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Success with Dyslexia Depends on Understanding the Underlying Challenges

What’s getting in the way of your fine brain?

When supporting people with dyslexia, we consider our Neurodevelopmental Program an essential gateway to becoming an independent, successful learner. 

Simply put, neurodevelopment means the growth and evolution of the brain’s neural networks, which are so important in learning and information processing.

Our Firm Foundations for Learning program provides neurodevelopmental exercises, which allow your innate gifts to emerge. We start by assessing individual needs and strengths and learning about interests. We watch for clues about sensory and organizational challenges, and then tailor the neurodevelopmental exercises accordingly.  

What Our Neurodevelopmental Program Addresses

While every child is unique, and every neurodevelopmental program is customized for the specific person, here are the systems that are most often relevant to clients with dyslexia: 

  • Eye Tracking and Teaming: Can your eyes follow a moving object smoothly? Do they meet at one spot without difficulty? 

    Dyslexia often comes with challenges in visual processing, and that’s why sometimes people skip or re-read words or lines or even find the words may seem to move or run together. When your eyes are straining, it is hard to concentrate on what you are doing. Studying can be really tiring and that reduces your ability to learn and remember. This strain can be reduced with relaxation techniques and specific playful activities. Eye teaming is not only relevant to academics, but to eye contact and non verbal communication. 

  • Coordination between both sides of the body: Inspired by the work of Judith Bluestone, and having learned from our experience working with clients, we note that rhythmic movements that involve both sides of the body support not only physical coordination but also how you process. Since each side of the brain is responsible for movement in one side of the body, coordinated movement involves communication between the two sides of the brain. The fascinating bit is that this communication also helps  with learning: with memory, with organization, with decision making, problem solving, creative thinking, and language processing: comprehension as well as expressive language. 

  • Vestibular System: The vestibular system involves sensors in the inner ears that read the position and movement of the head, as well as the sensors’ connections in the brain. This system impacts much more than balance. The function of the vestibular system supports the eyes, the ears, muscle tone and the sense of movement, and therefore is relevant to anything from posture to reading to auditory processing.  

 

  • Proprioception, or the sense of body parts, where they are in relation to one another and in the surrounding environment:

    Number sense and other elements of math depend very much on learning through our bodies. Even organization and words that describe where things are (over, under, between etc.) are things that we learn through our bodies before we can apply them to other objects. Sentences and words being in the right order also have to do with recognising the structure of your own body. 



  • Auditory processing

    Irregularities often get in the way of following instructions, understanding the task, reading and spelling. When we work very gently with hearing tasks that get gradually more complex, we can help make such challenges easier. 



  • Directionality:

    Very often people with dyslexia have difficulty sorting out right from left. This can translate to challenges with recognizing and writing certain letters, challenges with maintaining the correct direction in reading, and elements of math. 

Again, each individual is unique, so this is intended to provide representative examples. For any given client, we may also find that we need to address other systems to support their development.

The brain has the capacity to form and reorganize synaptic connections, including in response to repeated activities. 

This suggests that brain connections can indeed be supported through targeted neurodevelopmental activities.

What makes our approach unique is the combination of neurodevelopment with study skills tutoring. Since we tailor both to meet each client’s needs, we remain flexible in how we apply the two. 

We generally recommend that a student start with our neurodevelopmental program. The reason is that we often find  that addressing the neurological irregularities first tends to require very little tutoring to follow, if any.  

However, some of our clients are very much behind with their academics and need help to catch up. So we adjust the program accordingly. Our goal remains the same: equip our clients with the ability to excel academically and in life. 

 

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Dyslexia Success Stories

Clients tell us about their experiences. We changed the names on some of these reports.

S. has been doing well. We also went had a hospital appt with an eye doctor yesterday and his convergence appears to have improved.

(Mother of 8 year old with dyslexia)

When we met him S. could not easily for his eyes converge less than 2 meters away which was making reading difficult. He can now see the text at a reasonable distance.

Margo has helped with both my professional and personal development.

There’s something about a lesson with her that not only inspires, but fills you with a confidence that words cannot describe.

Before meeting Margo I was mostly getting B’s.

Now with her help and expertise almost all of my essays are getting an A+.

However, despite her knowledge and ability to communicate with my dyslexic and dyspraxic thinking styles, the most important thing that Margo has taught me is to believe in myself.

And that is a lesson that I can’t thank her enough for!

Clair
Dyslexia and Dyspraxia

Thank you all very much for helping L. She is doing well at school and very grateful for the help you provided at a difficult time.

(Mother of 12 year old school refuser with dyslexia)

Margo always goes above and beyond for her students.

She helped me get through my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and I couldn’t have done it without her.

Andrew
Dyslexia

When I started with Margo, I wasn’t really sure what a specialist tutor could do for me.

I had only just been diagnosed as dyslexic, but doing an arts degree I didn’t do much written work.

What I didn’t realize was just how valuable it would be to have someone to talk through my ideas with, and to help me organize all my different projects.

I doubt I would be getting the grades I am now without her.

Sandy
Dyslexia

Margo was my dyslexia tutor at university, and changed my life in so many ways, which I’m grateful for.

She taught me how to retain information when I read, something I previously had a lot of difficulty with.

I also had extreme difficulty with math. Margo figured out the root cause, and while I’ll never be a mathematician (nor want to be), I’m now confident with math and numbers in general.

Anne
Dyslexia

I have no idea how I would have survived university without Margo.

Margo is fantastic in so many ways and will do whatever it takes to get you the results you need.

She’ll support you not only in your studies or job, but in your life.

Diana
Dyslexia

Without Margo, I wouldn’t have gotten my degree.

She would listen to me attentively about any issues.

I often struggled with putting my thoughts and ideas to paper and she would help me get things down without getting lost in the essay. Margo treats everyone individually based on their specific needs.

Without her, I wouldn’t have even considered applying to do my masters.

Kristine
Dyslexia

Get the Best Support for Your Neurodiverse Child

If you would like to talk with one of our experts to discuss what would be the best approach to supporting your child, book a free consultation today.

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