Read testimonials directly from the people who have used our services. See what our users think of us.
Follow this link to see a video link to a wonderful testimonial from a client of Tessa Halliwell.
Testimonial from client of Selena Clay
9 yr old from Herefordshire
“using different methods for reading and spelling has made me read better & feel less different to friends. I don’t feel so different anymore!”
Testimonial from a client of Lisa Robbins
When my son Jonah was born I was stunned by the things he was achieving. He was rolling and trying to crawl at 12 weeks. He always had a curious glint in his eye and I could see he was seeing the world in a way that was different to me. When he started school at 3, the teachers thought he was the brightest child in the class and he was happy and confident. And then reading and maths started and everything began to change. The teachers said it would all come, be patient. Be it wasn’t improving. Things seemed to be getting worse. And then we moved area when he was 5. The teachers at his new school hadn’t seen the happy and confident Jonah. I could see that his confidence and self-esteem were disappearing. The more he struggled, the harder everyone was working him and the more muddled he was getting. The possibility of dyslexia was raised when he failed the year 1 screening assessment. I came across the Gift of Dyslexia and knew that I was reading about my son. I contacted Lisa and we have never looked back. We started with “The Young Learners Program”. It was like a light was switched on in Jonah’s eyes. He was so excited. Lisa immediately saw how gifted and special Jonah was and never tired of telling us that. And it was so good to hear. She has been so involved and supportive at every step of the way. We constantly update her with our trigger word progress. Lisa has done a maths program and just started a handwriting program too. It is absolutely phenomenal how is is thriving now in so many areas. He now sits and reads for 20 minutes a day by himself. I hear him chuckling and talking out loud about the funny things that are happening and I just can’t believe what has been achieved in 9 months. Thank you Lisa. You have changed the course of a very special child’s life. I will be eternally grateful.
Testimonial from a client of Helen Milstein
David: adult client
Helen is a great teacher, a teacher that listens and really hears you. In no way fluffy, she has a distinct plan. A plan that, with patience, really works.
As someone who has received a dyslexia diagnosis in later life, my search for information and understanding led me to the Davis Programme. A programme written through experience rather than theory. And, it shows in its workings.
I found the programme to be instantly engaging and comfortable enough to not stress me but challenging enough to inspire me to push on to achieve.
I’m really happy to say that I’ve learnt more about how I learn, and indeed, myself as a person.
The programme, and indeed Helen, both come highly recommended.”
Testimonial from a client of Ines Grote
An amazing dyslexia course.
We have described our daughter’s experience with Ines as miraculous to friends and family who asked how she was getting on. Our bright daughter had been very unhappy and disengaged with school as she struggled to cope with her dyslexia. The phonics programmes she was given at school did not work and only served to heighten her sense of failure. Ines and the Ron Davis method offered her a completely new and exciting way of looking at reading and spelling. She now has strategies to deal with her writing and her confidence has grown and grown. The money we paid for this course was the best money we ever spent, we were so lucky to find Ines and I would recommend it to any one in the same position we were in.
Testimonials from clients of Elizabeth Shepherd
Robin: adult client
I came to the Davis method of correcting my dyslexia and ADD at the grand old age of 50. After reading The Gift of Dyslexia the penny finally dropped and I realised that there wasn’t something wrong with me, I simply had a different way of thinking which made reading and organising things difficult.
Elizabeth was simply the best teacher I ever had as all through childhood I was more trouble than any at my schools could handle. Patient and thorough she guided me through the processes necessary to find my focal point and think in a new way.
Having spent a good amount of my life in a disoriented state this has changed not only my reading, which is becoming more relaxed and enjoyable, but also my relationships with others.
It has been an emotional journey. Finally realising that I am not somehow ‘wrong’ but I simply think and conceptualize the world in a more visual way.
The low self esteem I left school with and have spent 35 years battling could have been avoided if I had come to this understanding when I was a child but sadly for me it took so long.
If your child has issues at school please don’t let them struggle and leave with nothing but a sense of failure as I did. The investment of time and money in this method along with the required practice and input from you parents, will pay dividends in your child’s life.
Thank you Elizabeth for all you showed me.
Testimonial re B.S Age 6 – 7 Recipient of a Young Learner’s Programme 2016 – 17 (& on-going support over several months).
Background
The child was reluctant to go to school and would ‘switch-off’ as he got there (he actually told me that!). Though he could not engage in school, he really wanted to read. His delightful, complex line drawings of scenarios involving vehicles and inventions were displayed on the walls around the family’s kitchen, and he’d annotated them in his own writing which his mother had to interpret as his writing/spelling was illegible. He was very creative and had proper tools to make real things in the garden. He was a real outdoorsy, adventurer. He loved more traditional stories, particularly Just William who he identified with, but couldn’t read them himself although he tried. He came to me one day with one of his father’s treasured collection of classic books: Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde and was desperately trying to read it. I helped him with a couple of paragraphs. It had much more appeal to him in its simple plain brown binding that fitted into little hands, than the shiny picture books and modern children’s stories he was expected to read at school.
Text from father:
March 2018
Hi Elizabeth, Hope you are well. Just had parents’ consultation for B and his teacher told us his reading age is now 11 years 9 months – so more than 3 years in advance of his age. And 2 years ago he couldn’t read at all. How amazing! Thanks again for your help. Kind regards,
Text conversation continued…
Yes, he enjoys school now, thanks. It’s much more dyslexia friendly, and more creative too.
Testimonial from a client of Selena Clay.
Annie, Powys (mother)
Before my fourteen year old daughter started the programme she was mainly in the top set at school but her spelling was really, really awful and her reading was affected as well. She was very worried about starting her GCSE’s, especially her English GCSE, as she was worried about how many marks she would lose for spelling and she also worried about not reading the exam questions correctly and so answering wrongly.
First noticed
The first thing I noticed was as soon as she started the Davis method her confidence skyrocketed and has really stayed up. Since doing the programme her marks, especially for English, have really improved. She recently got 100% in her English GCSE controlled assessment and at her last parents evening her English teacher asked me, “What has she done, it’s like she’s not dyslexic anymore?” and it is true that her spelling is now fine. These massive changes in spelling and confidence have meant that her motivation has also really gone up. I would say that doing the Davis method has really changed my daughters life.
Testimonial from a client of Fionna Pilgrim
10 year old child from near York
I feel as though a weight’s lifted off my shoulders ‘cos I felt like I was the only one, like I was an upside down ant on its back not able to do anything. I didn’t think anyone could do anything about it.
“Fionna’s (facilitator) new headdress.”
Testimonial from a client of Maureen Florido
Mother of a 5-year-old boy who was becoming very upset and frustrated with school life.
“Thank you for your wonderful support for J…(and me!). You have opened the world for him. We are very grateful.”
Mother one year on.
“J…… is doing very well and is coming on in leaps and bounds with his reading. We are very pleased.”
5-year-old boy at the beginning of the Programme
“I get dizzy when reading, and get headaches I see lights in front of my eyes I get angry when I can’t read.”
Same boy during the Programme – model made at home
Testimonial from a Dyscalculia client of Maxine Piper
Michael is just one example of the many individuals whose lives have been changed after working with a Davis Dyslexia Facilitator. Dyslexia is often just thought of as a reading and writing problem with people having difficulty processing the symbols of words but some dyslexics can also have difficulty with symbols used in the language of mathematics (Dyscalculia), because it comes from the same root cause.
The Issue
When Michael first came to me he was extremely mystified as to how his peers could pick a number and get the right answer to a multiplication question. So when asked a question he would choose a random number and get very despondent when that answer was wrong!
The Solution
Through the Maths Mastery Programme he now has certainty and knows the right answer. As you can see from Michael and his mother’s testimonial, when he starts to be more certain he also starts to be more confident, which leads to faster learning.
Michael White, aged 10, wrote his own testimonial for Maxine.
“I think Maxine Piper is the person you need to see if you are dyslexic.
Maxine provides you with all the equipment you need when you are struggling. Maxine is always positive and always thinks and says you have potential.
I think in myself I have excelled lots and lots in the last year, plus I have made some friends and had lots of laughs along the way.
I now feel that I can achieve so much more and I am more confident in myself.”
Michael’s mother adds:
“Our son Michael was struggling at school, he found maths a complete nightmare! My husband and I couldn’t seem to help; his frustration set in. We couldn’t help or console him when he couldn’t remember how to do basic and easy problems.
We were so lucky to find Maxine. Since we got together last year we haven’t looked back. Michael followed the programme with Maxine and has improved in every way; he’s a changed boy! Self-confidence and understanding are now in place!
They enjoy each other’s company and have gelled so well together. There’s still work to be done and Michael spends hourly lessons still with Maxine each week. He would rather go than School! Michael’s letter says it all.”
Testimonial from a client of Phillida Howlett
Reflections of an adult male
” On reaching my mid thirties, I realised I could not go on like I was. Every small task which I failed at, would always trigger something from the past, and make me feel worthless & stupid.
In turn, it would cause uncontrolled fits of aggression & rage. It was like dragging a boulder around with me, which I tried all my life to shake off, by doing sports, college courses & martial arts.
Then I came across the book ‘The Gift Of Dyslexia’ and, with research, it put me in touch with Phyllida.
I can say the experience was life changing for me, but hard work & painful at times. Phyllida had a way of connecting with me, which helped me open up & learn.
I can say the experience was life changing for me, but hard work & painful at times. Phyllida had a way of connecting with me, which helped me open up & learn.
After completing the course, within 2 weeks, I’d fitted a new kitchen without losing my temper.
I applied for a new job, which I didn’t get – but the major difference was it didn’t matter, I had had a go.
After training in martial arts for 15 years, I won Gold (British Champion) & Silver in consecutive competitions.
As I sit here, writing this for anyone who wishes to read it, I can honestly say I have found peace with myself and I’m happy in my own skin.
Anyone who is dyslexic & feels the inadequacy I have felt and the sense of failure – if you are ready & willing to do the course, that will be left behind, and you will become the person you know you can be.
Phyllida is the first person in my life who actually understands me & what I’ve been through.
If you’re dyslexic, its a great relief to find someone like her and I thank her for changing my life and making me feel at peace with myself.”
