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What does Dyslexia and New Years Resolutions have to do with one another?
When I read the hundreds of well meaning resolutions and the reasons why they don’t work and why this ONE approach will make all the difference to make it ‘stick’, it occurred to me that the success of a Dyslexia Program is no different to the success of any New Years Resolution.
People come to me with their goals for themselves or their child (the Resolution) and expect success (Transformation).
We all do that. Everyone who suffers one way or another, from too much weight, lack of love, health or money, they make up their mind to change, to transform and think bigger, aiming to get the life they dream of. January 1 is just another day, but it often gets chosen to be THE DAY where my life is turned around.
By now – one week later, or by February, most good intentions have been replaced by the same old habits that have sabotaged changes before.
For that reason, I have asked myself, what some of my clients did differently to make the changes stick and create a brand new life for themselves and their child – and others have not found the time or energy to keep up with the work afterwards. A Dyslexia Correction Program gives them all the tools they need, the confidence that comes from seeing the reading, writing, comprehension blossom with the new skills. It re-wires the brain to a different way of learning and understanding. – But it still requires the learning to be implemented. It requires the creation of habits to continue reading, using the new alignment, creating models to understand new words.
I tell my clients a story. The story of the ‘secret garden’. The perfect garden looks different for every person. It may be a bit overgrown with weeds right now, or quite barren and disorderly. An experienced gardener will help choose the new plants and trees and seedlings, get all the tools that are needed to plant the seeds, to water them, to weed and add the love and care to create exactly what the owner wants to see at the end of the season. It won’t be at the end of the day or the first week, but it will not take a lifetime either. When the gardener leaves, the watering of the plants must continue, the rest of the seeds need to gently be placed into each prepared patch. The insects have to be kept in check as well as the weeds.
A lovely 12-year old girl I won’t name has succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. She and her mum have made a big commitment, that didn’t stop after the days with me. She told me the secret of her success. She said it came down to four things, four pillars that helped her to transform, become an A-Student, get top grades for a presentation she did at the end of her year, a presentation on Dyslexia.
Step 1: DECISION: “I had to decide that I had enough of struggling, that I needed help and my mum searched until we came across your website and met you. What you said at the assessment made so much sense, it described me totally. “
Step 2: HELP: “Your program helped me to not just understand the way I learn, but it also showed me how to use my visual creative brain to my advantage. I learned to learn.”
Step 3: SUPPORT: “I couldn’t have done it without my mum, who was there for me all the way afterwards. My entire family was helping too – and we made it fun. We made it a daily habit to do the clay models, to read, to play with the balls, to write etc.”
Step 4: INCENTIVE: ” I wanted to be as good in English as my smart friend Ann. I knew I wasn’t dumb, but I never understood why I had always been in a low Reading group and she was in the highest one. Now we are in the same group.”
Another incentive was a skiing trip at the end of the work. When all the 220 words are mastered, I consider the program finished, not when a client leaves after a week. It takes the brain about 21 days to re-wire and establish new neural pathways. We set them up and start the journey together…however the bigger part comes in the three weeks or the three months that follow.