“It’s been great to learn about myself and make real progress in my life. I’m feeling positive and optimistic about my life now.”
Dyspraxia
People often fail to see the bright intelligent child you know.
All they see is the disorganisation and poor physical control.
Raising a dyspraxic-dyslexic child can be bewildering. Teachers often fail to see the bright inquisitive intelligence, and simply focus on the failures. The difficulties with handwriting and coordination are compounded by difficulties with spelling and reading.
Reports with “could do better” “lazy!” “Does not try” “Does not listen” and other equally destructive labels are not uncommon.
Other parents are often dismissive… they seem to focus mainly on who is on what reading book, unaware of the curiosity and creativity hidden within.
The standard advice
The traditional, well-intentioned advice for learning to read and write includes endless repetition. For dyslexic and dyspraxic learners it is harder to reach automaticity (when the task becomes easy and you don’t have to think about it). Repetition does produce results but only in the exact skill practiced. Generalisation to other tasks is not automatic or inevitable
Multisensory approaches are also popular. They allow dyslexic children to read, up to a point. Dyspraxic dyslexic children may need to actually reduce the stress on some of their senses because they cause overwhelm. In these cases including all the senses can actually make it worse, not better.
This arduous approach to reading often does not result in a love of reading or even an ability to understand and remember what has been read.
If the underlying issues are not addressed, dyslexic and dyspraxic learners often need to read again and again in an effort to extract meaning as they reach adulthood. The effort going into the technical process of reading reduces the available brain power for understanding and remembering the content.
It’s not your fault – you’ve been doing all you can to help them.
The effort you put in does get some results, but that’s far from a complete solution. It’s a patchwork – it helps get through the day, but it doesn’t help them thrive.
Here’s the reality…
They not only need to learn how to learn effectively and get their ideas down in writing. They also need to discover the strengths of their special abilities and how to use them to their advantage.
Well meaning helpers may have been trying to help them to fit in. They may have tried to force your child to learn and behave in ways that work for other children but just don’t work for them. It is important to show your child how to leverage the thinking processes that are natural to them instead.
For those with Dyspraxia, there are specific secrets to succeeding in school… and in life.
Many of the things you may have been told are wrong:
- Most people will tell you that their handwriting and typing will only improve with endless practice. But that’s a hard and unproductive path for a dyspraxic student. There is a better, kinder way.
- Most people will break work down into tiny chunks to teach it. In fact, many people with dyspraxia think intuitively. They need context to learn effectively. Their best answers just pop into their heads without knowing how. It may seem like a guess but it is intuitive thinking. What’s been missing is that they need to learn to reverse engineer the answers that pop into their heads so they can explain them to other people. Once they learn how to explain their answers they can often get the grades they deserve.
Meet the Team
Margo Fourman
Having personally overcome severe dyslexia and dyspraxia, Margo passionately helps students worldwide to leverage their unique abilities.
Co-Founder, Co-Director
Dror Schneider
Dror has extensive experience teaching natural vision improvement and combining neurodevelopmental and sensory insights to support educational needs. She travels frequently from her home in Georgia, USA.
Co-Founder, Co-director
Abir Baidoun
Tariesa Gildenhuys
