Our son struggled terribly with writing. The assignment of a single paragraph produced tears, procrastination and frustration. Derek was crashing into his own limitations: We needed to find a way to help him see that he really could find a way through, that he did have good and valuable ideas that were worthy of expression, and that expressive power was indeed available to him. He needed a different path than the school was able to provide.
Helen's work with Derek provided just that path. After a week of Davis work, we could see him begin to regain hope and confidence. He still has to work at it, but now Derek understands that his brain works a particular way and if he works with rather than against himself, he really can develop and write ideas into paragraphs and essays. Now in high school, he is attracted to writing poetry and recently completed a whole assignment poetically.
Derek went from being a kid who cringed at working with words to being interested in poetry! He still enjoys the quiet focus of working with clay and a dictionary. I think he probably always will. Helen's deeply encouraging, quietly confident approach and her own profound experience with Davis really do make it into the lives of her clients. It's one thing to possess something really great and share it. It's another to make it possible for others to fully possess it. And for that, we're very grateful to Helen McGillivray and Mind Over Dyslexia.
Alison S.
Hershey, PA