Dyslexia Corrected

Mrs Ingrid Mason writes:

My eight year old son, Joseph, hated school. I thought it was a question of his report card reflecting this, but his marks seemed to be getting worse and worse. At a parent-teacher conference, we were told by his teacher that his spelling, reading and maths is so far behind, he has to be put in the reading recovery program. An RTLB will see him twice a week for an hour each and a teacher aide will work with him on the days she can't be with him. After six months of this, and no improvement, I decided to research things on the Internet.

This is when I discovered First Tutors, and I wondered: could the answer to his problems be as easy as finding a tutor? I decided to register and put in a request. After speaking to two or three tutors, I came across Ms Smith. She said she would like to do some tests, and take it from there.

Ms Smith informed us that Joseph has dyslexia, and that for him memorising spelling might just as well be the same as memorising the phone book. He needs specialised intervention, which cannot be given in an hour a day just practicing reading and spelling. She was learning the Davis Dyslexia Method and wanted to help Joseph with exercises that would really help him understand reading, spelling and maths. His disability needs to be addressed before he can move on.

We pulled Joseph from school, and he saw Ms Smith for close to five hours a day for about three months. He made such progress and gained such confidence and we were so grateful to see that. We then placed him in a private school where he is still flourishing.