
Because he is dyslectic himself, Davis says, frustration caused him to go and sit down one day to try and figure out why he had such a struggle reading and writing, while at the same time he was a qualified mechanical engineer and amateur sculptor. In this way he started creating an idea to overcome his dyslexia.
In 1981 the educational psychologist, Dr Fatima Ali (Ph.D.), and he together started developing a programme for children and adults with dyslexia. Then in April 1982 they opened the Davis Dyslexia Correction Center in California offering their services to the general public – with wonderful results.
Davis’s book, The Gift of Dyslexia, was published in 1994 and in 1995 the Davis Dyslexia Association International (DDAI) was launched with the purpose of providing information about the Davis methods, setting standards for the Davis programme and training facilitators. His next book, The Gift of Learning, with added methods for attention-deficit disorder, mathematics and handwriting was published in 2003.
Davis’s approach does not include instruction based on phonics, it does not make use of drill work, does not depend on physical apparatus such as books in large print and neither on medication.
He does use the individual’s imagination, the fact that the human brain is reprogrammable, multi-sensory techniques and creativity.
He regards it as important that individuals with dyslexia gain control of their own learning processes. According to Davis dyslectic people are different in the sense that they see things from different perspectives – a characteristic that stands them in goot stead in the world of concrete images, but lets them down when they have to interpret things that are two dimensional, such as the written word. Then they “disorientate”.
That which makes his approach so different is that he supplies individuals with an orientation point from where they can focus. It approaches reading in a completely different way and this is the crux of his work.
Furthermore a very important factor is that it helps to mend people’s self-esteem and self-confidence.
This programme I discovered in 1999 and I immediately ordered Davis’s book The Gift of Dyslexia in which his methods are described in detail. Although I was not sure whether this programme was scientifically justifiable and whether I would be able to perform it, it fascinated me. I studied it in depth. Through Abigail Marshall, Davis’s webmaster, I gained consent to use the Davis techniques with my learners even though I was not a qualified Davis facilitator.
My trial test was a grade 4 learner with dyslexia. Her remedial teacher had told her parents after a year’s remedial lessons that she could do no more for the child and that she would most probably fail grade 3. She was, however, transferred and at the beginning of grade 4 her parents came to ask for my help.
I told them about the Davis method and that I had not tried it out myself, but that I would treat their daughter free of charge if they allowed me to test the method on her. By this time they were so desperate that they told me to continue. In quite as short while there was a significant improvement.
Within a few weeks this girl could read better and understand what she was reading. Her self-confidence improved as well. And to top it all, she obtained an average of 70% at the end of the year.
Since then I have been concentrating on the Davis method and have helped quite a number of learners.
Worldwide Davis facilitators have had great success with the course, but up to a few years ago there had been no clinical evidence that it works and that is why some professionals did not accept it. Because I saw how well learners performed after being introduced to the Davis programme, I decided that I would put it to a scientific test myself.
My idea was to prove that Davis’s methods can help individuals with dyslexia and that it should be acknowledged as an acceptable additional or alternative method.
Davis’s association gave me permission to do research based on the information I gained from The Gift of Dyslexia and The Gift of Learning. I only had to state it clearly that I was merely researching the methods and not the overall techniques that trained facilitators use.
In 2004 I did research for my master’s degree in psychology at Stellenbosch University (South Africa) on the influence of the Davis methods on the reading ability and psychological functioning of learners. The results were scientifically significant and also indicated a success rate of more that 80%. This was after only 14 hours of instruction.
Last year I met Dr Linda Silverman on the internet. She is director of the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development and the Gifted Development Center in Denver, Colorado, has the same viewpoint as Davis and supports his work.
Her work mainly has to do with gifted children and she created the concept of Visual-Spatial Learners.
As Davis, she believes that underachievers often are gifted learners whose minds simply function differently. She noticed that these children are often artistically gifted – dancers, actors, musicians, creative writers. Amongst them there are mathematicians, scientists, computer experts and entrepreneurs. They seek and find patterns in life and are most excited when they discover something new. Some are very empathic and emotional with a particular spiritual awareness
In her book Upside-down Brilliance she discusses various techniques to help these “visual-spatial” individuals on their way through the world of reading and writing.
Today I use a couple of Silverman’s techniques combined with Davis’s methods forming a very successful unit.
Although these methods are not generally well known in South Africa, parents could help their children by means of the two books of Davis I mentioned previously. His web address is http://www.dyslexia.com.
I highly recommend Upside-down Brilliance. There are also quite a few e-books available on the websites of Silverman and her co-worker, Allie Golon, namely http://www.gifteddevelopment.com and http://www.visualspatial.org Readers can also contact me at rene@rene-engelbrecht.co.za. My web address is http://www.rene-engelbrecht.co.za.
References
Davis, R.D. (1997). The Gift of Dyslexia. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group.
Davis, R.D. (2003). The Gift of Learning. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group.
Silverman, L. K. (2002). Upside-down Brilliance. The Visual-Spatial Learner. Denver, Colorado: DeLeon Publishing.

There is hope for people with dyslexia, writes René Engelbrecht*, following the story about the dyslexic twins from Somerset West who last year passed matric with merit in spite of a reading ability of eight-year-olds.

What do May and Katie de Clercq from Somerset West, the twins about whom Die Burger reported on 22 January, and Pablo Picasso have in common?

The most obvious answer would be their artistic skills. But then there is also something else – their dyslexia. They share this with Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Walt Disney, Tom Cruise, Keira Knightley, Sir Richard Branson and Agatha Christie, to mention but a few famous people who reached fame and fortune in life.

Dyslexia does not indicate a lack of talent or intelligence. Only an inability to read. Yet in the world of today we depend on the written word to a large extent.

Although various methods are applied to help with dyslexia, they simply do not all work for everyone. This I experienced as remedial teacher. I eventually started searching on the internet to try and find out whether somewhere in the world perhaps there was something that worked, and in this way I came upon the Ron Davis website. And discovered: hope!

Above all it does not mean a struggle of months and even years.

Davis’s viewpoint immediately attracted my attention. He regards dyslexia as an innate gift that becomes a burden in the two-dimensional world of the written word. This gift goes hand in hand with imagination and creativity, with problem solving by looking at the bigger picture, rather than an analytical step-by-step process. According to him dyslectic individuals mainly think in pictures and not in words. Such as the De Clercq twins who think in “shapes”.

It is this way of thinking that caused Einstein problems at school, but also made him a brilliant mathematician.

Because he is dyslectic himself, Davis says, frustration caused him to go and sit down one day to try and figure out why he had such a struggle reading and writing, while at the same time he was a qualified mechanical engineer and amateur sculptor. In this way he started creating an idea to overcome his dyslexia.

In 1981 the educational psychologist, Dr Fatima Ali (Ph.D.), and he together started developing a programme for children and adults with dyslexia. Then in April 1982 they opened the Davis Dyslexia Correction Center in California offering their services to the general public – with wonderful results.

Davis’s book, The Gift of Dyslexia, was published in 1994 and in 1995 the Davis Dyslexia Association International (DDAI) was launched with the purpose of providing information about the Davis methods, setting standards for the Davis programme and training facilitators. His next book, The Gift of Learning, with added methods for attention-deficit disorder, mathematics and handwriting was published in 2003.

Davis’s approach does not include instruction based on phonics, it does not make use of drill work, does not depend on physical apparatus such as books in large print and neither on medication.

He does use the individual’s imagination, the fact that the human brain is reprogrammable, multi-sensory techniques and creativity.

He regards it as important that individuals with dyslexia gain control of their own learning processes. According to Davis dyslectic people are different in the sense that they see things from different perspectives – a characteristic that stands them in goot stead in the world of concrete images, but lets them down when they have to interpret things that are two dimensional, such as the written word. Then they “disorientate”.

That which makes his approach so different is that he supplies individuals with an orientation point from where they can focus. It approaches reading in a completely different way and this is the crux of his work.

Furthermore a very important factor is that it helps to mend people’s self-esteem and self-confidence.

This programme I discovered in 1999 and I immediately ordered Davis’s book The Gift of Dyslexia in which his methods are described in detail. Although I was not sure whether this programme was scientifically justifiable and whether I would be able to perform it, it fascinated me. I studied it in depth. Through Abigail Marshall, Davis’s webmaster, I gained consent to use the Davis techniques with my learners even though I was not a qualified Davis facilitator.

My trial test was a grade 4 learner with dyslexia. Her remedial teacher had told her parents after a year’s remedial lessons that she could do no more for the child and that she would most probably fail grade 3. She was, however, transferred and at the beginning of grade 4 her parents came to ask for my help.

I told them about the Davis method and that I had not tried it out myself, but that I would treat their daughter free of charge if they allowed me to test the method on her. By this time they were so desperate that they told me to continue. In quite as short while there was a significant improvement.

Within a few weeks this girl could read better and understand what she was reading. Her self-confidence improved as well. And to top it all, she obtained an average of 70% at the end of the year.

Since then I have been concentrating on the Davis method and have helped quite a number of learners.

Worldwide Davis facilitators have had great success with the course, but up to a few years ago there had been no clinical evidence that it works and that is why some professionals did not accept it. Because I saw how well learners performed after being introduced to the Davis programme, I decided that I would put it to a scientific test myself.

My idea was to prove that Davis’s methods can help individuals with dyslexia and that it should be acknowledged as an acceptable additional or alternative method.

Davis’s association gave me permission to do research based on the information I gained from The Gift of Dyslexia and The Gift of Learning. I only had to state it clearly that I was merely researching the methods and not the overall techniques that trained facilitators use.

In 2004 I did research for my master’s degree in psychology at Stellenbosch University (South Africa) on the influence of the Davis methods on the reading ability and psychological functioning of learners. The results were scientifically significant and also indicated a success rate of more that 80%. This was after only 14 hours of instruction.

Last year I met Dr Linda Silverman on the internet. She is director of the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development and the Gifted Development Center in Denver, Colorado, has the same viewpoint as Davis and supports his work.

Her work mainly has to do with gifted children and she created the concept of Visual-Spatial Learners.

As Davis, she believes that underachievers often are gifted learners whose minds simply function differently. She noticed that these children are often artistically gifted – dancers, actors, musicians, creative writers. Amongst them there are mathematicians, scientists, computer experts and entrepreneurs. They seek and find patterns in life and are most excited when they discover something new. Some are very empathic and emotional with a particular spiritual awareness

In her book Upside-down Brilliance she discusses various techniques to help these “visual-spatial” individuals on their way through the world of reading and writing.

Today I use a couple of Silverman’s techniques combined with Davis’s methods forming a very successful unit.

Although these methods are not generally well known in South Africa, parents could help their children by means of the two books of Davis I mentioned previously. His web address is http://www.dyslexia.com.

I highly recommend Upside-down Brilliance. There are also quite a few e-books available on the websites of Silverman and her co-worker, Allie Golon, namely http://www.gifteddevelopment.com and http://www.visualspatial.org Readers can also contact me at rene@rene-engelbrecht.co.za. My web address is http://www.rene-engelbrecht.co.za.

References

Davis, R.D. (1997). The Gift of Dyslexia. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group.

Davis, R.D. (2003). The Gift of Learning. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group.

Silverman, L. K. (2002). Upside-down Brilliance. The Visual-Spatial Learner. Denver, Colorado: DeLeon Publishing.

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